PRAYER
I ASK good things that I detest, With speeches fair;Heed not, I pray Thee, Lord, my breast, But hear my prayer.
I say ill things I would not say -
Things unaware:
Regard my breast, Lord, in Thy day, And not my prayer.
My heart is evil in Thy sight:
My good thoughts flee:
O Lord, I cannot wish aright -
Wish Thou for me.
O bend my words and acts to Thee, However ill, That I, whate'er I say or be, May serve Thee still.
O let my thoughts abide in Thee Lest I should fall:
Show me Thyself in all I see, Thou Lord of all.
LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ
LO! in thine honest eyes I read The auspicious beacon that shall lead, After long sailing in deep seas, To quiet havens in June ease.
Thy voice sings like an inland bird First by the seaworn sailor heard;And like road sheltered from life's sea Thine honest heart is unto me.
THOUGH DEEP INDIFFERENCE SHOULD DROWSE
THOUGH deep indifference should drowse The sluggish life beneath my brows, And all the external things I see Grow snow-showers in the street to me, Yet inmost in my stormy sense Thy looks shall be an influence.
Though other loves may come and go And long years sever us below, Shall the thin ice that grows above Freeze the deep centre-well of love?
No, still below light amours, thou Shalt rule me as thou rul'st me now.
Year following year shall only set Fresh gems upon thy coronet;And Time, grown lover, shall delight To beautify thee in my sight;And thou shalt ever rule in me Crowned with the light of memory.
MY HEART, WHEN FIRST THE BLACK-BIRD SINGS
MY heart, when first the blackbird sings, My heart drinks in the song:
Cool pleasure fills my bosom through And spreads each nerve along.
My bosom eddies quietly, My heart is stirred and cool As when a wind-moved briar sweeps A stone into a poolBut unto thee, when thee I meet, My pulses thicken fast, As when the maddened lake grows black And ruffles in the blast.
I DREAMED OF FOREST ALLEYS FAIR
I.
I DREAMED of forest alleys fair And fields of gray-flowered grass, Where by the yellow summer moon My Jenny seemed to pass.
I dreamed the yellow summer moon, Behind a cedar wood, Lay white on fields of rippling grass Where I and Jenny stood.
I dreamed - but fallen through my dream, In a rainy land I lie Where wan wet morning crowns the hills Of grim reality.
II.
I am as one that keeps awake All night in the month of June, That lies awake in bed to watch The trees and great white moon.
For memories of love are more Than the white moon there above, And dearer than quiet moonshine Are the thoughts of her I love.
III.
Last night I lingered long without My last of loves to see.
Alas! the moon-white window-panes Stared blindly back on me.
To-day I hold her very hand, Her very waist embrace -Like clouds across a pool, I read Her thoughts upon her face.
And yet, as now, through her clear eyes I seek the inner shrine -I stoop to read her virgin heart In doubt if it be mine -O looking long and fondly thus, What vision should I see?
No vision, but my own white face That grins and mimics me.
IV.
Once more upon the same old seat In the same sunshiny weather, The elm-trees' shadows at their feet And foliage move together.
The shadows shift upon the grass, The dial point creeps on;The clear sun shines, the loiterers pass, As then they passed and shone.
But now deep sleep is on my heart, Deep sleep and perfect rest.
Hope's flutterings now disturb no more The quiet of my breast.
ST. MARTIN'S SUMMER
AS swallows turning backward When half-way o'er the sea, At one word's trumpet summons They came again to me -The hopes I had forgotten Came back again to me.
I know not which to credit, O lady of my heart!
Your eyes that bade me linger, Your words that bade us part -I know not which to credit, My reason or my heart.
But be my hopes rewarded, Or be they but in vain, I have dreamed a golden vision, I have gathered in the grain -I have dreamed a golden vision, I have not lived in vain.
DEDICATION
MY first gift and my last, to you I dedicate this fascicle of songs -The only wealth I have:
Just as they are, to you.
I speak the truth in soberness, and say I had rather bring a light to your clear eyes, Had rather hear you praise This bosomful of songsThan that the whole, hard world with one consent, In one continuous chorus of applause Poured forth for me and mine The homage of ripe praise.
I write the finis here against my love, This is my love's last epitaph and tomb.
Here the road forks, and I
Go my way, far from yours.
THE OLD CHIMAERAS, OLD RECEIPTS
THE old Chimaeras, old receipts For making "happy land,"The old political beliefs Swam close before my hand.
The grand old communistic myths In a middle state of grace, Quite dead, but not yet gone to Hell, And walking for a space,Quite dead, and looking it, and yet All eagerness to show The Social-Contract forgeries By Chatterton - Rousseau -A hundred such as these I tried, And hundreds after that, I fitted Social Theories As one would fit a hat!
Full many a marsh-fire lured me on, I reached at many a star, I reached and grasped them and behold -The stump of a cigar!
All through the sultry sweltering day The sweat ran down my brow, The still plains heard my distant strokes That have been silenced now.
This way and that, now up, now down, I hailed full many a blow.
Alas! beneath my weary arm The thicket seemed to grow.
I take the lesson, wipe my brow And throw my axe aside, And, sorely wearied, I go home In the tranquil eventide.
And soon the rising moon, that lights The eve of my defeat, Shall see me sitting as of yore By my old master's feet.
PRELUDE
BY sunny market-place and street Wherever I go my drum I beat, And wherever I go in my coat of red The ribbons flutter about my head.
I seek recruits for wars to come -
For slaughterless wars I beat the drum, And the shilling I give to each new ally Is hope to live and courage to die.
I know that new recruits shall come Wherever I beat the sounding drum, Till the roar of the march by country and town Shall shake the tottering Dagons down.
For I was objectless as they And loitering idly day by day;But whenever I heard the recruiters come, I left my all to follow the drum.
THE VANQUISHED KNIGHT
