Am I waking? Was I sleeping?Dearest, are you watching yet?Traces on your cheeks of weepingGlitter, ’tis in vain you fret;Drifting ever! drifting onward!In the glass the bright sand runsSteadily and slowly downward;Hushed are all the Myrmidons. Has Automedon been banish’dFrom his post beside my bed?Where has Agamemnon vanished?Where is warlike Diomed?Where is Nestor? where Ulysses?Menelaus, […]

Oh! the sun rose on the lea, and the bird sang merrilie,And the steed stood ready harness’d in the hall,And he left his lady’s bower, and he sought the eastern tower,And he lifted cloak and weapon from the wall. “We were wed but yester-noon, must we separate so soon?Must you travel unassoiled and, aye, unshriven,With […]

Fytte I By Wood and Wold[A Preamble] “Beneath the greenwood bough.”–W. Scott. Lightly the breath of the spring wind blows,Though laden with faint perfume,‘Tis the fragrance rare that the bushman knows,The scent of the wattle bloom.Two-thirds of our journey at least are done,Old horse! let us take a spellIn the shade from the glare of […]

To fetch clear water out of the springThe little maid Margaret ran;From the stream to the castle’s western wingIt was but a bowshot span;On the sedgy brink where the osiers clingLay a dead man, pallid and wan. The lady Mabel rose from her bed,And walked in the castle hall,Where the porch through the western turret […]

Francesca. Crush’d and throng’d are all the placesIn our amphitheatre,‘Midst a sea of swarming facesI can yet distinguish her;Dost thou triumph, dark-brow’d Nina?Is my secret known to thee?On the sands of yon arenaI shall yet my vengeance see.Now through portals fast careeringPicadors are disappearing;Now the barriers nimbly clearingHas the hindmost chulo flown.Clots of dusky crimson […]

When he, that shepherd false, ‘neath Phrygian sails,Carried his hostess Helen o’er the seas,In fitful slumber Nereus hush’d the gales,That he might sing their future destinies.A curse to your ancestral home you takeWith her, whom Greece, with many a soldier boldShall seek again, in concert sworn to breakYour nuptial ties and Priam’s kingdom old.Alas! what […]

[A Preface and a Piracy] Prologue Of borrow’d plumes I take the sin,My extracts will applyTo some few silly songs which inThese pages scatter’d lie. The words are Edgar Allan Poe’s,As any man may see,But what a POE-t wrote in prose,Shall make blank verse for me. These trifles are collected and republished chiefly with a […]

Oh! wind that whistles o’er thorns and thistles,Of this fruitful earth like a goblin elf;Why should he labour to help his neighbourWho feels too reckless to help himself?The wail of the breeze in the bending treesIs something between a laugh and a groan;And the hollow roar of the surf on the shoreIs a dull, discordant […]

Oh, gaily sings the bird! and the wattle-boughs are stirr’dAnd rustled by the scented breath of spring;Oh, the dreary wistful longing! Oh, the faces that are thronging!Oh, the voices that are vaguely whispering! Oh, tell me, father mine, ere the good ship cross’d the brine,On the gangway one mute hand-grip we exchang’d;Do you, past the […]

White steeds of ocean, that leap with a hollow and wearisome roarOn the bar of ironstone steep, not a fathom’s length from the shore,Is there never a seer nor sophist can interpret your wild refrain,When speech the harshest and roughest is seldom studied in vain?My ears are constantly smitten by that dreary monotone,In a hieroglyphic […]

Thou art moulded in marble impassive,False goddess, fair statue of strife,Yet standest on pedestal massive,A symbol and token of life.Thou art still, not with stillness of languor,And calm, not with calm boding rest;For thine is all wrath and all angerThat throbs far and near in the breastOf man, by thy presence possess’d. With the brow […]

The maiden sat by the river side(The rippling water murmurs by),And sadly into the clear blue tideThe salt tear fell from her clear blue eye.“‘Tis fixed for better, for worse,” she cried,“And to-morrow the bridegroom claims the bride.Oh! wealth and power and rank and prideCan surely peace and happiness buy.I was merry, nathless, in my […]

Make merry, comrades, eat and drink(The sunlight flickers on the sea),The garlands gleam, the glasses clink,The grape juice mantles fair and free,The lamps are trimm’d, although the lightOf day still lingers on the sky;We sit between the day and night,And push the wine flask merrily.I see you feasting round me still,All gay of heart and […]

The shore-boat lies in the morning light,By the good ship ready for sailing;The skies are clear, and the dawn is bright,Tho’ the bar of the bay is fleck’d with white,And the wind is fitfully wailing;Near the tiller stands the priest, and the knightLeans over the quarter-railing. “There is time while the vessel tarries still,There is […]

The troubles of life are many,The pleasures of life are few;When we sat in the sunlight, Annie,I dreamt that the skies were blue–When we sat in the sunlight, Annie,I dreamt that the earth was green;There is little colour, if any,‘Neath the sunlight now to be seen. Then the rays of the sunset glintedThrough the blackwoods’ […]

The spring-wind pass’d through the forest, and whispered low in the leaves,And the cedar toss’d her head, and the oak stood firm in his pride;The spring-wind pass’d through the town,through the housetops, casements, and eaves,And whisper’d low in the hearts of the men, and the men replied,Singing–“Let us rejoice in the lightOf our glory, and […]

The sun has gone down, spreading wide onThe sky-line one ray of red fire;Prepare the soft cushions of Sidon,Make ready the rich loom of Tyre.The day, with its toil and its sorrow,Its shade, and its sunshine, at lengthHas ended; dost fear for the morrow,Strong man, in the pride of thy strength? Like fire-flies, heavenward clinging,They […]

“You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet, Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone? Of two such lessons, why forget The nobler and the manlier one?”–Byron. One line of swart profiles and bearded lips dressing,One ridge of bright helmets, one crest of fair plumes,One streak of blue sword-blades all bared for the fleshing,One row of red […]

In Five Parts. Part IVisions in the Smoke Rest, and be thankful! On the vergeOf the tall cliff rugged and grey,But whose granite base the breakers surge,And shiver their frothy spray,Outstretched, I gaze on the eddying wreathThat gathers and flits away,With the surf beneath, and between my teethThe stem of the “ancient clay”. With the […]

Two years ago I was thinkingOn the changes that years bring forth;Now I stand where I then stood drinkingThe gust and the salt sea froth;And the shuddering wave strikes, linkingWith the waves subsiding and sinking,And clots the coast herbage, shrinking,With the hue of the white cere-cloth. Is there aught worth losing or keeping?The bitters or […]