(Written on the ter-centenary of John Milton, December 9, 1908.) Immortal singer, in whose glorious brainUnearthly melodies were born to makeA nocturn for the blessed Master’s sake,I see thee pass through heaven’s gates again;I hear thee singing that majestic strain,Which soothed the heart affliction could not break,And proved the faith no worldly ills could shake;And […]

O wanderer! whoever thou mayest be,I beg of thee to pass in silence hereAnd leave me with my empty sepulchreBeside the ceaseless turmoil of the sea;Pass me as one whom life’s old tragedyHath made distraught–who now in dreams doth keepHis cherished dead, unmindful of her sleepIn ocean’s bosom locked eternally!Scorn not the foolish grave that […]

I. Silent as ever, stoic as of old,The scattered nomads of that dusky raceWhose story shall forever be untold,Sit mid the ruins of their dwelling placeAnd watch the white man’s empire grow apace.Passive as one who knows his earthly doom,And only waits with calm but hopeless faceThe while the seasons go with blight and bloom,So […]

Through shimmering skies the big clouds slowly sail;A faint breeze lingers in the rustling beech;Atop the withered oak with vagrant speechThe brawling crows call down the sleepy vale;Unseen the glad cicadas trill their taleOf deep content in changeless vibrant screech,And where the old fence rambles out of reach,The drowsy lizard hugs the shaded rail.Warm odors […]

She comes not with the conscious graceOf gentle, winsome womanhood,Nor yet, withal, the flaunting faceOf men and women understood,But rather as a thing apart,A wind-blown petal of a rose,A specter with a specter’s heartThat cometh once–and goes. Her eyes some trace of cold, white lightWithin their haunted depths still hold,Though hunger’s fever made them bright,And […]

From age to age the haggard human trainCreeps wearily across Time’s burning sandsTo look into her face, and lift weak handsIn supplication to the calm disdainThat crowns her stony brow…. But all in vainThe riddle of mortality they try:Doom speaks still from her unrelenting eye–Doom deep as passion, infinite as pain.From age to age the […]

An Earthworm once loved a Star. In the hush of the summer night,He lay quite close to the ground and gazed on its golden light;He looked from his house of clay, and dreamed of wonderful things,Till, lo! (as he thought) his longing brought forth miraculous wings. The Butterfly soared in the air, straight toward the […]

Beyond the tumult and the proud acclaim,Beyond the circle where the glory beatsWith withering light upon the mighty seats,They hear the far-resounding trump of fame;On other lips they hear the one-loved nameIn vaunting or derision, and they weepTo know that they shall never lull to sleepThose tired heads, crowned with desolating flame.Beyond the hot arena’s […]

I might have met his anger with a smileFor so it was that I had set my heartTo mask deception with a wanton’s guile,And save the tears that now begin to start. I might have worn my guilty crown of thorn,–Yea, even worn it gladly like a prize;But, oh! more bitter than his rage or […]

Once in a dream of BabylonI sat with Lilith and CainAt the world-old drama, “From God to God,”In the House of Things Profane;Trumpets and lights, and the playersSwung to the stage, and thenI saw as I looked in their facesA woman, and some men. Men with the eyes of the psalmist,Men with the hearts of […]

I. With the light just quenched in their eyesThey lie in their graves ‘neath the skies,And the fresh clod restsHeavy upon their breasts.The white rose diesUpon the new-made mound, and underneathThe lily shrivels in the shriveling hand.Pale guests of sovereign Death,They sought their silent beds at his command,And it seemsStrange that their life-long dreamsShall find […]

You have builded your ships in the sun-lands,And launched them with song and wine;They are boweled with your stanchest engines,And masted with bravest pine;You have met in your closet councils,With your plans and your prayers to GodFor a fortunate wind to waft youWhere never a foot has trod. And now you follow the polar starTo […]

I. “He has eyes like the Christ,”The mother said, and smiled;“He will be wise and good,My wondering little child.God grant him strength to doWhate’er his tasks may be,But spare him, if Thou wilt,O, spare him Calvary!” II. Grim where the black bars castTheir shadows o’er his bed,He waits to pay the costOf blood his hands […]

(Oscar Wilde.) I gazed upon thee desolate and heardThine anguished cry when fell the iron ginThat all but broke thy soul, yet gave thy wordThe strength to ask forgiveness of thy sin. I saw thee fleeing from the cruel lightOf thine own fame; I saw thee hide thy faceIn alien dust to cover up the […]

You were a red rose then, I know,Red as her wine–yea, redder still,–Say rather her blood; and ages ago(You know how destiny hath its will)I placed you deep in her gorgeous hair,And left you to wither there. Wine and blood and a red, red rose,–Feast and song and a long, long sleep;–And which of us […]

(Written on the exhumation and reburial in Spain of the bones of Christopher Columbus.) Once more upon the ocean’s heaving breastHe lays his head, not like the lover boldWho in the brave, chivalric days of oldWooed from her lips the secret of the West,But like a tired man going to his rest,No hopes to thrill, […]

Down in the vale the lazy sheepAre roaming at their will,But I would be away to weepUpon the windy hill, For Summer’s song is in my heart,Her kiss is on my brow,As here I kneel alone, apart,To consecrate our vow. Ah, doubly poor the gift shall beThat links my soul with hers,For she has given […]

You are blue, you are blue like the sky,Cruel and cold and blue,And I turn from you, voiceless sea,To a sky that is voiceless, too. Upward the vast blue arch,Downward the blue abyss,With a line of foam where your lipsMeet in a passionless kiss. But the silence is breaking my heart,And tears cannot comfort meWith […]

“Give us this day our daily bread!” O prayerBy Jesus taught, thou hast become a cryFor starveling mouths in Famine’s ghastly lair–A beggar’s plaint when Dives passes by. We have forsook the Temple of the SoulTo carp with sordid tradesmen face to face;No more we hear the Sinaian thunders roll,Or Jesus preaching in the market-place. […]

It wouldn’t be fair to BelshazzarWhen speaking of madness and mirth,To draw from his revel a moralFor conscienceless sin in the earth,For ’tis certain the King of ChaldeaTook note of the hand on the wall,But here at the Feast of the PassionsWe never take heed at all. The same gods grin at the banquet–The idols […]