Here is one picture of the human world:An unreaped field and Death, the harvester,Taking his rest beside a gathered sheafOf poppy and white lilies. At his sidePassion, with pilfered hour-glass in her handJarring the sluggish sands to haste their flow.

Unweariedly he watches for the sign,The sign I promised from the farthest goal,My lover of a world no longer mine,My human lover with his human soul. Unweariedly he waits from day to day,Nor knows, as I know now, that when we meet,‘Twill be as dewdrop on the hawthorn spray,–The ultimate of God at last complete. […]

I have been kissed by the Priestess of the Thin and Deadly Blood–With the kiss that men call Lightning, and yet I did not die,For the kiss was a message from God; I felt it and understood,And I knew how He looked on the cosmic light and called it “Good”;I thrilled with a vibrant joy; […]

I. Eagle-heart, child-heart, bonnie lad o’ dreams,Far away thy soul hears passion-throated ArtSinging where the future liesWrapped in hues of Paradise,Pleading with her poignant noteThat forever seems to floatFarther down the vista that is calling to thy heart.Hearken! From the heightsWhere thy soul alightsBend thine ear to listen for the lute of Love is sighing:“Eagle-heart, […]

Here is a tale the North Wind sang to me:Hell hath set Mammon o’er a frozen land,Crowned him with gold, put gold into his hand,And men forsake their God to bow the kneeAgain unto this world-old deityWhose rule is wheresoe’er man’s feet go forth,Whether they track the grim and icy North,Or Afric’s scorching sweeps of […]

What will I say when face to face with GodMy naked soul shall come, seared with the stainThat men call sin? Why, God will understand;He knew my pitiful story long beforeMy frail dust quickened with the breath of life;He knew the mystery of that day of daysWhen, thrilled with virgin wonder, I should comeBearing the […]

I. Where falls the shadow of the Kofel crossAthwart the Alpine snows, the rose of faithIs blooming still in consecrated hearts,And holy men another cross have hewnWhereon the symboled Christ again shall dieTo cleanse the world of sin. Within the valeWhere flows the Ammer like a trail of tearsUpon the Holy Mother’s face, I seeThe […]

Beyond the wall the passion flower is blooming,Strange hints of life along the winds are blown;Within, the cowled and silent men are kneelingBefore an image on a cross of stone,And on their lifted faces, wan as death,I read this simple message of their faith:“The trail of flame is ashen,And pleasure’s lees are gray,And gray the […]

Today we are the fruits of yesterdayAnd what tomorrow shall of us demand,–The helpless tools within the Master’s handTo do His will and never say Him nay.He blends our souls with iron, fire or clay,He shapes our doom according as He plannedThe scheme of life, and who shall understandThe why He gives, or why He […]

He sits and looks into the westWhere twilight gathers, wan and gray,A knight who quit the Golden Quest,And flung Excalibur away.

Like black fangs in a cruel ogre’s jawThe grim piles lift against the sunset sky;Down drops the night, and shuts the horrid maw–I listen, breathless, but there comes no cry.

O! twain in spirit, we shall knowThy like no more, so fierce, so mild,One breast shorn clean to rest the bow,One milk-full for thy warrior child.

When the north wind, riding o’er the uplands,Shouted to the red leaves: “I am Death!”Was it fear that sent them all a-flying,Sighing, flying o’er the withered heath?

Life is like an old mother whom trouble and toilHave sufficed the best part of her nature to spoil,Whom her children, the Passions, so worry and vexThat the good are forgot while the evil perplex.

I called your name, Man-in-the-Grave,And straight her lips grew cold on mine,And then I knew although I haveHer hand, her heart and soul are thine.

Life is just a web of doubtWhere, with iridescent gleams,Flickers in or struggles outLove, the golden moth of dreams.

Men shed their blood for honor or renown,For freedom’s sake to nameless graves go down,But there’s one cause alone ‘neath heaven aboveFor which they shed their tears, and that is–Love.

The sun must rise, the sun must set,Nor ever change in plan may be,Though dawn to stricken wretch may bringThe hempen rope and gallows tree,And eventide to happy brideLove’s crown of love in Arcady.

(Battleships of the Coronation Naval Review, Spithead, England, June 24, 1911.) Hail, sceptered Mars, great god of wars!Hail, Carnage, queen of blood!And hail those muffled armaments–Thy fettered vulture brood!Their sable wings are laureled andTheir necks are ribboned gay,And silken folds their talons hideThis kingly holiday. Grotesque and grim, in chains of gold,They go with solemn […]

The snowy clouds, soft sleeping lambkins, lieAlong the dark blue meadows of the sky,And the bright stars, like golden daffodils,Are blooming thickly by. And Luna, gentle shepherdess, the whileKeeps near her flock and guards it with her smile;I almost fancy I can hear her songDown to this shadowed stile. Lo! Zephyrus, fond lover, comes to […]