Underwoods Part 4

And as the fervent smith of yore Beat out the glowing blade, Nor wielded in the front of war The weapons that he made, But in the tower at home still plied his ringing trade;

So like a sword the son shall roam On n.o.bler missions sent; And as the smith remained at home In peaceful turret pent, So sits the while at home the mother well content.

XXVI-THE SICK CHILD

_Child_. O MOTHER, lay your hand on my brow!

O mother, mother, where am I now?

Why is the room so gaunt and great?

Why am I lying awake so late?

_Mother_. Fear not at all: the night is still.

Nothing is here that means you ill- Nothing but lamps the whole town through, And never a child awake but you.

_Child_. Mother, mother, speak low in my ear, Some of the things are so great and near, Some are so small and far away, I have a fear that I cannot say, What have I done, and what do I fear, And why are you crying, mother dear?

_Mother_. Out in the city, sounds begin Thank the kind G.o.d, the carts come in!

An hour or two more, and G.o.d is so kind, The day shall be blue in the window-blind, Then shall my child go sweetly asleep, And dream of the birds and the hills of sheep.

XXVII-IN MEMORIAM F. A. S.

YET, O stricken heart, remember, O remember How of human days he lived the better part.

April came to bloom and never dim December Breathed its killing chills upon the head or heart.

Doomed to know not Winter, only Spring, a being Trod the flowery April blithely for a while, Took his fill of music, joy of thought and seeing, Came and stayed and went, nor ever ceased to smile.

Came and stayed and went, and now when all is finished, You alone have crossed the melancholy stream, Yours the pang, but his, O his, the undiminished Undecaying gladness, undeparted dream.

All that life contains of torture, toil, and treason, Shame, dishonour, death, to him were but a name.

Here, a boy, he dwelt through all the singing season And ere the day of sorrow departed as he came.

_Davos_, 1881.

XXVIII-TO MY FATHER

PEACE and her huge invasion to these sh.o.r.es Puts daily home; innumerable sails Dawn on the far horizon and draw near; Innumerable loves, uncounted hopes To our wild coasts, not darkling now, approach: Not now obscure, since thou and thine are there, And bright on the lone isle, the foundered reef, The long, resounding foreland, Pharos stands.

These are thy works, O father, these thy crown; Whether on high the air be pure, they s.h.i.+ne Along the yellowing sunset, and all night Among the unnumbered stars of G.o.d they s.h.i.+ne; Or whether fogs arise and far and wide The low sea-level drown-each finds a tongue And all night long the tolling bell resounds: So s.h.i.+ne, so toll, till night be overpast, Till the stars vanish, till the sun return, And in the haven rides the fleet secure.

In the first hour, the seaman in his skiff Moves through the unmoving bay, to where the town Its earliest smoke into the air upbreathes And the rough hazels climb along the beach.

To the tugg'd oar the distant echo speaks.

The s.h.i.+p lies resting, where by reef and roost Thou and thy lights have led her like a child.

This hast thou done, and I-can I be base?

I must arise, O father, and to port Some lost, complaining seaman pilot home.

XXIX-IN THE STATES

WITH half a heart I wander here As from an age gone by A brother-yet though young in years.

An elder brother, I.

You speak another tongue than mine, Though both were English born.

I towards the night of time decline, You mount into the morn.

Youth shall grow great and strong and free, But age must still decay: To-morrow for the States-for me, England and Yesterday.

_San Francisco_.

x.x.x-A PORTRAIT

I AM a kind of farthing dip, Unfriendly to the nose and eyes; A blue-behinded ape, I skip Upon the trees of Paradise.

At mankind's feast, I take my place In solemn, sanctimonious state, And have the air of saying grace While I defile the dinner plate.

I am "the smiler with the knife,"

The battener upon garbage, I- Dear Heaven, with such a rancid life, Were it not better far to die?

Yet still, about the human pale, I love to scamper, love to race, To swing by my irreverent tail All over the most holy place;

And when at length, some golden day, The unfailing sportsman, aiming at, Shall bag, me-all the world shall say: _Thank G.o.d_, _and there's an end of that_!

x.x.xI

SING clearlier, Muse, or evermore be still, Sing truer or no longer sing!

No more the voice of melancholy Jacques To wake a weeping echo in the hill; But as the boy, the pirate of the spring, From the green elm a living linnet takes, One natural verse recapture-then be still.

x.x.xII-A CAMP {66}

THE bed was made, the room was fit, By punctual eve the stars were lit; The air was still, the water ran, No need was there for maid or man, When we put up, my a.s.s and I, At G.o.d's green caravanserai.