The Golden Treasury of American Songs and Lyrics Part 20

Just where the Treasury's marble front Looks over Wall Street's mingled nations; Where Jews and Gentiles most are wont To throng for trade and last quotations; Where, hour by hour, the rates of gold Outrival, in the ears of people, The quarter-chimes, serenely tolled From Trinity's undaunted steeple,--

Even there I heard a strange, wild strain Sound high above the modern clamor, Above the cries of greed and gain, The curbstone war, the auction's hammer; And swift, on Music's misty ways, It led, from all this strife for millions, To ancient, sweet-do-nothing days Among the kirtle-robed Sicilians.

And as it stilled the mult.i.tude, And yet more joyous rose, and shriller, I saw the minstrel, where he stood At ease against a Doric pillar: One hand a droning organ played, The other held a Pan's-pipe (fas.h.i.+oned Like those of old) to lips that made The reeds give out that strain impa.s.sioned.

'Twas Pan himself had wandered here A-strolling through this sordid city, And piping to the civic ear The prelude of some pastoral ditty!

The demiG.o.d had crossed the seas,-- From haunts of shepherd, nymph, and satyr, And Syracusan times,--to these Far sh.o.r.es and twenty centuries later.

A ragged cap was on his head; But--hidden thus--there was no doubting That, all with crispy locks o'erspread, His gnarled horns were somewhere sprouting; His club-feet, cased in rusty shoes, Were crossed, as on some frieze you see them, And trousers, patched of divers hues, Concealed his crooked shanks beneath them.

He filled the quivering reeds with sound, And o'er his mouth their changes s.h.i.+fted, And with his goat's-eyes looked around Where'er the pa.s.sing current drifted; And soon, as on Trinacrian hills The nymphs and herdsmen ran to hear him, Even now the tradesmen from their tills, With clerks and porters, crowded near him.

The bulls and bears together drew From Jauncey Court and New Street Alley, As erst, if pastorals be true, Came beasts from every wooded valley; The random pa.s.sers stayed to list,-- A boxer aegon, rough and merry, A Broadway Daphnis, on his tryst With Nais at the Brooklyn Ferry.

A one-eyed Cyclops halted long In tattered cloak of army pattern, And Galatea joined the throng,-- A blowsy, apple-vending slattern; While old Silenus staggered out From some new-fangled lunch-house handy, And bade the piper, with a shout, To strike up Yankee Doodle Dandy!

A newsboy and a peanut-girl Like little Fauns began to caper: His hair was all in tangled curl, Her tawny legs were bare and taper; And still the gathering larger grew, And gave its pence and crowded nigher, While aye the shepherd-minstrel blew His pipe, and struck the gamut higher.

O heart of Nature, beating still With throbs her vernal pa.s.sion taught her,-- Even here, as on the vine-clad hill, Or by the Arethusan water!

New forms may fold the speech, new lands Arise within these ocean-portals, But Music waves eternal wands,-- Enchantress of the souls of mortals!

So thought I,--but among us trod A man in blue, with legal baton, And scoffed the vagrant demiG.o.d, And pushed him from the step I sat on.

Doubting, I mused upon the cry, "Great Pan is dead!"--and all the people Went on their ways:--and clear and high The quarter sounded from the steeple.

E.C. STEDMAN.

Auspex.

My heart, I cannot still it, Nest that had song-birds in it; And when the last shall go, The dreary days, to fill it, Instead of lark or linnet, Shall whirl dead leaves and snow.

Had they been swallows only, Without the pa.s.sion stronger That skyward longs and sings,-- Woe's me, I shall be lonely When I can feel no longer The impatience of their wings!

A moment, sweet delusion, Like birds the brown leaves hover; But it will not be long Before their wild confusion Fall wavering down to cover The poet and his song.

J.R. LOWELL.

Birds.[5]

Birds are singing round my window, Tunes the sweetest ever heard, And I hang my cage there daily, But I never catch a bird.

So with thoughts my brain is peopled, And they sing there all day long: But they will not fold their pinions In the little cage of Song.

R.H. STODDARD.

[5] From "The Poems of R.H. Stoddard," copyright, 1880, by Charles Scribner's Sons.

Toujours Amour.

Prithee tell me, Dimple-Chin, At what age does Love begin?

Your blue eyes have scarcely seen Summers three, my fairy queen, But a miracle of sweets, Soft approaches, sly retreats, Show the little archer there, Hidden in your pretty hair; When didst learn a heart to win?

Prithee tell me, Dimple-Chin!

"Oh!" the rosy lips reply, "I can't tell you if I try.

'Tis so long I can't remember: Ask some younger la.s.s than I!"

Tell, oh, tell me, Grizzled-Face, Do your heart and head keep pace?

When does h.o.a.ry Love expire, When do frosts put out the fire?

Can its embers burn below All that chill December snow?

Care you still soft hands to press, Bonny heads to smooth and bless?

When does Love give up the chase?

Tell, oh, tell me, Grizzled-Face!

"Ah!" the wise old lips reply, "Youth may pa.s.s and strength may die; But of Love I can't foretoken: Ask some older sage than I!"

E.C. STEDMAN.

A Sigh.

It was nothing but a rose I gave her,-- Nothing but a rose Any wind might rob of half its savor, Any wind that blows.

When she took it from my trembling fingers With a hand as chill,-- Ah, the flying touch upon them lingers, Stays, and thrills them still!

Withered, faded, pressed between the pages, Crumpled fold on fold,-- Once it lay upon her breast, and ages Cannot make it old!

H.P. SPOFFORD.

No More.