Sonnets and Songs Part 9

You came and you went, and I swept you aside, not a trace Does my wisdom endure of your words and your beautiful face And the curls of your hair; Yet your presence, a song, murmurs ever in hopeless refrain, And I wake in the night with my empty hands yearning in vain For the touch of your hair.

You went, and I triumphed--I crushed out my heart with a kiss On the lips that are ashen, forgetting spring's wonderful bliss And your tremulous lips; Yet the kisses were ghostly with jasmine, dear jasmine of May-- The new has the soul of the old, is aflame with the way And the touch of your lips.

You came and you went, and the world wearies on with its game.

My heart never falters or fears at the sound of your name Or the sight of your face; Yet the ghost of our pa.s.sion stands white in the midst of my heart, With your hands and your hair, and I know it will never depart Pa.s.sion's ghost with your face!

x.x.xIV

_Fight!_

Fight, though the bulwarks of your faith may fall, Life become gray and full of weariness, Love prove a lie and wisdom bitterness-- Fight, for the strife alone avails for all.

Fight and fight on, exulting in the light, Standing alert and upright gleefully, Seizing life's joys and woes courageously, Man to the end, and master--laugh and fight.

x.x.xV

_In Tonga_

The windy rain beats, beats about my door-- Alas for love when love goes wandering!

The dawn mist rises on the forest floor-- Alas for life when love goes wandering!

With wet, green leaves the palm-trees lash the night, The pitiless trades drive wild G.o.ds in their flight.

And, ah, my lover! Moons have come and gone, The fighting ended, still he lingers on.

Sleepless I hear the demon wind above-- Alas for love when love goes wandering!

And I must wed with one I do not love-- Alas for life when love goes wandering!

x.x.xVI

_This was the Song_

We have forgotten. This the rowers knew, Straining within the galleys' reeling night.

Life bent to breaking, while their great souls grew Strong in the ancient purposes of Time.

This was the song whereby they made their fight, Laughed as they swung. G.o.ds! how the cord bit through!

This was the song the pagan lovers heard, Wakened by flowers in a rose-red dawn.

Through the bright dew they fled, like ocean stirred With morning. Bare and beautiful they ran, Holding each other's hand. Through leaves they're gone, Cleaving the silver pool with flash of bird.

Carven in stone, Abydos holds it fast-- The little Eastern dancer with her lute, Wild Erin's faeries crying for the past.

They keep the deathless secret of the word Hid behind Nature's lips, who, grave, remote, Guard this from profanation till the last.

Not unto us who bide the ebb and flow, The senseless order of the tide of law.

We have forgotten to be free; we know Only the iteration of the day.

The priceless moon, white pearl without a flaw, Drowns in the muddy stream of worldly woe.

We take the petty part and leave the whole.

Lost to our ken the song of Nature's youth-- The great barbaric winds that sweep the soul And leave it emptied of all else but truth.

x.x.xVII

_To E. D._

She wrought her songs in secret ways, Yet cared not where they fell; Her soul distilled itself like dews In rue and asphodel.

They fell in countless happy hearts, Made wise by sun and showers, Like pollen blown about the earth, Conceiving royal flowers.

x.x.xVIII

_The Dance_

Like little, eager children The tiptoe tulips stand, Row upon row of dancing heads In joyous saraband.

With lithe, long emerald petticoats, And happy hands tossed up, The suns.h.i.+ne is the laughter That brims their golden cup.

x.x.xIX

_Vanquished_

Heart, here are roses burning with the South-- ("Fairer was her false mouth")-- Close your tired eyes, the twilight gives you rest-- ("Cool was her snowy breast").

Take of the suns.h.i.+ne, nor remember rain-- ("Love is a cruel pain")-- Hus.h.!.+ you shall sleep forgetting love's alarms-- ("Sleep died in her false arms").

XL