The Loom of Life Part 4

Animated, flas.h.i.+ng, flame of scarlet, Teasing, tantalizing, madcap varlet, Glooming, glinting through the boughs, Making, breaking lover's vows; Das.h.i.+ng leader of the choir, Standing on the topmost spire, Scintillating song and fire, Calls me: _Come up--come up--higher, higher, higher!_

Daytime meteor trailing light, Like a shooting star at night-- Just a moment of delight, Followed by a mad desire: But the flaming flash of scarlet, Tantalizing madcap varlet, Hiding from my aching sight-- This time just a little nigher-- Laughing from his leafy height, Mocks me: _Come up--come up--higher, higher, higher!_

SUNSET IN BREATHITT

Through purple haze of evening mountain mist, A spiral thread of dark blue smoke arose From hidden cove and rugged steep defile; While like a ball of blood o'er some far magic isle, The sun a moment hung in deep repose, Above a placid sea of amethyst, In mystic prophecy of death and doom,-- Then dropped and splashed the sky with crimson spray and spume!

EYES DIVINE

His eyes divine were shot with light Like flashes in a northern night, Magnetic gleam that wrought a spell On whom its star-like s.h.i.+mmer fell-- A spell of wonder and delight;--

Enchantment such as G.o.ds excite With glowing depths of chrysolite, Or blooming beds of asphodel-- His eyes divine!

In metaphysics recondite, In realms of verse by royal right Of Genevieve and Christabel The first upon the mystic sh.e.l.l; And yet his greatest charm and might Were eyes divine!

JACK FROST

In a pixy chariot, drawn, Not by deer, but elfin fawn, Thou hast come, Jack Frost and gone.

Silently, unheralded, O'er the earth thy chariot sped; Dear Jack Frost, where hast thou fled?

Thou the child's and poet's friend, Brings't us blessings without end, Joys the world can not transcend.

Naught but beauty now remains-- Flowers, ferns and fairy fanes, Wrought upon the window panes;

Fields and forests all aglow,-- Colors only thou dost know: How the heart doth overflow!

Purple cl.u.s.ters thine and mine, Winter-wild and muscadine, Bursting with the wine of vine!

Haws, persimmons, berries red, Nuts the earth have overspread-- Dear Jack Frost, why hast thou fled?

Old Chris we hail with all his boast, His jolly fun and merry cost, But oh, we love Jack Frost, Jack Frost!

AD AQUILAM

"Bird of the broad and sweeping wing,"

O bird of whom the poets sing, O emblem of the n.o.blest thing Of which mankind can boast!

Didst thou but know thy image decked That which commands the world's respect, And makes kings kneel as slaves abject To it, their G.o.d, almost:

Then thou wouldst soar to greater height Than e'er attained by birds of flight, To show the eagle's power and might, With wings unfurled and stiff; And at that dizzy height survey The sea and land without dismay, Till weary, sink at close of day Upon thy mountain cliff:

And there secure from all the world, Nestle, with plumed wings closely furled That sustained thee and o'er earth whirled Thee with a haughty air.

Ambitions would disturb thy dreams, The night air shudder with thy screams, And like the human soul that teems With vain-glorious care,

Thy heart would ache, thy soul would long, To move the world, to sway the throng, Or be the hero of the song Of some great epic pen.

'Tis well O bird that thou art free To soar the air, 'tis well with thee, 'Tis well that thou hast eyes to see, But not the human ken.

THE ICE-KING IN THE SOUTH

He came, proud monarch of the Land of Snows, Triumphant, in his argent chariot, decked With jewels mined in regions of the polar zones!

He came! his fifty snowy steeds were swift As howling north-winds, and their flowing manes Were flecked with diamonds brighter than Brazilian stones!

He came! To celebrate his triumph, first He spread a fleecy mantle o'er the earth-- A frozen shroud symbolic of the Death he wrought.

And then to every pendent branch he hung A glittering sword,--the tyrant's right to rule,-- Demanding greater homage than ever warrior sought.

More brilliant pageant than the Ice-King's in The Land of Flowers, never graced return Of oriental monarch from victorious wars.

But oh! beneath the sparkle and the gleam Of crystal beauty beats an icy heart, And a sullen silence his splendid triumph mars; The waterfalls that leap from jutting ledge In happy song, are speechless as the tomb, And every melody that haunts the woods and streams Has vanished from the earth, and Nature's voice That erstwhile woke the matin in the mead Is silent now as music of forgotten dreams.

Back to thy home in the icy Land of Snows, O tyrant czar! No cringing southern heart Pays honor to thy rich magnificence and power.

Back with thy splendor and thy glistening gems!

This is the land where every freeman bows But to the Queen alone, whose sceptre is the flower.

Back, that our sovereign may usher in The reign of love with suns.h.i.+ne and with song, And drive away the gloom from every southern hearth.

Back rude invader! to Siberian climes!

And let our royal daughter, Spring, return To fill with happiness and beauty all the earth.

FETTERED

Within the tented dome where pheasant rare, With brilliant plumage caught the public gaze, Or magpie won applause by vulgar phrase Picked up from idle crowd that thronged the fair, A pensive nightingale, unnoticed there, In silence sat and heard men's lavish praise Of these, yet all unmindful dreamed of lays, In freedom she might pour upon the air.

HELEN OF TROY