^&mm^mm^^-y''--^\-^^ Class Igl5"^^U ightN°_ \3\0 i COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. \ copyright 1910 New Amstel Magazine Co. Wilmington, Del., U. S. A. A BLOSSOM OF THE SEA AND OTHER POEMS By Lyman C. Smith New Amstel Magazine Company Wilmington, Delaware, U. S. A. ANNO DOMINI MCMX 'fp- r\ £CI.A2?8226 vi: CONTENTS Introductory Sonnets 7 8 Shadows . . . . 9 The Auction 14 Sahle Island . . . . 19 Lament of a Skeleton . 26 Semper Eadem 31 The Queen . . . . 34 Rex Mortuus Est, Tamen Vivit 37 Ambition and Praise 41 Our City Cousin 43 A Child's Question 49 On a Dog^ Buried in His Master's CI oak 53 A View of Death 55 The Deserted House . 58 To Miriam 61 The Snow 70 Whitby Ladies' College 71 A Blossom of the Sea 74 A Pioneer Farmer 100 HoTV Long? 109 Onward 111 Majuba Hill . 113 Canada to Columbia 116 Columbia to Canada 118 Builders of the Broad Dominion 120 England 125 The Bay of Quinte 125 CONTENTS A Leader • 126 Tte Marsh in Winter 127 Deformities 127 The Death and Memory of the Jusi 128 Archibald Lampman 130 Theodore H. Rand 131 Alexandra 132 On Viewing King Edward's Picture 132 Goldwin Smith 133 Florence Nightingale 133 Mark Twain 134 Fragments 135 LES BELLES CANADIENNES To Louise ...... 136 To Marie 136 To Nellie 137 To Olive 138 To Clara 138 To Vivian 139 To Margaret 139 To Aileen 140 To Katie 141 To Maud 141 The Bessemer, No. 2 143 A Lesson 146 The Passing Year 147 To a Friend 149 Falling Stars 151 Fairy Land 152 The Robins 154 CONTENTS SONGS Anticipation Elaine . . . _ When robins pipe their warning O turn to me clearest . When down from realms of peerless blue She's a bright little, slight little maid IN LIGHTER VEIN How Jennie Crossed the Border A Morning's Adventures with Autos A Stirring Scene The Letter The Yantic Jonathan and I John Bull and Son Sam Golfing on the Green . Ulysses Aviators Finis 157 159 161 161 163 164 167 173 176 179 180 183 187 190 193 214 218 A Blossom of the Sea Go, LITTLE BOOK, thy silent lips unseal For all that plod life's valleys glad or drear; The secrets of thy maker's heart reveal To all that deign thy simple words to hear. Disclose what joys or griefs have swelled his breast, What pleasures cheered, what bitter trials vexed, What hopes encouraged, or what doubts distressed In darker hours when mysteries perplexed. These musings on his way, not darker made. Nor brighter, than for thousands more beside, May aid some soul dejection to evade. Or glad some baffled bosom sorely tried. Go, little book, thy silent lips unseal, The purpose of thy maker's heart reveal. A Blossom of the Sea A WREATH of blooms, — or what are blooms to me, — Meek wayside dwellers with the clustered weed, Nor fairest nor the best that deck the mead, Nor what I might have gathered were I free To leave my ordered path and nearer see The streams, whose distant call I hear, that lead The leisured foot where banks of sweetness feed With floating balm the height and level lea, I proffer these to bring what cheer they may To all that hurry on the crowded way: For me, the breathings of their fragrant lips. Their modest faces peering from the sod. The touches of their velvet finger-tips, Have cheered the darkest valleys I have trod. 8 And Other Poems SHADOWS I. O EARTH, colossal charnel heap, To thee all life must tribute give; Thou dost the dead of ages keep, Shalt be the grave of all that live. There is no morsel of thy mould With wreck and waste of life unblent; The dead thy heaving waters hold. The dead are in thy bosom pent. The bloom that lifts a timid face, The oak that braves a tyrant blast, Shall feel the chill of thy embrace And mingle with thy dust at last. The countless tissue-pinioned things Fulfil their slender hour and fall ; The bird that to the zenith springs Thy sordid clods at last enthral. The worm that mines a winding cave. The ant that drills thy flinty crust, Shall find their sunless home a grave And add their atom to thy dust. A Blossom of the Sea Below thy heaving mounds are hid The dead of ages all unknown; The cliff is but a pyramid That holds the dead embalmed in stone. The chalk-built height a mound of shells From which the fragile life hath fled ; Thy restless ocean foams and swells O'er slimy deeps of shapeless dead. The mammoth huge in forest gloom, That crushed with stolid step thy mould, Thy winter-fettered sands entomb, Or sunken bogs imprisoned hold. II. O Earth, from days of dawning time Hast thou been steeped in purple flood; The monsters of the early prime Contending drenched thee in their blood. The timid fawn the lion tears The brooding dove the eagle takes, The swallow cleaving summer airs Of whining gnat a victim makes. The stronger rend the shrinking weak; Nor Life her tribute may deny, For these with sanguine claw and beak Must sate a craving maw or die. 10 And Other Poems But man with more undying wrath The trail of slaughter hath pursued; The taint of blood is on his path, His brow with brother's blood imbued. No inch of soil his foot hath pressed But human ashes roof it o'er; And not a clod upon thy breast But bears the tinge of human gore. No Alpine snow undyed is found, No cave with unbesprinkled stones, No plain unmarked by charnel mound, No sea unpaved with human bones. In all the dim uncounted years Too many are the ways of death : The arctic chills, — the tropic seres, — The desert blasts with poison breath ; Fierce toil unceasingly consumes, — The glare of molten furnace blights, — Disease the cradled infant dooms, — Contagion half a nation smites, — Gaunt Famine glides through glebe and town; They stifle in the dismal mine, — Thy yawning bosom gulfs them down, — They choke in swirls of seething brine. // A Blossom of the Sea III. O Earth, thou art the nurse of life ! O Earth, thou givest man his breath! Then why this universal strife, And why this carnival of death? Is man in all the doom and din But plaything for the whirling gust? Is Life — this life that stirs within — A passing eddy in the dust? Is Life a stream whose winding maze Must end in Death's eternal shoal? Is Life the transitory phase, And Death the last and final goal ? Yet from the wreck and waste of dead The varied forms of being spring: From ashes, from the husk and shred Thou dost in turn the living brii^g. No tree may rise from nut mature Unless the parent nut be riven ; Is this thy changeless law and sure That life for life be ever given? The hidden records of thy breast, If rightly we their secret read. Declare thy fixed and stern behest, "The low shall pass; the high succeed." 12 And Other Poems Can this forever be thine aim? Is this thy purpose and thy plan, From all the fallen wreck to frame The higher type, the perfect man? Afar the eye we backward strain: The wave is fenced with dyke of stone, — The marsh is gone, — the monster slain, — We dream the world is better grown; We dream what is and what hath been Are atoms of a mighty whole That, guided by a hand unseen. Is moving to a final goal. But what the goal? Unknown — unknown — The fronting mists are hard to part; We grope through shadows dim and lone And follow whispers of the heart. January, 1902. 13 A Blossom of the Sea THE AUCTION AT THE low sunken doorway an auctioneer stood, And he and the crowd were in jocular mood, For before him about on the walk were displayed The goods of a debtor whose rent was unpaid — Old-fashioned and shrunken, disfigured by wear, Unvarnished, and broken beyond all repair. *'A collection of articles here I present Such as never to hammer of auctioneer went. Of their value as relics I need but remark That Noah secured them to furnish his ark. A garden unpeopled this world might have smiled Had these not the gloom of that voyage beguiled. "Now, here is a bed so decrepit and old It leans for support as it stands to be sold; Its tremulous wails of rheumatic distress Tell the twinges of pain that it cannot suppress. Who bids for an article useful and cheap, A bed that makes music to lull you to sleep ? ''Here's a fine chest of drawers. Allow me to state 'Twas the first Adam made when he left Eden's gate. Mother Eve kept her bonnet in this, while in that You'll yet find the band of his best Sunday hat ; While here, as a proof it was once Mother Eve's, Are a few relics left of her garment of leaves. 14 And Other Poems "Here's a chair: and you'll say, when it closely you view, That Adam could never have made more than two. On that he perched Abel ; on this he raised Cain ; That this is the cane chair is perfectly plain. It will rock without rockers, for 'mong its good points Are double back-acting and flexible joints." While he jested and jeered without ceasing the crowd As they bid or they listened laughed hearty and loud. But apart, on the margin, dejected and sad, Stood a grey-headed woman all shabbily clad. No smile at the auctioneer's wit could you trace, But the tears trickled fast down the wrinkled old face. For she thought of a day when that chest was her pride And the one precious boast of a new-wedded bride ; She thought of the gown and the bridal array That once nestled there neatly folded away. Those few scattered leaves were a love-gift of old, But the hand that bestowed them was crumbled to mould. And this was the chair where that loved one reposed When the darkness his long day of labor had closed, When with strength in his arm and with hope in his breast In the struggle of life he had stood with the best. And this was the chair where he day after day Sat pallid and strengthless and faded away. 15 A Blossom of the Sea And this was the bed, when no more he could rise, When the light of another world shone in his eyes And illumined his cheek, where he sank down at last And lay while the years drifted languidly past; Till, one dismal morning, here clasped on his breast The thin, shrunken fingers at last found a rest. On that old creaking couch after day's weary round For forty long years he a rest nightly found ; And now on that couch after life's weary close He found from its toil an eternal repose : No more the lip quivered with half-suppressed pain, No pang broke the peace of his slumber again. When the auctioneer next took a wee baby's chair — The one single piece yet untarnished by wear — Again rose the vision of ne'er-forgot years. Again burst the stream from the fountain of tears, And there broke from her lips such a moan of distress That it told more of anguish than words could express. In the lone happy days of the long, long ago. Had she pleaded with Heaven a child to bestow. The Lord heard her cry, and, in answer, of those Best-beloved by the angels the dearest he chose. Its hair into ringlets their hands had caressed. Its cheeks into dimples their fingers had pressed. Its face wore the joy of the glad seraph throng When they circle the altar and burst into song; Its brow had been smoothed by the Lord's shining hand, i6 And Other Poems Its lips had been touched with His red altar-brand. The heart-winning ways that endeared it above Awoke all her dormant affection and love. And this plain little chair for the child was a throne Where it prattled and sang in a low musing tone Of the wonderful world it had dwelt in on high : And the glad-pinioned years flitted tranquilly by In a radiant clime of ineffable peace, For she dreamed that her happiness never could cease. But all that the angels can suffer of pain They felt, and they pined for their darling again. So downward they stole at the close of the day Where restless and flushed on the pillow it lay. It slept while she fondled each pain-moistened tress — It woke at the touch of an angel's caress. The casket was broken, the treasure was gone ; Though childless and widowed she long struggled on; But in all of her poverty, hunger and pain Her lost baby's chair she contrived to retain. But now, as she gazed through the mist of her tears, 'Twas the one verdant plot in the desert of years. The chair he upHfted. The crowd nearer pressed Expectantly waiting the auctioneer's jest; But his ear caught the cry and the moan of dismay. And the half -uttered jest on his lips died away; For he saw on her face the mute look of despair And he read at a glance all its history there. n A Blossom of the Sea The hammer he dropped, from his station he went, He flung to the landlord the trifle of rent; The chair in the hands of the mother he pressed, Who hugged it convulsively close to her breast. And silently lifted her tear-streaming eyes Where gratitude mingled with joyful surprise. The crowd saw the act and they gave him a cheer : If the chord's rightly touched it will ever ring clear. He found her a shelter from tempest and cold. And it lacked not her store of the treasures of old. With his hand and his heart moving thus in accord. He felt something higher than earthly reward. i8 And Other Poems SABLE ISLAND \Many years ago a young lady njoas coming out to become the bride of an English officer stationed at Halifax, ivhen the n;essel ^was caught in a fog and njorecked on Sable Island. The lady nvas the only one sa'ved, and succeeded in reaching land, but the nvreckers, attracted by her dress, aud especially by a ring she Hjoore, robbed her and then cast her into the sea. ] I. EASTWARD leagues from Nova Scotia, Where across the lonesome levels Silent, shrouded spectres creep, Long and low lies Sable Island Like the fabled ocean serpent. Stretched in curves of lengthened winding Slumbering on the sleepless deep. There for ages have the Tempests,* Maddened scavengers of ocean, Flung the refuse from their hands ; There have tumbled in confusion Stifled crews and shattered vessels, Jeweled chains and silken mantles, Shifting with the shifting sands. 19 A Blossom of the Sea II. Years agone a gallant vessel, Oaken-ribbed and snowy-pinioned, O'er the heaving azure pressed: Morning pointed hands of glory, Evening down her shining pathway Beckoned on with flaming beacons. Guiding to the golden West. Day despatched her racing rivals, Fluttering torn and tattered canvas, Speeding through the upper blue ; Night within his gay pavilion. Bending low in loving homage, Down upon the path before her Star-enwoven garments threw. On the shores of Nova Scotia Stood a gallant soldier lover Waiting for his coming bride : In her far-off English mansion Heads were bowed and hearts were lonely, Loving lips were pleading lowly For their darling and their pride. Peering onward through the shadows, In the dimness of the dawning Stood she on the deck alone : Fairer was she than the Morning When he wears the flush of waking. 20 And Other Poems When the misty loosened tresses Lightly from his brow are blown. Limpid were her eyes and bluer Than the beaming liquid azure Of the sky-bemocking deep ; For the voyage now was ending — Ere the Angels of the Dawning Passed again their golden portals Would she into harbor sweep. Voices from the verge of homeland Seemed to fall in fainter echoes Ever dying on her ear ; While in tones becoming clearer Came a call across the waters From the glowing land of sunset, Every moment growing near. From the margin of the homeland Hands that closely clung in parting Stretched across the swelling surge; Yet her longing heart impelled her Where the hand of lover beckoned Onward to the land of promise On the ocean's western verge. in. Never arms of mother pressed her, Never lover's hand caressed her, Never answered she their call ; 21 A Blossom of the Sea Stronger arms were stretched to hold her, Ruder lips caressed and colder, Louder came a call and bolder, More imperative than all. From the land of gloom and shadow Noiseless came the spectres gliding — Sheeted forms whose ghostly hands Folded round the fated vessel Blinding veils and wreaths of vapor. Led her where she plunged and floundered In the sinking, oozy sands. Then the Tempest and his legions. Ranged in rushing crested squadrons, Sweeping down with boding roar. Struck and overthrew the vessel, Trampled canvas, mast and banner, Bore away the bride and tossed her Breathless, fainting on the shore. Cruel were the sheeted spectres, Tyrannous the trampling tempest, But more cruel yet was man. Waking from her swooning slumber, Weak the sodden shore she wandered, When a boat with wreckers laden To the shallow harbor ran: Fiends that quench the warning beacon, Set the death-alluring signal. 22 And Other Poems Greedy hover for their prey ; Ruthless, hungry ocean vultures, — Pirates of the wrecked and stranded, — Ghouls that rob the dead and dying, Nor the living shun to slay. Here they found the hapless maiden Straying on the barren shoreland. Helpless, shelterless, alone. Pendent over velvet mantle Hung a gleaming golden necklace, While the jewel of betrothal Flaming on her finger shone. Into waiting boat they bore her. Spoiled her of her costly mantle, Rudely wrenched away the chain; But her hand, with death's convulsion, Tightly clenched the precious love-gift, And to force it from her finger All their efforts were in vain. Wrathful at the maid's resistance, Off they smote the snowy finger, Seized the jeweled golden band; Then the maiden, bruised and bleeding. Flung they from their floating shallop : Shrieking sank she in the surges. Holding high her wounded hand. 23 A Blossom of the Sea IV. Long the lonesome lover lingered, Long the mother interceded With the deaf, unheeding wave ; Though the months to years were growing, Ship nor sailor brought him tidings; Naught but mocking, moaning echoes To her cry the ocean gave. In a seaport of Acadia Was the ring at last discovered, Once the treasure of the bride. And the roving wretch that sold it, Lying in a home of mercy. Conscience-tortured, horror-haunted, Gasped the ghoulish tale and died. V. Still when ghostly mists are gliding Near the coasts of Sable Island Is a slender maiden seen Lifting hand with severed finger. Passing like a fleeting shadow Over shallow sea and shoreland, With a sorrow-troubled mien, — Seeking, restless and bewildered, 'Mid the misty maze of waters. Where her westward path may lie ; Ever thwarted, ever turning. 24 And Other Poems Ever more perplexed she wanders, Searching for her vanished jewel, With a tender plaintive cry. There amid the maddest tumult Of the Tempest, hoarse with passion. One the maiden's moaning hears Sinking to a sobbing whisper. Swelling to a scream of terror, Till beneath the bubbling billows Swift the phantom disappears. 2$ A Blossom of the Sea LAMENT OF A SKELETON [Near Mentone, in France, has been unearthed in a ca^ve, under a large accumulation of later deposits, a grange containing t-ivo skeletons, evidently those of a man and a ivoman, lying side by side, njoith trinkets scattered around. These A Blossom of the Sea No more can mortal claim than duty done. Man among men, king among kings he stood ; Now, summoned from us to a higher throne, He waits the judgment of the King of kings. 4-0 And Other Poems AMBITION AND PRAISE **/ charge thee Cromnvell, fling anjoay ambition. " AMBITION fling thou not away, Except the baser kind; Nay, rather strive to bring in play All virtues of thy mind. 'Tis both the duty and the right Of every earnest man To mark afar the distant height And reach it if he can. Let not a talent buried lie; Swift follow Thought with Deed, For winged life is flitting by And instant is the need. Awaken every dormant power, Its fullest service give; Relax not till the latest hour. Life's every moment live. With dauntless energy of soul Each nerve unwearied strain To reach the very farthest goal Thy genius may attain. If thou outrun the foremost van, Relinquish not the strife; 41 A Blossom of the Sea For he is nearest perfect man That makes the most of Hfe. If honest Hps with praise reward Thy honest word or deed, Contemn it not, nor disregard, — Accept it as thy meed. Too seldom far a noble fame A noble life repays; Too many are the lips that blame, Too few that utter praise. If in our purer thoughts we trust Some merit God may see, The praises of the good or just Unfitting cannot be. Then seek deserts of honest worth By honest judgment given; Who wins the praises of the earth May win the praise of Heaven. March, 1900. 42 And Other Poems OUR CITY COUSIN SHE leaves the city dust and heat To walk among our meadows sweet, 'Neath Gothic arms of elms to stray And couch amid the waving grass, To watch the lights and shadows play On dimpled waters as they pass, That hastening over pebbled ways In gurgling tones of gladness praise The circling grove of cedars cool That shade their home, the glassy pool. The morning clouds of changeful hue Were isles afloat in seas of blue. She saw afar in sunset sky, Enwrapt in soft and fleecy fold, The angel children dreaming lie On purple pillows fringed with gold; She saw the noontide shadows deep Like ghosts across the meadow sweep. And shining chargers swift pursue O'er hill and dale till lost to view. For her the winds in billows rolled Our ripened wheat as molten gold 4-3 A Blossom of the Sea Or lightly touched the crested oats That lay like level seas between, Or swayed each tasseled staif that floats On isles of maize the streamers green ; Our groves were homes for prayer and thought, Whose very hush and silence wrought A tone of sweetness never heard In fluted strain or spoken word. The minstrels of the dawn would meet To break with song her slumber sweet; The horses listen for her tread, And curve the glossy neck and stand With pointed ear and nostril spread To win caress of silken hand; The lowing kine assembled all When summoned by her ringing call, And gazed with dark and dreamy eyes Where love was mingled with surprise. The fruits and blossoms on the farm Had each for her a novel charm: The berry dwelt in hamlet green, With streets that wound in tangled maze, Where faces rose from leafy screen In clustered groups to peer and gaze; The sumach torches held aglow, The cherry bending branches low Extended tinted finger-tips 44 And Other Poems To dye in deeper red her lips. The vine a leafy hammock hung By airy finger lightly swung; To catch her gown the roses leant, — Their clinging hands her step delayed, But while the head in blushes bent^ The honeyed lip excuses made; A fairy music seemed to dwell In Morning Glory's swinging bell, And snowy lilies of the shade In tiny tones a tinkling made. Yet amply too the city maid The country cheer to us repaid ; Her motions had the airy grace And fleetness of the woodland fawn; A light seemed breaking o'er her face That promised ever brighter dawn ; The touches of her dainty hand Had magic of a wizard's wand, For where her busy fingers wrought They all to ordered beauty brought. To ornament our barren rooms Her pencil imaged clustered blooms. Or dreamy, shadow-haunted nooks Where dusky twilight ever dwells, Or grassy banks and winding brooks Where herds had hushed their clanging bells. 45 A Blossom of the Sea Her dainty fingers garments shaped In simple, artful beauty draped, Where needle traced the graceful line Of tinted leaf and trailing vine. When softly glowed the twilight star She told us tales of lands afar, Or sang us songs that hushed the heart To all the calm of eventide. In low, rich tones, till tears would start That smiling lip could hardly hide ; And when the keys her fingers swept, Such rapture o'er our senses crept That in our dreams the tones we heard Of tinkling rill and piping bird. Or oft some ballad would she read That prompted breast to noble deed; Or lyric lay of sweet content That made some lowly heart divine; Yet to the thought her reading lent An added charm to every line ; For when she read and when she sung, A richness dwelt upon her tongue That every bosom thrilled and stirred To rapture at the poet's word. 46 And Other Poems She sat where orchard gold and shade Upon her loosened tresses played — The tree took from its yellow hoard An apple which the fragrant sap With treasures of a year had stored, And flung it lightly in her lap — Then I who loved her dearly too, My offering of devotion threw, A heart with true affection rife, The gathered treasures of my life. And thus the cheery city maid Has in our country cottage stayed; For here beside me now she stands, My bride of twenty years ago: There still is magic in her hands, As I and all the neighbors know; Their touch is balm for every pain Of saddened heart or fevered brain, They still can deftly touch the string Or home to ordered beauty bring. The sounds and sights upon the farm For her have never lost their charm : For mystic notes pervade the air And o'er the quiet spirit steal, And forms of beauty everywhere Their ever changing shades reveal ; The herds at pasture each and all 47 A Blossom of the Sea Will come in answer to her call, And fondly still around her press To share her silken hand's caress. And all the neighbors feel as well Her presence casts a fairy spell: Like hers, have grown their dwellings bright ; Serener shines the morning sun. And Duty feels the burden light When Beauty's feet before her run; A purer ray the breast inflames With sweeter joys and higher aims; Their fruitful lands a charm disclose And bud and blossom as the rose. 48 And Other Poems A CHILD'S QUESTION MOTHER, tell me what is death,'' Said my little maid to-day, Coming from a neighbor home Where her playmate silent lay. ''When we die, we journey far Past remotest shining star. Onward to a distant gate Where eternal mansions wait." "Mother, tell me what is death. Bertha is not gone away. For I saw her clad in flowers Lying on her couch to-day." "Death is like a slumber deep When the weary soundly sleep, Where no passing vision stands Haunting with its shadow hands." "Mother, tell me what is death — Bertha is not sleeping now; She is cold, and did not wake When I bent and kissed her brow." "Long that slumber is and deep ; Ere she wakens from her sleep In the arms of earth she must Mingle with her kindred dust." 49 A Blossom of the Sea "Mother, tell me what is death. If in dust my Bertha lies, How can she awake or dwell Far beyond the glowing skies?" ''Bertha's form alone will sleep: This will earth enfolding keep; But her soul is gone afar Past remotest shining star." "Mother, tell me what is death. More and more obscure it grows. What is this you call the soul? Tell me where and how it goes." "Child, I know not what is death. Bosom void of heaving breath — Changeless pallor of the cheek — Hueless lips that will not speak — Hands that clasp not as of old — Lids that nevermore unfold. These I see, but cannot tell How is wrought the sudden spell. "What we mortals call the soul Comprehends no human mind; Best we know its presence here From the blank it leaves behind. O the transformation vast When the viewless guest has passed. Taking all that wins and thrills. Dimpling blush and warm caress, — 50 And Other Poems Leaving what repels and chills, Pallor, cold and nothingness. "All the noble, great and good Since the dawning hour of Time, All the hordes in homeless wood, Arctic wild or torrid clime. In the lonely silent hour When this viewless guest has power Faintly hear an inner voice, Constant as a distant wave. Whisper of an endless life And a land beyond the grave. "In the silent midnight hour, When the things of sense depart, When the inward listening ear Hears the beating of the heart. In the hush I too have heard Solemn tone and mystic word Chanted by the hidden guest In the chamber of my breast. "I, upon the summit won In our struggling slow advance. Through the mist of elder days Turn and cast a backward glance. Down the pathways of the Past Comes the beating tramp of men Sweeping o'er the levels vast, Thronging mountain steep and glen 51 A Blossom of the Sea Ruddy youth with sturdy tread, Wrinkled age with bowing head, Ordered hosts and scattered hordes, Pressing to the fatal fords. Though they shudder, pause and shrink, Yet, when trembling on the brink, All expectant look before For the viewless father shore. Whence, perchance, a distant gleam Breaks afar across the stream. "Since through all the maze of years From the early dawn of Time, Crouching slave and sceptered lord, Born of every age and clime, — Since the millions of the past Have, until their latest breath, Trusted in a world that lies Just beyond the fords of death, — Since I hear this inward voice Whisper of the life to be, — Since to every mortal born Comes the whisper as to me, — I believe the soul exists, Though its form I cannot see; I believe in world afar, Past remotest shining star. But, my maiden, what is death, What the misty waters hide. You nor I shall ever know Till we cross the darkened tide." 52 And Other Poems ON A DOG BURIED IN HIS MASTER'S CLOAK ME, WHEN yet the dawning light Scarce had broken on my sight, Clad in sable silken coat, Home my future master bore : Snowy ermine at my throat, Glossy, wavy locks I wore. When, of playful kin bereaved, I with plaintive whimper grieved, Loving tone and soft caress Banished all my loneliness. Him to love I early learned, For his constant presence yearned; Swift his bidding I obeyed, Fetched and carried at command. Amply happy if repaid With caresses from his hand. Watchful o'er his little child. All his infant cares beguiled — Winter cold nor summer heat Ever stayed my willing feet. Trusty guardian I lay Near his portal night and day. 53 A Blossom of the Sea When his coming step I heard With a hearty welcome hied, Never missing kindly word, Pacing proudly at his side. For he loved me living; shed Tears of pity o'er me dead. In his mantle close enrolled Here I slumber in the mould. Earnest mortal pause and ask, "Hast thou done thy Master's task? Hast thou kept His home, thy heart, Safely guarded night and day? Listened for His tread, to dart Forth to meet Him on the way? Hast thou on His errands fared, For His feeble children cared? Then, in mantle from His breast Closely folded thou shalt rest." December, 1898. 54 And Other Poems A VIEW OF DEATH WITHIN a vale of darksome depths, where rolled A maze of cloudy vapor, foul and dank, I met a shadow pale. Beneath the cold And steely terror of his gaze I shrank; A winter chilled the chamber of my heart; I trembled at his cruel, threatening brow And fleshless fingers poising jagged dart; I cried with hollow voice, "Oh, what art thou?" "Men call me Death," the pallid spectre said, "And all their fear and horror may devise. At my approach they shudder in their dread ; And yet I am a friend, though in disguise. I take the aged when the eye is dim To all the charms of earth, when dull the ear To all its wondrous music, when the Hmb No more the shaking form may bear, when dear And tender friends have wandered now Adown the vale of years beyond recall; I close awhile the eye, the wrinkled brow I smooth to restful peace, and bear them all To waken tearless in the Happy Isles Where skies are cloudless blue, where ceaseless flow The fountains of immortal youth, and smiles Of greeting come from friends of long ago. 5S A Blossom of the Sea "Steel-sinewed men, hard toiling at their task From dawn to dark, till shoulders bend and bow As though with weight of years, and wrinkles mask With stolid lines the youthful lip and brow. Who see no dawning through the darkness loom, Nor ever star a transient gleaming throw Upon the desert, black, devoid of bloom, Where Youth is endless toil, and Age is woe, — These oft I bear away on sudden wing, And in a moment ope their weary eyes On lands of rest and blossoms sweet, that bring The glow and gladness of a first surprise. "The happy maiden, flushed with joy and health, While loving friends unnumbered round her throng, Whose path is strewn with all the gifts of Wealth And brightened with the strains of morning song, I still to sleep with perfumed opiate, Afar convey on noiseless pinion swift. Where at the parted agate portal wait The daughters of the angels. As they lift The veils of slumber from her dreaming face, They kiss her lip and cheek to wonted glow, Unloose her braided hair, then interlace Her form with twining arms, and straying go, In converse low, across the happy fields, By drooping waters, opal-palaced streams. And pathways of a paradise that yields A joy beyond the fairest of our dreams. 56 And Other Poems "The pure, unblemished blossom, angel-borne From gardens of our God, — before the fire Of noon has blighted, or the blast has torn, Or heedless feet have crushed it in the mire Till tender head may nevermore uplift, Nor slender stem, nor waxen petals fair, But blacken into shapeless dust and drift, — I raise and back to Heaven's garden bear. The babe, whose lips but lisp the early word, Upon the gateway verge of garnet stands With fair white feet, — the curls of amber stirred By nectared winds, the little beck'ning hands Outstretched, the eyes expectant peering through A depth of blue less clear than is their own. It sends a voice — the earthly voice, yet, too, Enriched and sweetened to a seraph tone — Far past the shining flight of floating spheres, In ever fainting echoes ringing on. Until at last the list'ning mother hears The pleading call as in the days agone. And lifts her eyes, long drooped and drowned with tears. In glad surprise, and comes wfth willing feet Her child among the garden walks to meet And share the gladness of the endless years." I raised my eyes. The valley depths were bright With all the glory of a springing dawn; I saw a shining Angel of the Light, Whose hand had just the veil of Heav'n withdrawn. 57 A Blossom of the Sea THE DESERTED HOUSE MY FRIEND'S deserted home I passed The portal wide was open thrown, Across the threshold snows were blown And heaped by every vagrant blast; Within, a dainty hand had cast A counterpane of whitest wool And eider pillows fluffed and full. Ah ! once from out that open door My friend came hasting forth to meet The faintest murmur of my feet. I here shall see her face no more ; Her bark is launched to reach a shore Whence, of the myriads that have crossed, None re-embark, or all are lost. They sail a never-changing tide That ever ebbs but never flows, Where never wind but outward blows, Where inbound vessels never ride. As far in misty glooms they glide We gaze with unavailing tears And sighs that never reach their ears. 58 And Other Poems But whither flows the changeless tide, And whither blows the steady gale, What seas unknown their barks may sail, What isles of green they have descried. The misty glooms forever hide From us, who watch, our vision strain To pierce the blinding mist, in vain. Why may they not recross the stream? Why never comes returning sail To bear our yearning hearts the tale Of lands whereof we catch a gleam But far and faint? Or, do we dream Of shady groves and fragrant leas On restful isles in summer seas? And does the onward current sweep Their vessels to the sudden verge Of yawning swirls of foaming surge And shroud them in Lethean deep? Or, do they, ever homeless, creep O'er seas unknown and ever tossed. In blinding glooms perplexed and lost? O'erhung by clouds without a rift. Embarking in a shallop frail With unaccustomed oar and sail, . Amid the mists that never lift Must each adown the current drift : 50 A Blossom of the Sea No lip shall else the secret learn, What lies beyond no eyes discern. Her bark perchance hath cleft the gloom And, sliding into purple sea, Hath touched a land of level lea And limpid stream, where planets loom O'er palm-empillared banks of bloom: She there, as erst, beside the gate May now my early coming wait. What beacon then shall thither guide? For if alone, when I embark, I ever thread the maze of dark And never, never reach her side, — If I with her may not abide, I care not what abyss may keep Me whelmed forgotten fathoms deep. 60 And Other Poems TO MIRIAM I. O DAINTY, fairy Miriam, I cannot deem thee gone. But as of old thy loving heart To neighbor dwelling drawn. Awaiting here thy swift return I hear thy tripping feet, I see thy glad uplifted eyes Aglow with welcome sweet. In vain, alas, in vain I wait And long thy face to see. For thou to me wilt not return, But I shall go to thee. If He that holds of Life and Death The keys in loving hands Should open wide the shining gates Where each in glory stands. And freely offer me the choice To leave or take at will, My heart would leap to claim its own My heart is human still. 6i A Blossom of the Sea 11. Within thy distant mansion dwell No kindred thou hast known, And all its unfamiliar ways Thy feet must tread alone. O mother, in that world afar Long entered on thy rest, Whose whisper dried my early tear When cradled on thy breast, O meet my lonely little one In yonder world of bliss, Bestow on her the care and love Thou gavest me in this. O take her by the little hand So often laid in mine, And guide her unaccustomed feet To meet the Friend divine. III. I wonder where thy home may be In yonder realm afar; I see thee bask on rosy cloud, Or peer from limpid star. 62 And Othei^ Poems I see the imprint of thy feet In every glowing sky Thy whisper hear in every breeze That steals reluctant by. In every note of piping bird That greets the flushing dawn I hear again the cheery tones Of happy days agone. And when by evening's cooling breath My troubled brow is fanned, I feel again the mute caress Of lingering loving hand. Dost thou, as ever, hover near To comfort hearts that grieve? Or do again my erring sense And yearning breast deceive? IV. What new and dainty beauties now Thy heart and hand employ, That found in pretty things of earth Their one enduring joy? Dost thou frequent the fragrant meads Where freshest blooms abound, And garlands weave on shadowed banks By rills of dreamy sound? 63 A Blossom of the Sea What rapture and surprise are thine Amid the ardent throng, When breaks on thy delighted ear The primal seraph song? Are yet thy darHng lips attuned To chant the glad refrain, Or do they still a note reveal Of earthly love and pain? Dost thou ne'er come when wide the gates Their crystal bars unfold And earthward cast a longing glance To all the loved of old? V. I cannot deem with earthly days Thy little life is o'er. That all thy gentle, pretty ways Are lost forevermore. Though Science teach that future life Is but a yawning void, It still maintains whate'er exists May never be destroyed. If energy can never cease, But merely suffer change. This fettered life may find release And wider regions range. 64 And Other Poems Though flame extinguished by the blast To us may seem to die, Its vital breath has only passed To mingle with the sky. Though broken stem and withered leaf May lie upon the ground, The flower's fragrant soul has fled Beyond the azure round. The taper by the breath outblown May be relit again; The wave upborne on vapor wings May redescend in rain. Then rob me not of that wherein My only comfort lies, — That life shall find a fuller life Beyond the morning skies. If this my dearest hope be vain, If earthy life be all, Then hasten, Death, to dim my lamp And drop thy darkest pall. VL Canst thou with new immortal powers Thy fuller Hfe has brought Outspeed the lightnings of the sun, Outwing the fleetest thought? 65 A Blossom of the Sea Canst thou explore the bounds of space, Or sweep the planet's round, Unveil the dim remotest sphere In azure deeps profound? Canst thou with clearness comprehend, Unclogged by mortal breath, The hidden mysteries of Life, This darker one of Death? Canst thou discern how Earth and Heaven Are linked by viewless chain, And yet thy early entrance there Can rend this heart with pain ? VIL What constitutes the lasting joy Of thy abode supreme Whose bliss eternal so transcends Our wildest mortal dream? Does he that moulds the flaming sphere, And wheels it through the sky, Unaided shape the silken bud And blend its dainty dye? Or, since the busy hand alone Can here enjoyment find, Has He each reawakened soul A fitting task assigned? 66 And Other Poems Who drapes in mist the mountain's brow Or swathes in purple fold? Who piles aloft the castled clouds And builds their roofs of gold? What hand directs the reinless winds Or guides the maddened storms? Who flings to earth the floating flakes And braids their crystal forms ? Who shapes the seed and heaps the store About its tiny germ, And re-awakes its dormant life At the appointed term ? Who guides the upward growth to grace, The snow-lipped chalice moulds, And pours into the luscious deeps Empurpled pinks and golds? To me the violet of the grove Is dearer for the thought With dainty touch thy spirit hands Its beauties may have wrought. All tasks may reach accomplishment In such serene employ. Where Death no more may still the hand Nor Time its works destroy ; 67 A Blossom of the Sea Where brooding Thought has ample scope And undisturbed retreat; Where string of lute is never broke Nor song left incomplete. VIII. There's not a leisured moment wings This realm of Time across But on its passing pinions brings Reminders of thy loss. I miss thee when the wings of Dawn Their glory flashes fling, That brought thy step and morning kiss, And nevermore will bring. And when around the evening board Our heads are bowed in prayer, I miss the Httle earnest lips That named "Our Father" there. I miss thee when the clouds of gloom O'erdarken as the night, And through involving darkness breaks No single beam of light; When up to brazen skies I lift In vain my pleading eyes. When even God seems dead, or deaf To all my pleading cries. 68 And Other Poems IX. I find in this a kind of strength My sorrow to endure: That He that gave thee pure at first Received thee back as pure ; That o'er the tender HHed meads Thy path has ever lain, And dusts of earth upon thy feet Have left no evil stain ; That o'er thy little silent breast The grasses grow so green; That Autumn drops so gently down Her tinted leafy screen ; That passing winds of Winter hush Their wails to whispers low, And spread with tender, silent hands Their softest veils of snow; That o'er the Hills of Morning, Spring Will steal with noiseless tread. And wreathe in vine and violet Thy little lonely bed; That far beyond the Hills of Morn Thou dost expectant wait To greet me with thy wonted joy When coming soon or late. 69 A Blossom of the Sea THE SNOW ALL DAY leaden vapors had lowered, The wind whistled dismal and low, Till mingled with Night's darkest pinions Came swirling the white-winged snow. The lingering blossoms of summer, The last and the latest that bloomed. Their Hps with the life-flushes tinted, The quick with the dead were entombed. The vine that imploringly lifted Meek hands to the pitiless skies, Where deepest the billows are drifted. Low-buried and smothering lies. The leaf that had flaunted defiant Its flag in the face of the blast, All stained with its heart-blood is lying Enshrouded and silent at last. There clovers and delicate mosses In whitest of cerements are wound. But oh, unto my heart the dearest Is one little turf-woven mound. For there under late-growing grasses, Where evergreen branches droop low, With hands laid to rest on her bosom My darling sleeps under the snow. 70 And Other Poems WHITBY LADIES* COLLEGE LO A DREAM of stately beauty Stands upon a gentle height Where a gleam of azure waters Never fades upon the sight. In the hush of moonlit splendor Echoes faint the ear will reach As the feet of busy breakers Patter on the pebbled beach. Thence the early morning breezes Fan a freshness from their wings, And the shadow-mantled evening Such a grateful coolness brings That to eye it gives a lustre And to lip a ruddy wealth, While the cheek of Beauty flushes With the glow of perfect health. Where it crowns the pleasant hilltop, Where its halls in slumber lie First the Angels of the Morning From their glowing mansions fly ; On its ample roofs alighting They their shining pinions fold While they deck it as an altar In the richest "cloth of gold." As their jeweled hands are draping Window, parapet and wall. 71 A Blossom of the Sea Flying glints and gleams of glory On the lawn in flashes fall, — Veils, of quivering threads enwoven, From their amber chambers brought. Shimmering on the grassy carpet, Velvet-green and pearl-enwrought — Hands of Midas, softly touching Maples lifting lofty heads Till a gold of mellow radiance All their branches overspreads. Long the sun of evening lingers. And with love his fingers rest As he flames it with a glory Ere he leaves the ruddy West. When the night is o'er it bending Then a paler splendor falls That in folds of silk and silver Wraps the silence of the walls, Flinging flecks of light and shadow Where each faithful sentry stands Clad in Lincoln green, and pointing With his warning taper hands, Where the stealthy winds have stolen 'Mid the sleepers on the lawn. Blossom breasts of hoards to rifle Treasured for the crimson Dawn. In this pleasant mansion Learning Stands in waiting to unfold All the treasures that the ages In their ample temples hold : 72 And Other Poems Art, with dainty brush and palette, And with heaven-lifted face, Stands expectant, fleeting shadows In unfading lines to trace ; Music waits, with skilful finger Ready laid upon the string, Magic floods of melting rapture On the fragrant air to fling; Here Devotion walks with Duty, And the mind is early taught That we find the highest pleasure In the world of Work and Thought. Blessings on the heart that planned it And the hand that wrought it well. For in halls of beauty only Should the form of Beauty dwell. Where she walks the way of Wisdom Art and Nature both should meet, And assembling all their treasure Lay the off'ring at her feet. These will mould her heart to beauty. And the heart will mould the face, And a mind and soul accordant Give the form an added grace. Till her life shall beam with beauty And the happy world divine That the forms are ever fairest That the fairest soul enshrine. 1897. 73 A Blossom of the Sea A BLOSSOM OF THE SEA THE trampling hosts had come, and all the night In massive squadrons clad in gleaming steel, With waving flags and tossing plumes of white, Had rushed with thousand thundering feet, and peal Of demon laughter, on the giant rocks That stood in stern array, in harness black. Unyielding met the oft-repeated shocks And hurled them reeling, rearing, plunging back. Above the battle's deafening roar and crash Loud shrieks and muttered groans arose As every rolling rank would onward dash But fall and flounder at the feet of foes. The beaten hosts confusedly withdrew. Defeated as in myriad fights before, But scattering, fled to gather strength anew, And left the stolid victors on the shore. Aside the moon her floating curtain bound And peered in silence at the fleeing host. With silver tipped each tattgred crest, and crowned In gleaming helms the guardians of the coast. The morning came. His early beams looked down On wearied chargers deep with crimson dyed. And giants grim who still with sullen frown, And brow with purple gashed, the foe defied. 74 And Other Poems The storm had ceased. Around the sheltered bay The Httle town awoke again to Hfe, And many a snowy canvas swept away Across the waves yet angry from their strife. The fishermen beheld on every side The wreckage of some stranded ship afloat ; The broken masts were scattered far and wide, And, helpless on the waves, a tossing boat. The surges to and fro their burden rolled — A wounded sailor, down unconscious cast. Whose hands yet clenched the broken oars that told Of desperate struggle with the frenzied blast. A mother, too, whose lifeless arms embraced A babe that slumbered snugly wrapped and warm. About whose form her garments she had placed And left her own half-naked to the storm. The fishermen in breathless wonder gazed, Then, turning, quickly drew the boat to land, And, stooping low, the senseless beings raised And bore them home with tender, loving hand. The babe uninjured from its dream awoke ; But not its prattle, nor the kisses pressed By baby lips, nor touch of baby fingers, broke The silent slumber of the mother's breast. Nor e'er returned the sailor's consciousness ; But oft he rose, when tossing in his pain, And cheered the mother in her deep distress, Then fiercely fought his battle o'er again. 75 A Blossom of the Sea At last, as o'er the ocean broke the day, He started from his couch in wild surprise And shouted, ''Land !" then lifeless sank and lay With look of rest and gladness in his eyes. The people gathered from the village round — Their bronzed faces wet with streaming tears — And laid them where had risen many a mound For ocean victims in the passing years. O kindly is the Sea when skies are fair, And slumber all the passions of the breast; The sailor's bark in love he seems to bear To summer-harbored, fragrant isles of rest. Then cradled in his softly swaying arms One evermore in dreamy bliss may lie, Where not a breath e'er startles or alarms The drowsy cloud slow floating in the sky. O cheering is the Sea when breezes fill The sweUing sail and fling the whirling spray And send through every tingling nerve a thrill, As glides the vessel swiftly on her way. O cruel and inconstant is the Sea : When rage and frenzy swell his savage breast. He tosses high, down dashes ruthlessly What he so late had cradled and caressed. With Giant hands the creaking mast he bends And smites with mighty blows the shrinking ships, Their bruised and battered sides he rudely rends With savage howl and frenzy-foaming lips ; 76 And Other Poems Or drives them crashing on the craggy shore And shatters them with oft-repeated shocks, As with defiant shout and demon roar He tramples out their life among the rocks. Though oft they sought among the towns around, Inquiries none about the mother came. But on the garment of the child they found, By skilful fingers broidered there, a name. The name was "Baby Jessie" ; and no more The little lips could tell; nor ascertained They whence the vessel stranded on their shore ; And so the orphan child with them remained. Though loving memories in her bosom slept, And in her dreams a presence lingered long, In time the lonely one no longer wept For mother's kiss and mother's cradle song. For Helen Bain, whose heart dwelt in her face, Had taken Baby Jessie as her own. And soon her winning way and girlish grace Had made her well in every cottage known. From her they named her ^'Jessie Bain" ; but oft When breezes, racing o'er the waves in glee. Had flushed her rounded cheek with tinting soft, The little maid was "Blossom of the Sea." With merry feet she tripped through Babyland, Where all is bright to new-awakened eyes That see the beauties fresh on every hand Beneath the glow of yet unclouded skies ; 77 A Blossom of the Sea Where every breeze a fragrant burden brings From laden blooms that, glowing, never fade, And every note is flung from gleeful strings Where Sorrow's languid hand was never laid. In Childhood Land she ran with nimble feet Her little busy round of school and play — A bee that everywhere was gathering sweet And storing by against the future day. Glad-footed years went swiftly ghding by, And silent wove the veils they ever cast O'er all the fair and lovely forms that lie Enshrined by memory in the shrouded past. Till, one by one, a filmy mantle hides Or dims them all. Years flitted till she stood Upon the verge where Childhood's pathway glides Unconscious into that of Womanhood. The Springs of coming womanhood had told, The Summers tinged her cheek with bloom of rose, The Autumns on her tresses left their gold, The Winters bathed her brow in purest snows. The dwellers in the woodland where she strayed Were joyous when they spied her drawing near And freely yielded to the rambling maid Whatever treasure each regarded dear ; — The lily gave her form its slenderness. The ripple lent her voice its music sweet, The breezes touched her locks with fond caress And whispered of their lightly-treading feet. 78 And Other Poems These fisher people rugged features wore, For generations bronzed by wind and spray, And shoulders bent and broadened by the oar Their sturdy arms had wielded day by day. With speeding years they saw the maiden now Resemble more and more that slender form With cloud of golden hair and angel brow That saved her babe but perished in the storm. To them this cheek 'mid apple blossoms born, This eye that beamed with blue of heaven's dome, These streaming locks like early rays of morn, This breast and brow as white as tossing foam. This loving heart where gifts and treasures rare Were in profusion lavish known to lie, — To them she seemed a creature of the air — A blossom born beneath no earthly sky. Companion in her play was Willie Brown. Beside the boats together on the shore They chased the seaward wave swift fleeting down The smooth hard sand ; then shrieked and ran before The wave that, turning, laughed in tones subdued And stole behind them silently and fleet, Or clapped its hands, and oft so close pursued Its fingers touched their bare and flying feet. They heaped up mimic mounds, outhollowed wells. Of chosen pebbles little mansions made For which the busy sea brought shining shells In blending tints of pink and white arrayed. 79 A Blossom of the Sea The schoolhouse with its Httle busy world Lay nestHng in a closely sheltered nook, Where elms at noon their shadow flags unfurled And flung the fluttering folds upon the brook That, slumbering, seemed in sleepy tones to mock The stolen whisper soft, and droning din, And — pattering down some tiny shelf of rock — The clatter of the buzzing world within. There side by side the twain together went, Their trials and their triumphs daily shared; With earnest brow in thoughtful posture bent They day by day the little tasks prepared. When older grown, the hunger of the mind They fed with few but treasured books, possessed Among the village homes, and woke refined And holy thoughts that slumbered in the breast. A fount of pleasure here they found from which They daily draughts of rarest rapture drew : And as they drained each goblet, nectar-rich,. More precious to the lip the fountain grew. The lithest lad was he on all the coast: No arm more skilful bending oar to wield, No bolder heart the little town could boast To gather harvest from the azure field. O'er placid forehead locks were idly thrown Where ebon hand had penciled wavy lines And glossy curves, as when the billow blown Through lighted gloom in dusky lustre shines. 80 And Other Poems Dark eyes he had, where darting flashes oft The fiery radiance of his soul revealed; But oftener still they shone with lustre soft Of twilight star in vapor half concealed. Lips thin and firm o'er face of manly mould An air of dauntless resolution threw; But yet a something lingered there that told : The loving heart of tender depths and true. Two meadow rills that wander side by side, By sun lips kissed, by shadow hands caressed, Together imperceptibly will glide And flow united with unruffled breast; Two twinkling drops on petal of the rose May lie and sparkle in the morning sun, But at the breath of lightest breeze that blows Will touch and kiss and tremble into one. Thus day by day their lives were seen to ghde. And thus at last together seemed to run; But they so long had wandered side by side That neither knew when heart was lost or won. They never thought their paths could separate, For all their lives had they together been: This seemed but as the opening of a gate That led to wider world and newer scene. Low circling hills around the village lay. Where fell the earliest beams of morning sun A humble home had risen day by day By thrifty hand from spoil of ocean won. 81 A Blossom of the Sea It looked upon the little bay, the bar, And, far away, upon the tumbling main, Where she might spy his coming bark afar On eager wings to enter home again. There many an idle hour they strayed and planned A lowly bower or bed of roses bright; For now approached the day when hand and hand And heart and heart forever would unite. To save the maiden from a needless pain Her early sorrow all had been concealed; But now had come the hour when Helen Bain The story of her early life revealed. Astounded at the revelation strange, She all with many an eager question plied. The current of her life it seemed to change And cast a pall of darkness on its tide. She wore an air of thoughtful quietness. In former hopes of life no pleasure took, But sought the woodland breeze of soft caress And whispered song of shadow-checkered brook. She often wandered on the lonely shore And pictured all the sadness of the scene; And oft they found her when the day was o'er Yet sitting by the nameless mound of green, Where fancy strove some image in her mind Of that devoted mother's face to frame Who died to save her child, yet left behind Not e'en the cherished memory of her name. 82 And Other Poems There many a secret tear in silence fell, And there was many a wildwood flower strewn ; Nor did she him forget who fought so well For that dead mother's life and for her own. One evening, as she lingered here apart, A stranger strolling through the village came. Who, pausing by her with a sudden start, Her features closely scanning, begged her name. She told him, and his wonder more increased. **A Jessie knew I, and so like to thee At first I deemed thee her, — if not, at least Her child. But, nay, for this can never be : The wife I loved, the baby that was mine. The sea has torn away with cruel Jiands And hid them deep in dismal depths of brine, Or tossed them lifeless on the nameless sands." He told his tale in broken words and low : "With Jessie Gray, my newly wedded bride, I left this land but twenty years ago, To seek a home beyond the ocean wide. There Love and Fortune on our dwelling smiled. Five years had passed when Jessie longed to see Her native land again. She took her child — Whose name was Jessie too — a babe of three — And sailed. No tidings came with passing years, Save that the ship and all aboard were lost. Time has not healed the wound nor dried my tears ; But now the ocean I again have crossed. S3 A Blossom of the Sea And where I hear of vessel cast away, I thither go with half a hope to find Some faint surviving trace that haply may Relieve the deathless sorrow of my mind. A tale of wreck, by roving sailor told, Has brought me here where kindly seamen lay The bruised forms the cruel waters hold And toss in sport, then lifeless fling away." When Jessie too recounted all, in haste The lowly home of Helen Bain they sought, Who told the tale anew, before them placed The robe with baby Jessie's name enwrought. The garments, long preserved, that wrapped the child, And spoke of slender form and forehead fair, Of clinging arms that clasped in death, and wild. Disheveled locks of waving golden hair. He recognized the garments as the same His Jessie wore, — had seen her hand entwine Upon the robe of blue her baby's name In braided letters linked with trailing vine. He clasped his daughter in a close embrace That told the longing love of lonesome years. And gazed upon the dear uplifted face With eyes that gladness lit through lurking tears. He stroked her cheek, her silken locks caressed. The peerless heaven of her eye surveyed. Her lip and brow with lingering kisses pressed That all the hunger of his heart betrayed. 84 And Other Poems They kissed as those whose lips have never met And know they nevermore may meet again, Whose life sjiall be one ceaseless, long regret, Whose earthly bliss one moment must contain. Then in their daily walks about the town He told her of his home in foreign land. Where Nature showered her richest treasure down And Fortune gave her gifts with lavish hand. *'Me also she has favored, and bestowed Enough thy wildest dream to satisfy. There shall we go and bring to our abode Whate'er indulgent father can supply. Thy hand the dainty trellised vine shall train Where clustered blooms their garments bright unroll ; Shall wake with sweep of fingers light the strain That floats through secret chambers of the soul. There arbor dim, by murmuring leaves betrayed, With blossom hands shall lure to cool retreat; And winding walk embowered in dreamy shade At twilight hour invite the straying feet. ''One chamber of our home we shall enrich With ranks of chosen volumes new and old; And marble forms from many a fluted niche Their gathered treasure all shall still behold. There fleeting fancies floating through the brain, Or ramblings of the soul in realm sublime. Embalmed in words, their glory will retain. Surviving all the ruined wrecks of time. 85 A Blossom of the Sea There daily shall we meet as friend with friend, The purest spirits earth has ever known, And quiet hours in conversation spend, And lift our minds to level of their own. We there shall summon back the mighty dead And hold communion with their souls, and learn The best and noblest that they thought and said Ere Death enclosed them in his hollow urn. ''Or, we shall travel far to foreign climes. To distant shores in fame and story old ; The pillared structures reared in other times By busy hand of man shall we behold. There evanescent dreams of beauty lie Forever by a magic hand enchained, — The radiant forms, the robes of brilliant dye, The lights and shadows dim have all remained. There lustrous eyes from fringed lids let fall Their melting glances full of loving trust, And lips with beaming smile the heart enthrall. Though they that smiled have long been shapeless dust. "In deathless marble there have been preserved Despairing face, distorted in its pain, — Forms interlocked, to deadly struggle nerved, — The brow of giant frowning in disdain, — The faultless form, whose lines of beauty sweep In graceful flowing curves of driven snow. With arms of naiad mould, and lips that keep The sweetness yet of centuries ago, 86 And Other Poems And e'er shall keep. Howe'er may fleet the years These forms of beauty ne'er shall know decay ,- No breaking heart, no bitter, blinding tears Shall furrow trench or sweep one charm away. "There shall we wander in a land of vines Where stealthy streams with silent sj:eps descend, Where noontide sun in softened lustre shines From skies of blue that seem so low to bend That heaven's loved ones lean the lily breast From shining casements of their marble dome, And, looking down, the pleasant land invest With radiance of their own supernal home. At times so low their faces seem to bow We feel the warmth of loving presence near, And catch a transient glimpse of glowing brow And eyes of love that through the ether peer. And in the hush and silence of the night We hear their bosoms heaving soft and slow, Their voices sink to murmured whispers light In wonder at the charms of all below. And hands caressing seem to touch us oft As light as fall of floating apple bloom; And words are breathed in murmur low and soft That fill the soul with sense of rare perfume. The hush of hallowed silence often seems So full of forms supernal flitting by The heart, ecstatic in its rapture, deems That heaven's halls to earth have floated nigh." 87 A Blossom of the Sea "And what of Willie Brown?" "Ah, Jessie, fling All thought of him aside. When thou shalt see The wider world this newer life shall bring This fisher lad will little seem to thee. For both 'tis better far at once to part. The keenest stroke of sorrow's stinging rod Is when a wife, refined in mind and heart, Is linked and fettered to a senseless clod That finds no beauty in a graceful thought, For no communion with the great aspires. Perceives in poet's melting music naught To soothe the soul or feed its fainting fires ; Whose eyes, forever bent upon the ground. See not the blooms he crushes 'neath his feet, Nor glories of the landscape spread around, Nor dome above with jeweled lights replete; Whose breast unmoved and passionless remains When hill and grove with minstrel music ring; Whose ear is dull to all the magic strains That lip can blow or finger sweep from string. The lonely are not they that walk alone, But who with others must the journey take And find no heart accordant to their own Responsive music soul to soul to make. Thou hast thy gentle mother's gifted mind. Her slender, graceful form, too frail and slight For life of toil with one who, roughly kind. The tender blossoms of thy soul may bHght. Does Winter shelter with his garments cold The rose when shrinking, trembling in its fear? 88 Aftd Other Poems Though clad in armor, does the thistle hold Protect the tender lily blooming near? The rose, long cradled in the summer airs, Will die at touch of Winter's icy breath; The pointed spears the sturdy thistle bears The lily's bosom soon will wound to death. "These people for their kindness merit more Than hand of even lavish gift repays ; And who for thee a mother's burden bore Shall nothing lack in her declining days. Yet here we must no longer now remain. But go afar in other land to dwell. A sudden wound produces least of pain ; So •bid at once this fisher lad farewell." The maid had cherished yearnings undefined For something more than village life had brought; Her books a love had wakened in her mind For beauty, music, and the world of thought; Unchanted anthems haunted long her soul ; Unspoken legends lingered in her ear ; About her fleeting forms of beauty stole, By eye unseen, to inward vision clear. Her heart had hungered. Fancy had portrayed A fairyland its craving to supply : The father thus could easily persuade, The daughter's heart unwillingly deny. She found the lad beside the little cot Constructed by his hands with rustic skill — Love-prompted, busy hands that faltered not, But strove to add some new attraction still. 89 A Blossom of the Sea Dim-shadowed dells and glades he wandered through. And wild-born beings from their dwelling brought. The sweet-lipped violet in hood of blue, And ferns in broidered garments, fairy- wrought. Above the porch he trained the vine she loved, Whose purple bells, at morning's earliest ray. Are softly swung by taper fingers gloved In green, to warn the birds of coming day. With face averted she her message told. And talked against the pleadings of her heart. As Memory swift their happy past unrolled ^ She felt the pang forevermore to part. The pink-lipped orchard blooms, in garments white. Dispense their sweets for evening passer-by, But Death may come on pinions of the night, And faded, scentless all may shriveled lie. To him that rustic home had fairer been Than lofty hall adorned with sculptured bust; But now her words had blighted all the scene, Its rooms were darkened and its flowers dust. To this he mutely pointed, and amazed And silent stood ; but pallid lips compressed And eyes to her in speechless sorrow raised, Betrayed the stifled anguish of his breast. The maiden's inward feeUngs were at strife, Her conscience smote her as she turning said, "Some other maid will make thee better wife," Then faltered out a swift farewell and fled. go And Other Poems No word his lip could utter to restrain Her fleeing feet. He knew that sudden night Had fallen on the morning fields, nor would again A gleam the darkness of the shadow light. He left the scene of dreamed-of happiness, With hurried footsteps to the harbor passed, Unmoored his shallop — in his deep distress Unmindful of the threatening rising blast. Or warnings of the hoary fishermen ; For he would not to other eyes unbare His bosom, tortured with its anguish, when He fought the gloomy demons of despair. The tumbling of the booming, boiling waves Accorded with the tumult of his soul ; In wildly plunging through their yawning graves A maddened joy through all his being stole. And when, with heaving, rocking billows crowned. Came moving mountain masses gloomed with night, He rose triumphant o'er their crests, and found In tossing on their swells a fierce delight. Contending with the tempest, thus alone He fought and won his battle with despair; He steeled his heart, resolved without a moan The lifelong aching silently to bear. But ere his breast a haven calm had found, The dusky hands of night were spreading fast Their blackest palls of thickest gloom around His bark, that bowed and bent before the blast. 91 A Blossom of the Sea Then through the village soon the rumor ran That Willie Brown was lost in storm and night. Then booming bell its far halloo began, And beacon blazed upon the towered height. And watchers waited on the wind-swept shore And peered into the gloom with straining eye, Or bent attentive where amid the roar The ear might faintly catch distressful cry. Though oft deceived by mounting wave whose crest In beacon-glare had flashed like canvas white, Or wail of wind like shriek of soul distressed, The morning dawned without a sail in sight. Grim Ocean's fit of madness now had passed, And he with muttered moan and sigh suppressed In troubled sleep exhausted lay at last, With fallen flecks of frenzy on his breast. The watchers one by one had homeward gone ; But on the beach with tresses backward blown. With tearless eyes and features pale and wan. And heaving bosom, Jessie stood alone. As watchman of the coast and sullen guard, From granite rock had Nature hewn and cleft A^ rudely shapen giant, grim and scarred, And at its base the chiseled fragments left. Along the rocky shore the sifted sands The waves had borne and smoothed with constant tread. Where idly fallen from their careless hands Were fluted shell and play-worn pebble spread. Q2 And Other Poems Here stood she in the morning cold and grey, While busy, bustling waters, racing fleet, Ran here and there for treasure-trove, where lay The fragments fallen at the giant's feet. "Relentless, all-devouring sea, O give my loved one back to me. Endured I not when yet a child, As victim of thy frenzy wild, The tempest of thy chilling breath, The buffets of thy cruel hand, That laid my mother cold in death, And cast me lone on rugged strand, A helpless babe, of all bereft, To care of pitying stranger left? Relentless, all-devouring sea, O give this loved one back to me. "Yet, oh, this once, thy prey restore. And I shall chide thee nevermore: Thy chillest breath shall breathe of balm, Thy wildest rage be rippled calm, The blackest night that glooms thy brow Shall morning be with gold agleam, Thy frenzied roar that frights me now Shall sweetest warbled music seem. Thy wave of heaven-sweeping crest Shall sway as soft as mother's breast. Then, oh, this once, thy prey restore. And I shall chide thee nevermore. Q3 A Blossom of the Sea ''O give him back that I may tell, Though seeming false, I loved him well; Though one brief hour my soul forgot, These lifelong links are sundered not; But once, but once my fickle heart Hath faltered, but it shall no more. Must here our paths forever part, And is the happy journey's o'er? Then I shall walk, my eyelids wet With dimming tears of vain regret. O bring him back, that I may tell, Though seeming false, I loved him well. "Relentless, all-devouring sea, O bring my loved one back to me, That I may feel his warm embrace And read forgiveness in his face. If not in life, oh, yet in death. That I his pallid lips may press Till mine shall give them living breath To pardon all my faithlessness, — Till in his dull, cold ear I tell, Though seeming false, I loved him well. Thou cruel, all-devouring sea, O bring my loved one back to me." As thus she spoke, around the headland came A stalwart form in seaman's habit dressed : A pause, a startled cry, a whispered name, — The maiden sank unconscious on his breast. 94 And Other Poems By baffling blasts, on bounding billows borne, The lad at last to nearest port was blown. And folding there the shallop's pinions, torn. Had homeward trod the trampled beach alone. With steel-nerved breast and dauntless bearing proud, He strode beside the overpeering rocks, Resolved to meet, as they, with head unbowed The wildest tempest and the fiercest shocks. A glimpse of lissome form and streaming hair; Then, pausing by the giant's feet, he heard The tearless maiden's self-accusing prayer, And hope revived his deepest being stirred. A sudden light had broken through the cloud That seemed to blacken all his way with night ; The morning meadows broke in singing loud That put the sombre silences to flight. No needless words were said. In close embrace The raptured lovers stood upon the shore. The glow of morning lit each gladdened face. And fears of final parting were no more. Her father, learning of her absence, fled With hasty footsteps here and saw the twain, And in her face the open secret read : The lately found to him was lost again. "From Willie, father, I can never part : We two have been together all our lives. Such tendrils Time has thrown about my heart. To break their clasp my bosom vainly strives. 95 A Blossom of the Sea The terrors of the night have taught me this : My fairy dream of happiness is done; For let the future bring me bane or bliss, Where'er the path may lead, our ways are one. The bird that all its little life hath spent 'Mid simple blooms and swinging leafy sprays Would pine if in a palace garden pent Where gaudy plant a richer robe displays. Go, leave me in this lowly humble scene ; For daily life has in this soul of mine So linked and woven this that I had been Unhappy in that grander home of thine. Remote from bustling strife and pompous pride We two shall walk our little way alone. Shall live and love, then, lying side by side, Sleep our long sleep untroubled and unknown. Forget these hours, and let me be again A lingering shadow left from other years ; But thou to me forever wilt remain A blissful memory dashed with dimming tears." By clambering vines now thickly overgrown The cottage nestles on the circling hill; Beside the bower the rose has yearly blown. And fern and violet find a shelter still. For Jessie still the purple bells of dawn Are at the porch by Willie's hand arrayed, And now their children play upon the lawn And drink the fragrance of the cooling shade. q6 And Other Poe?ns But near, where oaks unfurl their banners old, And dying Day, from trembling, glowing hands. At last flings down his miser hoards of gold, A grander, not a dearer, mansion stands. 'Tis there that Jessie and her Willie dwell : But winding hedge and beaten footpath show They oft frequent the little cot and tell Of scenes and loves of years of long ago. One dwells with them who wears a kindly face, Whose ample locks are richly touched with white ; But where the days of sadness left their trace Have years of gladness cast a wondrous light. Though blackest storms career across the sky And all the cheerful beams of heaven hide, Yet oft the cloudy steeds of darkness fly, And bright is all the West at eventide. Her father had consented to remain — By Willie's earnest, manly bearing moved, But more by Jessie's words. Three years the twain To college halls he sent and further proved. Then fitting out a vessel for the land Beyond the main, he put the lad aboard. Sea-nurtured from his youth, to high command He rose. And now his vessels richly stored With foreign goods return. The fishing port Has widened to a town, whose hardy sons Upon his decks the ocean breezes court. And homeward bring for wife and little ones, 97 A Blossom of the Sea Across the rocking billows of the deep, Their gathered spoils. Now larger homes appear, Where often Beauty and Refinement keep An even pace with Plenty all the jear. Than Helen Bain's no fairer home is there. Her lightest needs are lavishly supplied. Though snows have fallen on the wavy hair, The looks of kindly goodness yet abide Enwritten on her face, with something too Like growing rays of Heaven's dawn, that stream Already o'er the hills of Death, and through The mists of earth upon her forehead beam. By all are Jessie and her Willie known : For light and beauty have they spread around, Encouraged, lifted, helping arms have thrown About the erring weak, till all have found The ways of Knowledge lead to higher heights Of happiness, that broaden to the view. And onward lead to more supreme delights Than ever soul of groveling mortal knew. For onward, upward points the hand of Fate, And onward, upward moves the human race; Though toilful be the path and slow the rate, The host advances to a higher place. Though many stragglers loiter in the rear. And blindly flounder in the deep morass, And few be they who yet the summit near, Yet onward, upward moves the struggling mass. The blood of all the centuries and the tears That stain the pathway have not been in vain; Trace all its windings through the weary years. And mighty strides of progress then are plain. c,8 And Other Poems As Knowledge slow unfolds the growing mind The soul awakes and breaks in gladder song; And eyes are lifted to the light, inclined To circle blindly round the feet so long. And beckoned on by Jessie's guiding hand, These villagers have lifted too their eyes And, seeing lights on higher slopes of land, Forsaken lower moors and murky skies; And rising from the misty fog and gloom That clouded and obscured the vision there, They walk serener plains of wider room, And drink the rapture of a purer air. The world is brighter than they ever dreamed. Although in toil the fleeting days are spent, Each golden hour by useful task redeemed, The soul is not as in a prison pent ; For on the scene will often Music steal And flood the air with melting strain divine. And Art the charm of blending tints reveal When framed in curves of beauty's flowing line, And Thought, with subtle treasures of the mind Upon undying pages old impressed In glowing words, a quiet hour will find To wake the slumbering genius of the breast. Remembering all the darkness of the past, The light and gladness of the world to be. They still believe some angel hand has cast Upon their shore this Blossom of the Sea. August, 1897. QQ A Blossom of the Sea A PIONEER FARMER WHERE clothed in verdure yonder fields are seen In swelling curves of hill and hollow rolled The squadroned maples stood in tunics green And baldrics bright with gleams of autumn gold. There, stationed 'mid the host, the stalwart pine Above their purple plumes aloft had flung His banner broad, whose folds in graceful line Low drooping swayed or slow unfurling swung. In autumn dim, alone and undismayed, A gallant youth that bannered army neared ; He smote their proudest low with flashing blade And fortress rude among the fallen reared. And here he brought his bride of tender years, Sweet-lipped and slender as a bending bloom. Whose eyes, emerged from some dim sea of tears, Would still in star-like flashes light and loom. Her brow some angel hand had smoothed and pressed Till more than earthly calmness there reposed. Her misty cloud of tresses had caressed Till tints of glory every wave disclosed. The walls were built of rugged beams and round. Rough-notched at end and interspaced with clay. High-gabled roof the humble structure crowned. Through which a chimney struggling made its way. lOO And Other Poems An ample hearth within where high were heaped The oaken logs on frosty winter night, And flames triumphant loud in laughter leaped And clapped their ruddy hands in sheer delight. The shadows, beckoned from their dim abode, Along the wall a merry measure paced ; While shining pinions 'mid the rafters glowed, And giant glooms their flitting flashes chased. A sudden flare lit all the simple room: The floor of riven pine ; the mantel-shelf Agleam with shining ware ; the clacking loom That claimed an ample corner for itself ; The chimney seat, a couch for stranger guest; The easy chair with woven splint inwrought; The table, whiter than if linen-drest, Where merry cups each glint and twinkle caught; The curtained bed of down, heaped mountain-high And crowned with fluffy pillows light as air, Where smooth-laid counterpane allured the eye With many a gay, grotesquely patterned square. Their home was small, the forest dim and lone ; About their hearth yet children playing came And crooned their little songs in cheery tone, And flung a light from flashing locks of flame. All day she nimbly sped the moaning wheel That sighed and wailed its plaintive, weird refrain, Or filled the pauses with the clicking reel That from the spindle whirled the growing skein. lOI A Blossom of the Sea While flared on evening hearth the flaming wood, The needles twinkled in her fingers fleet That wove for rounded cheek the cosy hood Or shaped the stocking for the dimpled feet. There too for him life ran its busy round : At glow of morn his ringing axe awoke The silent shades and dusky depths profound Of sombre-mantled pine and burly oak. While hostile tempest loud the trumpet blew They stood undaunted at the charger's blast, On high their arms in wild defiance threw And dealt their blows in fury as he passed. But now, their tresses trembling at each blow. By comrades' clinging hands in vain delayed, With sigh of last farewell and groaning throe Of dying agony before his glancing blade They reel, the lofty head is lowly bowed With all its tossing plumes, the arms outthrust Crash prone to earth, and all the tresses proud Are torn and rent and darkened in the dust. His hands had thus by never-flagging zeal The sunny fields from forest dense and tall Out-hollowed with consuming flame and steel; The fallen trunks had shaped for sheltering wall To shield his harvest from the winter gale. Or yonder fence that mossy vesture wears, That tacks and veers like wind-confronted sail. And all the farm divides in verdant squares. 102 And Other Poems By years of toil incessant from his land Obstructing rock and root were slowly cleared. As fortune blessed the labor of his hand Increasing signs of comfort there appeared : Yon roomy mansion where the morning still With golden finger gilds the eastern pane; Capacious barns where vying autumns fill And heap the garner high with shining grain. The orchard trees on yonder southern slope Erect in neatly ordered rows he placed, And pruned and shaped their spreading boughs, in hope Their fruitage in the after-years to taste. There Spring unfolds the bridal robes of Dawn, Of vialed odors brings her treasured stores, And o'er the cloud of blushful tinted lawn The fragrant balm with hand unsparing pours. There Autumn hangs his rounded cups of gold That such abundant nectar draughts contain, The brimming cup, unable all to hold, Is often dyed and streaked with ruddy stain. He rose betimes with cheery heart and brave To cleave the furrows of his fruitful land; He sowed, and what the God of harvest gave He gathered to his barns with thankful hand. When sultry sun or chill untimely frost Would on his fields their blighting finger lay. He ploughed again in hope, nor courage lost, For richly would the coming year repay. Who life preserves within the tiny germ Enfolded closely in the wheaten breast. 103 A Blossom of the Sea Who feeds with fallen leaf the hidden worm, Who builds for timid bird the sheltered nest, Who for the kine a winter garment weaves, Nor crimson vest the robin does deny, With careful eye the sparrow's fall perceives, Would give to trusting man a sure supply. To him in vain the helpless never went Nor poured their troubles into deafened ear. The stricken home he meet assistance lent And gave to passing stranger of his cheer. The man of God, who threading forest gloom On jaded steed too seldom thither fared. Found, like the prophet old, his little room And restful couch by loving hand prepared. By winding ways the neighbors thither went Through leafy dusks by starry twilight led, And lifted heart in song, or reverent bent As earnest lips the Master's message read. He dwelt among his dusky herds of kine And snowy flocks like ancient patriarch ; He called them all by name, and warm would shine Responsive, dreamy eyes of lustre dark. Their master was he, kind and provident : For winter needs he hoarded ample store ; With tender bosom o'er the suffering bent And in his arms their feeble kindred bore. His form while yet afar the horses knew, And neighing o'er the meadow trooping came, 104 And Other Poems With fondling touch around him pleading drew The dainty morsel from his hand to claim. Reflecting, toiling daily in his field, He learned the open book of life to read : What at the harvest hour the heart shall yield We each determine as we sow the seed ; Who cleaves the turf with steady hand and strong, Uproots the weed and plants the chosen grain, Although the days of watchful toil be long At last his meed of ripened ears shall gain ; Who merely leaves the garden of the mind An idle field unfurrowed and unsown, Awaiting more auspicious hour, shall find The vacant soil with tangle overgrown; Who all the year has planted weeds and tares May not with right complain or justly blame If, when his sheaf he to the garner bears. The Lord of Harvest cast it to the flame: For who would store among the precious grain That he had stooped to gather from the dust, Had sifted, fanned, and winnowed pure again, The weed, the bur, the mildewed ear and rust? To him all Nature lessons could unfold : The fairy plant upspringing from the sod Has root to cling and grapple to the mould. Has bloom to rise and Hft its face to God; The meanest life that grovels on the ground Is ever blindly striving for the light; los A Blossom of the Sea The vine that hath its lattice limit found An arm will lift to reach a newer height; The pine that deepest in the earth descends And, ever busy, gathers far and nigh. This gathered earthly treasure all expends In climbing upward nearer to the sky; The lower must subserve the higher end ; The purer beams are ever on the height, For growth and bloom all upward strain and bend, And souls can blossom only in the light ; For light alone the waxen cup can mould. Can trace the netted vein or flowing line, Can flame in scarlet, gild with burnished gold, Can faintly tinge or steep the lips in wine. And life is not for endless toil alone, To wrap the body warmly and to feed ; The heart has also yearnings of its own. Its craving hunger and its crying need. The hand that spread the banner of the sky And decked with golden stars its tender blue, That touched the petal's lips with ruby dye. Hath given man a love of beauty too. Who shaped the slender streamer of the sedge, Who wrapped the apple in its ruddy rind, Who veined the leaf and wove its broidered edge, Hath use and beauty ever close combined. Thorn, fibre, leaf, and clinging spiral scroll Have each a purpose in the Maker's plan. And every passion of the human soul Contributes to development of man. Jo6 And Other Poems Our loves, our hates, our angers, and our fears, Our hopes, despairs, unquenchable desires, — All these, transmuted by the moulding years, For perfect growth the soul of man requires. The springing shoot, the bud, the fluttering spray, The faded stem, the withered leaf and dry, Show life a steady progress to decay. And all of earth or soon or late must die. When death stole nigh his bride of memory sweet And touched her tender eyes to endless sleep, He murmured low in resignation meet, ''We sow in tears, we soon in joy shall reap ; For He that stoops to lift the slender blade To light and air through clods of darksome earth Can cleave the sod where man is lowly laid And give in nightless world a second birth." His hands are still, his given task is done ; That he might rise no one has fallen low ; His gain is not from store of others won ; His triumph plunged no other heart in woe ; For him no field is red with human gore, No smothered wretches clog the darksome mine, Nor faint by furnace gorged with molten ore, Nor stifled sink in gulfs of roaring brine. By blood and tears his wealth is undefiled ; For what he gained he gained by honest toil. The lands he won he won from Nature's wild. And fair and fruitful made the barren soil. 107 A Blossom of the Sea He spent his golden moments not in vain; He joyed, he sorrowed as we mortals must; He ran, he stumbled, rose and ran again, But never lay and groveled in the dust. On yonder slope that overlooks the scene Of all his toil he takes his lasting sleep. In vain shall Morning touch his couch of green To call him as of yore from slumber deep. God's first behest, to till and dress the land, He has obeyed. His works with us remain. Though lifeless on the bosom lies the hand, It has increased the sum of human gain. He found a forest tangled lone and dim, Of savage brute the home since Time began; He left these sunny meadows neat and trim. Prepared and ready for the home of man : The earth more like a Garden of the Skies, More fitting for the growth of mind and soul, A higher plane whence man may higher rise. With nearer steps approach the final goal, — That goal to which we slowly tend, the dream Of heathen bard and sacred prophet old, — When earth again a paradise may seem And man his God may unabashed behold. For all that, mounting, smooth the steeps of Time Are hewing pathways for the host unborn That, coming after, to the height shall climb And walk serene the Tablelands of Morn. io8 And Other Poems HOW LONG? HOW long, all-seeing Lord, how long Ere yet thy reign of peace shall come, When man shall strive no more with Wrong, 'And frenzied lips of War be dumb? Though reeking blood and orphan tears Have ever yet been Freedom's price, In all the onward march of years Must these be still the sacrifice? Must each serener height be gained By flashing sword and flaming gun? By bosom-thrust and garment stained Must every forward step be won? Shall evil men our way oppose Till silenced in the grasp of Death? Will naught avail but trenchant blows And blighting blast of cannon's breath ? Or, may it be thy will divine To leave unchecked this crimson flood ? Must Freedom's sacrifice, as thine, Be made in vesture dipped in blood? log A Blossom of the Sea Wherein we err for lack of light, O plainer make thy hidden ways ; If wrongly we contend for Right, Forgive, and make our wrath thy praise. no And Other Poems ONWARD. FAR-SEEING Fate, controlling all, Uplifts the race by slow degrees, And men and nations rise and fall Obedient to her dark decrees. Her hand unseen directs our ways And guides through evil into good; The turbaned Moslem kneels and prays Where shrieking fanes of Moloch stood. A tyrant hand may redden France And topple monarchs from the throne, But Europe's cringing hosts advance And claim their harvests as their own. Whoe'er by Clive or Hastings bled, They wrought with Progress and with Fate, For India lifts her languid head And slowly strides to Freedom's gate. Awhile the gloom of battle-smoke, Then flame and roar of cannon cease. The chains of slavery are broke And Egypt wears the smile of peace. /// A Blossom of the Sea Did Rhodes but dream an idle dream, Or was his vision that of Clive? The hour had struck for veldt and stream To break the shackle and the gyve. The Cross that lights the Southern skies Should look on triple Cross below, For where the flag of Britain flies Unfettered Faith and Freedom grow. Nor may the tumult all be vain, Nor every blood-besprinkled field, For flaming roar and drenching rain Foretell the peaceful autumn yield. Another land has Britain freed From slavish wrong and settled night ; Another host must Britain lead To far-off leveled plains of light. In Greece our Art and Learning grew. From her Castalian fount we draw ; Where Rome's imperial eagles flew She left her Government and Law ; But Britain's meed of fame shall be. Though all her fanes to dust be hurled, She nurtured Freedom by the sea And gave it to the waiting world. 112 And Other Poems MAJUBA HILL. the 'voices of the dead Sound like a distant torrent's fail. — Hyron. COMRADES that have long been sleeping On Majuba's rugged hill, Hark, I hear a murmur sweeping Through the moonlit silence chill. Daisied down and heathered highland , Harvest plain and mapled height. Flock-frequented southern island Rise before my visioned sight. Gay with flags and lances gleaming, Tramping to the beat of drum. Forth from cot and palace teeming, Shoreward marching, thousands come. Now their coursers tread the billows Foaming white beneath their feet Comrades, turn upon your pillows! Hear the iron pulses beat ! See, they stand with armor glancing Marshaled at the bugle call ; Now they sternly come, advancing Over trench and mountain wall. lis A Blossom of the Sea Onward, flaming death defying, Battling with a hidden foe, Baffled, bleeding, falling, dying. Move the legions, thinning slow. Yonder on the crest appearing. Up they burst 'mid crash of gun ! Hark, the mighty roar of cheering- Foemen fled and victory won ! Stamp this deep on deathless pages ''Justice often tarries long. But, though slumbering for ages. Ever rights a human wrong." Once again on Freedom's altar Lie our best and dearest slain ; But can sons of Britain falter, Though another's be the gain ? Long your name shall live in story, Ye that nobly fought and well ; Welcome to our bed of glory, Ye that as avengers fell. Ours to fail in the endeavor; Yours to win the bloody field, Yours to live in fame forever ; Ours to die — but not to yield. 114. And Other Poems Barren, bleak and lonely mountain, Now departed is thy shame ; Cleansed by victor's crimson fountain, Thine is now an honored name. In the silence deep and solemn We shall slumber now content; Rear for us no storied column. This our noblest monument ! 115 A Blossom of the Sea CANADA TO COLUMBIA. O ELDER sister, though thou didst of yore Forsake thy mother's ancient hall and flee To be the chosen bride of Liberty, She cherishes her grief and wrath no more, Nor seeks the broken circle to restore, Yet fain would clasp thee to her breast again, But thou aloof uncertain dost remain. O canst thou not the one mistake forget Of her that bore thee, taught thy lips to frame Thy early words, thy God in prayer to name ; That in the paths of right and justice set Thy feet, where not infrequent walk they yet; That stood devoted at thy youthful side. Nor e'en her blood in thy defence denied? But if thy younger sister yet abide Content and happy in her mother's hall, Nor feel the bond of blood a menial thrall, But, leaning heart to heart, of choice confide In mother yet as dearest guard and guide, — If thou wilt not thy mother's love regain, Why must thy cradle sister plead in vain ? ii6 And Other Poems Yet all the best that bubbles in our veins We sisters drew from that one Saxon breast. Where oftentimes thy maiden cheek has pressed, Mine resting still in loving trust remains. Our bonds of blood should be enduring chains. Obey thy heart and grasp the proffered hand, Then all the world our wills may not withstand. 1898. 117 A Blossom of the Sea COLUMBIA TO CANADA. LONG have I proudly held aloof, nor designed To tread the chambers of that mother's hall Who, when I heard the bridegroom's earnest call, With needless force my hasting feet detained Till deep our garments were in crimson stained, Till by her altar, cleft and overturned. Among the ashes cold, lay Love inurned. I fled, and far away in western wild, Where Heaven keeps from dusk to dawn unfurled My banner broad and blue and star-empearled, Have I a home on ampler basis piled, And busy wrought, alone, unreconciled. Thee, by thy mother biding, loved I not, And even smote when yet my wrath was hot. But when, indignant at a neighbor's woe. Who, crouching 'neath the trampling heel, awoke At last to strike the swift avenging stroke. But, fainting, sank beneath redoubled blow, I dared to smite the swarthy alien foe. And all with threatening aspect stood around, In her a friend, in her alone, I found. ii8 Ana Other Poems And then the dormant memories of the years When happy in her constant love I dwelt Came flooding back again, until I felt The lengthened absence only more endears That mother whom my inner soul reveres. Together be our banners broad unfurled — The Cross, the Stars, the beacons of the world ! 1898. IJQ A Blossom of the Sea BUILDERS OF THE BROAD DOMINION. BUILDERS of the broad Dominion, Delve foundations deep and wide, Strong to bear a noble structure That, resisting rage of tempest, Through the ages shall abide. Build enduring walls of beauty, Crown the shining crest with turrets. Seat it high upon the summit. Where its light shall serve the nations As a beacon and a guide. Builders of the broad Dominion, Build as if in Heaven's sight; Bending with becoming reverence, Mould your laws in truth and justice, — God is yet a God of Right. Masses make a rabble merely, Only men of thought a nation ; Fling abroad the flag of Knowledge, Gather 'neath it all the people: God is too a God of Light. Builders of the broad Dominion, Union only can succeed : Stay the petty strife of party. I20 And Other Poems Stop the hungry hunt for office, Hush the crafty cry of creed. Labor for your land's advancement As a banded league of brothers ; Climb, but lift your comrades with you; Set your heart on something higher Than the lust of selfish greed. Builders of the broad Dominion, Love the honor of your land : Meet your neighbor as an equal, Crouch nor cringe for crumbs of favor. Give and take a brother's hand. British blood is bounding in you, British hearts within you beating, — Never basely kneels the Briton. Bow to none in meek submission ; Proudly face the world and stand. Builders of the broad Dominion, Dowered r ch are your domains : Land of lake and rushing river, Land of fragrant slopes of forest, Land of level pathless plains ; Land where summer sunlight lingers Painting peach and flushing apple ; Land of bright and bracing winters Sending vital force and vigor Flashing, thrilling through the veins. 121 A Blossom of the Sea Builders of the broad Dominion, Waiting long your wealth has lain: Mountain breasts, to fulness bursting, Laced with shining veins of metal, Wait for you to stoop and drain ; Prairies, that a thousand ages Have been storing deep with richness, As a food for future millions. Wait to fill your cloven furrows With the wealth of waving grain. Builders of the broad Dominion, Mount your iron steed and roam. Set his name of silver streaming. Heat his blood to seething hisses. Bring your boundless treasure home. Trail the timbers from the forest. Whirl your wheels with tossing torrents. Delve a deeper path to ocean, Lade your vessels to the bulwarks, Plough the plunging deeps to foam. 122 And Other Poems ENGLAND. O MOTHER, pilot in remoter sea, Redeemer of the wild and barren land, That all may under Freedom's banner stand And hear thy world-wide mandate to be free, Thy ancient foes in envy picture thee A greedy tyrant wielding flaming brand. And ruthless crushing with a bloody hand The brave that will not tamely bow the knee. Yet thou hast pardoned traitors from thy hearth, And stealthy foes that, masked in thine array. When winning, strip the maimed and even slay ; And thou alone on all the reddened earth Hast paused to shield amid the frenzied strife A fighting foe's forsaken child and wife. THE BAY OF QUINTE. * OBAY of beauty, hollowed by the hands That in the heavens rolled the orbs of flame ; O flashing mirror set in emerald frame Where Morn, awaking, mute in rapture stands, And Eve, disrobing, lays her jeweled bands; Where placid wave and lulHng airs proclaim 125 A Blossom of the Sea For silken sail a haven safe, the same As for the panting barge from other lands. Fair image of our God's wide-open palm, That proffers beauties from the morning sweet Till dusky fingers Twilight's lattice close. And when at last we turn to seek repose, — If Life have been with toil or play replete, — Provides for each a haven safe and calm. A LEADER. WE SAW the sun with glorious rising beams Dispersing shadows of our western sky, With light increasing ever soaring high And warming all our waiting hills and streams. He touched the peaks where southern eagle screams Till kindly wonder kindled in her eye ; He eastward let his shining arrows fly Till ancient kingdoms wakened from their dreams. But now behold, alas, some fateful hand A veil of cloud o'er all his glory throws And casts a Wight of darkness o'er the land On which the brightness of his dawning rose. Shall such a sun in noontide splendor stand. Yet sink in night and darkness at its close ? 1 26 And Other Poems THE MARSH IN WINTER. THE marsh now lies in desolation drear, And igloos fur-clad Eskimos have built Amid the tangled flags that, pale and sere (Broken Excaliburs bereft of jeweled hilt), Are isled among the icy seas and shoals : A chill domain of death, — a desert lone Where Life is not ; but lost and wandering souls Sweep by on midnight wings with shriek and moan. Yet here a voice shall bid the dead arise, An arm relift the blade above the mere. And, beckoned from remoter southern skies. Shall winged wanderers nest and babble here, Whenever Spring, God's resurrecting breath. Shall breathe upon this frozen realm of death. DEFORMITIES. WHENE'ER we meet a fellow-mortal born With shapeliness of figure unendowed,- A feature drawn awry, a shoulder bowed, A curved or shrunken limb of vigor shorn, — How prone to lift derisive lip in scorn, And, careless of the sting, to cry aloud The mocking name that flings a sadder cloud Upon a brow sufficiently forlorn ! 127 A Blossom of the Sea And yet the man we seldom so despise, That hath his inward self distorted made, That fouls his lip with curse and reeking jest, That hides a sink of baseness in his breast, And boasts of trustful confidence betrayed, By sleek hypocrisy and fawning lies. THE DEATH AND MEMORY OF THE JUST. WHEN silent hushes come, and dying Day His hand extends agleam wdth heaven's gold, To bless his waiting children of the wold. He leaves a radiance where his fingers lay; When Autumn, too, arising, soars away With fiery steeds and chariot flame-enrolled. He downward flings his mantle's gleaming fold And wraps the watching woods in bright array. So, on the features of departing saint A softened gleam of glory often grows That seems a radiance streaming far and faint From Heaven's gate beginning to unclose. In death, the glory hushes all complaint, And radiant are the golden afterglows. ^ WHAT hand has ever stayed the coming tide? It sweeps at last the stoutest soul away. Why dream we not and rest our little day ? Death takes the sweet-lipped maiden at our side, 128 And Other Poems The friend of constant heart and judgment tried, And stands with finger ready raised, that may Upon our busy hands a silence lay Ere aught be done that seeming may abide. True heart, forbear to falter at thy task, Nor pause and tremble at the yawning sod : Thy comrades of the morning thou shalt meet. Fill life with deeds : not thine it is to ask If thou or other shall the work complete: Perform thy part and leave the rest to God. THE father sends his children to the field And bids them labor till the call to rest, Cleaving the glebe, removing from its breast Encumb'ring stone and wealth-absorbing weed, Dispensing carefully the chosen seed, That here they in the harvest hour may gain Reward of ripened sheaves and garnered grain. When autumn shall her due abundance yield. The Master sends us to the fields of Life Our given task with patience to fulfil. Not ceasing till the summons to depart. Contending for the right, and waging strife With every form of soul-retarding ill : We reap the harvest daily in the heart. I2() A Blossom of the Sea * ''^^ UIT work and live: we'll be a long time dead." Q Nay, rather work that we may never die. *'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" — These Scripture words do seemingly imply A curse, but are a blessing in disguise. The truest pleasure man can ever find Is when in honest work he busy plies All energies of hand and heart and mind. There is a longing in each human breast Not even in the dust to lie forgot : Only the one that bravely does his best, — How long may be the task it matters not, — Fulfilling all commands his God may give, Hereafter, nay, e'en here, does truly live. ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN. Ohiit February, 1899 A SOUL like that of Keats, with Beauty thrilled, -^ *^ Hath also ere its noontide perished long; The seraph lips amid their gladdest song Some hand of silent touch hath ever stilled. The harp lies broken; and the finger, skilled To waken numbers cheery, sweet, and strong, No more the gladsome cadence shall prolong Till every listening heart with hope be filled. 130 And Other Poems Though dear the loss of that unfinished strain, Though skilful hand and tuneful Hp be gone, He hath not swept the string nor sung in vain : The song that swelled with hope and loving trust Shall e'er in cheerful notes go ringing on, Nor die and be enshrouded with his dust. THEODORE H. RAND. WHERE sleepless Minas in a weird unrest Blew loud his trump or moaned his dirge of pain, He caught the roll and cadence of a strain That human lip had never yet expressed. 'Mid academic temples of the West The sounds of home rang o'er and o'er again, Till swelling came, attuned to that refrain, The thrilling song that haunted long his breast. But, by the sea, his lonely mother yearned With Honor's wreath her absent son to grace. In jealous joy to see him home returned She wrapt him close in overfond embrace. Now, still and songless, on her breast he sleeps, And sorrowed Minas ever moans and weeps. 131 A Blossom of the Sea ALEXANDRA A VIKING'S daughter, love-allured, she came O'er northern deeps to share a sea-king's throne ; No heartier welcome has a princess known, No fairer bride could prouder monarch claim ; Years have not dimmed her welcome nor her fame; And now, while bowing myriads bemoan Her Edward's loss, for her, bereft and lone, Our trembling lips the tenderest blessings frame. Faint not, dear heart, beneath thy weight of woe; Fairest of queens, our Britain ill can spare The gentle hand that knows the art that brings Distress relief, like magic touch of kings. Late may thy feet to tread his way prepare, Long may the world thy angel presence know. ON VIEWING KING EDWARD'S PICTURE METHINKS I see in that majestic face The cheeriness that speaks the hearty friend; The purpose firm, undaunted to the end; The wisdom that a kingly brow should grace; And something, too, divinely sad — the trace Of cares and sore perplexities that rend The earnest heart when those beloved contend. Forgetful how they ruin or debase. 132 And Other Poems Model of monarchs, king in mind and heart, Too diligent he has the people served, Nor paused till death his busy hand unnerved. On him, the lord of kingdoms far apart, As now he lays his earthly sceptre down, In love the world bestows he** richest crown. GOLDWIN SMITH. Ohiit June 7th, i9rO. TEACHER and Sage who wrote with magic pen Dipped in Castalian fount, who standing by Surveyed with clear and unimpassioned eye The deeds of nations and the thoughts of men; Keen to discern a human wrong, and then Bold to o'erthrow the Dagon and defy With dignity the clam'rous hosts that try Their fallen idol to erect again. O Soul clear-visioned, hast thou fathomed now The Riddle of Existence that perplexed Thy honest heart and clouded oft thy brow? Full needlessly has this thy bosom vexed — Ready thy heart and ready was thy pen For aught that cheered or blessed thy fellowmen. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. Obiit August 13th, 1910 NATIONS HAD stormed their heated wrath away, And, torn by shell and trenched by eager steel And trampled by the frenzied charger's heel, Thousands of Britain's best and bravest lay 133 A Blossom of the Sea Sore racked with pangs; and Pestilence held sway In barren sheds, and set a scarlet seal On lip and brow, that might to Death reveal, Than in the battling ranks a surer prey. Angel of Hope and Healing, dying men Paused on the verge to answer her recall And felt the thrill of life reviving when She laid her hand upon each beating brow. They rose to bless her as she passed, as all Arise and bless her as she passes now. MARK TWAIN. Obiit April 21, 19 lO. STRUGGLING to reach some far dim-lying coast, O'er sands that burn, in vales remote from day, On rocky summits bleak, in dense array. Or scattered ranks, we strove, a fainting host: Maker of Mirth, when thou wert given the post Of guide to lead by more delightful way, Ever thou didst a cheery front display E'en when thy heart was crushed and bleeding most. Nor less a guide, nor least in merit thou, Though thy commands were given with a smile ; Thou hast inspired as leader of the van Because we knew thou wert in heart a man, Honest in thought and deed, contemning guile, Worthy this wreath we lay upon thy brow. n4 And Other Poems FRAGMENTS. By outward dress the heart we measure oft The thistle hath a thorny coat, but yet The bee can find a bosom silken-soft And ruby lips with dewy sweetness wet. The many tasks I leave undone Demand an age of years ; Too soon the slender thread is spun, Too swift the fatal shears. 135 A Blossom of the Sea LES BELLES CANADIENNES. TO LOUISE. O GLOSSY locks that Night with dusky hand Hath swept in waves and lit with lurking light, Profusely clustered round a forehead bright With beams of beauty brought from Morning Land ! O lips that breathe of scented blossoms fanned By low-voiced breezes loitering in their flight ! O eyes of darksome depths of lustrous Night That dream of waves that lap Italian strand ! The softened glow that slumbers in thine eyes, The veil of light about thy forehead thrown, A sunny climate only can impart: This clime of warm and unbeclouded skies, Where all thy charms have to perfection grown. Is but the sunshine of thy loving heart. TO MARIE. HEN lonely wanderer on the starless deep, By shrouding glooms and baffling blasts dis- mayed, Discerns an isle of ever-during shade, w 136 And Other Poems Of level greens and fairy-haunted steep, Where bubbhng murmurs o'er the senses creep, And snowy lips to fragrant rest persuade, He longs to furl his canvas torn and frayed, To wake forever or untroubled sleep. So I, though baffled oft and wandering lone, Have found in thee the friend I long have sought, With heart and mind responsive to my own ; And may I in thy presence but abide, Enraptured with the music of thy thought, No more I seek nor ask a heaven beside. TO NELLIE. ONLY one shrine I kneel to day by day, Only one flower to me can fragrant seem, Only one bird can thrill me with its lay, Only one star can send a cheering beam : If then that shrine be closed, I cannot pray ; That star obscured, all heaven is blank and void ; That flower dead, all sweetness fled away; That bird-voice stilled, all melody destroyed. And yet I did not deem one absent face. One voice unheard, of all that I have known, Would render earth a cheerless dwelling-place. And make my path so desolate and lone. Return, dear face, return, sweet voice, and bring The brightness and melodies of Spring. 137 A Blossom of the Sea TO OLIVE. HELD as vain, when ancient sages taught, That yonder Hmpid far-revolving sphere, Whose twinkhng beams in ether realms appear, Could send through deeps of space an impulse fraught With mystic, subtle potency that wrought The will of destiny on mortals here, Throughout their Hves determined their career, And prompted every secret wish and thought. No more I disbelieve; for o'er my soul Thy subtle spell has come that, near or far, On Noontide's heights, or in the Vale of Dream, O'er all my being holds a sway supreme. How can I doubt that other heavenly star. For this does every thought and wish control ? TO CLARA. AS ONE who standing on the ocean shore Where to his feet are in succession rolled Translucent billows fraught with sunset gold That seem to float from Heaven's open door Must feel the spell of rapture more and more The longer he their glory shall behold. Till soul and sense in fetters they enfold. And he can naught but tremble and adore, So vainly I thy magic spell withstand ; For more and more thy fairy arts enthrall, 138 And Other Poems Till, heart and soul enchanted, I confess A passing touch of thy caressing hand, A whispered word that from thy lips may fall, Can make or mar my lasting happiness. TO VIVIAN. I ASKED my heart, that beats accord with thine, What if we twain no more for aye should meet; Ne'er dreaming such could be, this heart of mine Grew silent at the thought and ceased to beat. I asked my soul if gone were its delight, Thy kindred soul, would it thy loss deplore ; It shuddered, plumed a sudden wing for flight To leave its mortal cell for evermore. If we no more may wander hand in hand, If we no more may hold communion sweet And read a thought as unexpressed command, If heart to heart no more responsive beat, I care not when the gates of life reclose. Nor in what deep of Lethe I repose. TO MARGARET. AS ONE who roaming on a pathless sea His bark has guided by one star alone. Whose radiant beams upon the billows thrown Have been his constant light of destiny, no A Blossom of the Sea Must when, in clouds of dark obscurity, It disappears, till mists are overblown, His canvas furl and wait where glooms unknown And moaning winds and heaving waters be; So I, who centred every wish and thought On thee, and ever found thy smile a guide, Thy word an inspiration true, nor sought Nor even wished another heaven beside Thy presence, now deplore the bonds of Fate And longing for thy early coming wait. TO AILEEN. WITH vestal veil from glowing brow withdrawn, 'Mid floating mists and ebon clouds of night That faintly shroud her arms and bosom white, Betimes appears the Angel of the Dawn And swiftly spreads o'er waiting wood and lawn The wonder of her all-pervading light. Till glooms and shadows far have taken flight And Night and all his darknesses are gone. So comes Aileen, the angel of my heart, A gladsome vision, down the winding stair. Her beaming brow with loosened tresses crowned That float and fold her perfect form around ; Then, at her magic presence. Gloom and Care With all their haunting minions soon depart. 140 And Other Poems TO KATIE. Wireless Telegraphy. FLUNG from uplifted tower, on pulsing air In viewless waves, our winged words we send Across unmeasured deeps of distance, where Accordant keys alone can comprehend : Unfettered, unconfined by Time or Place, Can hearts be so attuned that every thought May wing its way across the deeps of Space And instant by according mind be caught? It needs must be: else in the silent night, Or even 'mid the busy tasks of day, Why do I hear thy voice in whispers light The message of thy soul to mine convey? Annulling Time, o'erleaping Space, to me Thy heart-waves come, howe'er remote thou be. TO MAUD. AY, JEALOUS am I when my eyes behold The passing breezes wanton with each tress That fain my fingers would alone caress, And interweave its brown with twilight gold. When thou art bent o'er lily snowy cold And it uplifts a stealthy hand to press Thy cheek of morning flushes, I confess My jealous bosom rages uncontrolled. 14.1 A Blossom of the Sea Again, whene'er I see so fondly pressed Some fragrant rose's dewy lips to thine, Or when the stars, the eyes of angels, shine The brighter at thy glances, in my breast A torrent tosses like a troubled sea — So deep, so fond, so mad, my love for thee. 142 And Other Poems THE BESSEMER. No. 2. Lake Erie, December y, 1910. FIERCE wrath had darkened heaven's face, And Night her blackest pall had cast Where billows, caught in dread embrace. Were struggling with the frenzied blast. Across contending waves of death A steel-clad courser takes its way, Whose heart-deep groans and hissing breath The fierceness of the strife betray. With heart of fire and nerves of steel. With throbbing veins of rushing blood, With roll and toss, with plunge and reel, It battles with the raving flood. But bitter blew the blast and cold. And whirling spume and flying sleet Congealed and clung till fold on fold It fettered like a winding-sheet. Then with a roar, as if on high The dome of God were cleft and rent And down were crashing star and sky, Both maddened Wave and Tempest bent Their blows upon its panting side; And one huge mass upon it fell, As if the demon, heaven-denied. Had issued from his nether hell 143 A Blossom of the Sea And, tearing from its native bed Some jutting crag, aloft had swung, And on the courser, as it sped, The mountain mass in fury flung. Broke heart of fire, snapped nerves of steel, Burst throbbing veins of rushing blood ; With roll and toss and plunge and reel It sank beneath the heaving flood. The skies assumed a darker frown: With dismal shriek and sullen roar Where sank the gallant courser down Fought Wave and Tempest as before. When came the crash nine men resigned Their task below and gained the deck. And, undeterred by wave or wind, Half -clad escaped the shattered wreck. The oars with willing hands they plied. But knew not where the prow to turn ; With starless sky and tossing tide No homeward way could they discern. But cold and bitter blew the blast. And flying foam and cutting sleet Congealed and clung and slowly glassed Their forms in icy winding-sheet. They called : the Tempest mocked their cries. They thought of home and wife and cot, And lifted hands to sullen skies And prayed ; but Heaven heard them not. lU And Other Poems Yet Death was kind : for soon grow dumb Their pleading lips, and heart and brain, As fast their limbs congeal, become To anguish deadened and to pain. Visions arise of perils past, Of greeting wife, of hearth aglow With warmth, of restful couch at last And grateful slumber stealing slow O'er wearied limbs, until there seems On marble face, in slaring eyes The joy of those that see, in gleams Afar, The Land of Glad Surprise. When morning breaks, the sun beams cold On waves that heave with muffled roar, Where frozen forms yet firmly hold In rigid hands the useless oar. Each in his place still forward leans. As if his frosted eyes the Maze Of Dark had pierced that ever screens The Future from our mortal gaze. If martyrs faithful to their creeds May wing their way to Heav'n through flame, May not those faithful in their deeds A like reward through suff'ring claim ? If e'er in duty failed they aught Are they not purified by pain? Have they not well the battle fought And shall they not the Haven gain? J45 A Blossom of the Sea A LESSON. 1 FLUNG me down amid a cypress shade And muttered in my bitter gloomy mood : "What profit in a kindly deed or good ? The wrong, the right, — and why distinction made ? The wrong is soon forgiven or forgot ; The right unseen, or swift remembered not." But, as I spoke, a vile, envenomed worm Came crawling through the rubbish foul and dank. Though often out of sight the creature sank, Yet up again the horrid shape would squirm : Though coiled and hidden under leafage fair, I knew the lurking horror still was there. Then fell through parted leaves a beam of light And dropped beside my feet a round of gold. Though high I heaped the filth-polluted mould, I could not dim nor hide the beam from sight : And leaf and tinted bloom upon it laid Were flushed to life and more enchanting made. 14.6 And Other Poems THE PASSING YEAR. A CHILD in ermined robes she came And swept on sledges gliding swift Adown the sloping winter drift Till flushed her cheek with tinted flame ; Or, cut in curves the frozen flood Till, flashing from her downy hood, Her eyes with laughter brimming stood. When fluted music filled the wold, A maiden now and stately grown, In gown of green and loosened zone, Beside the woodland brook she strolled; Or, on its margin couch reclined, And fragrant wreath or garland twined Her locks of sunlit brown to bind. In mantle bright with harvest hues, With sober matron step she went Where orchard boughs o'erladen bent With crimson cups of cooling dews ; Or, through the ripened valleys paced, And oft her golden girdle graced With drooping ears in cluster placed. 147 A Blossom of the Sea But now, when dusky mellow haze Bedims her sight, she sets aglow Her maple torch and, crouching low, Surveys her robes of other days ; But finding every treasured gown And garland faded, torn and brown, With broken sigh she lays them down. Ah ! needless all adornments now ! For soon her busy hands will rest Upon her still, white-shrouded breast, And pallor clothe her dreamless brow: The closing scene is nearing fast; Full soon are hers the chambers vast And shadow valleys of the Past. 14.8 And Other Poems TO A FRIEND. HOW can the worth of friendship be portrayed ? Though man has measured mountains heaven- crowned, In ocean's darkest deep the plummet laid, Has tracked the glowing planet's whirling round, In balance set the far-off burning sphere. He yet the worth of faithful friend sincere Can never mete with rod, with plummet sound, Nor weigh with nicest poise of balanced scale. Nor spy with crystal lenses that unveil The limpid worlds in azure deeps profound. Thy presence brings a gentle, steady light However dark the shadows that impend, A stronger inspiration for the right, A purer zeal for being's nobler end. While baser aspirations all depart : When absent, still thy memory in my heart A presence is from evil to defend Lest mute reproval in thine eyes may be. In long communion thou hast been to me That best of Heaven's gifts, a perfect friend. I4Q A Blossom of the Sea And shall I then thy merits tribute give, Or hesitate to speak deserved praise? Until beloved ones have ceased to live Too oft their due the tardy tongue delays, Then mutters praise to senseless ears of death. Nay, rather, while the bosom's quickened breath The joy of commendation yet betrays, While yet a glow can flush the conscious cheek And light the eye responsive, let me speak Ere silence on my lip her finger lays. 150 And Other Poems FALLING STARS. THE merry baby angels Make little glowing stars, And tripping to the gateway Out-fling them through the bars. They laugh to see them falling With shining trails of light, As you and I may see them On any summer night. They sink in limpid waters, On golden couches lie, And mock the merry glances Of comrades in the sky. But some from vernal mosses Their blossom heads upraise And stand in dreamless moonlight With dewy breasts ablaze, Till, winged with heaven-longing. They seek their natal sky. And faded garments only Among the mosses lie. But still on cloudless midnights They crowd the vaulted blue And twinkle loving glances And messages to you. 151 A Blossom of the Sea FAIRY LAND. SILENTLY from azure heaven Wing the flakes of snow, Whiriing, floating, softly Hghting, Like the faUing leaves of autumn Earthward sinking slow. Hung with dainty lawns and laces, Spruce and cedar boughs are bending Till their taper tips are resting On the sward below. Earth becomes a marble palace — Marble pavements 'neath the feet, Marble colonnades and arches Passing wildest dream of artist Everywhere the vision meet; Where before were shrubs and hedges Now are marble shrines and grottoes Carved in Arabesque fantastic, Every spray and leaf complete. As the evening sun ere setting Flings o'er all his golden spell. Hand and hand two little maidens Wandering in this realm of splendor Feel a joy no lip can tell. ^5^ And Other Poems As they pass the snowy grottoes, One whose inmost soul is beauty To her younger sister whispers, "This is where the fairies dwell." Seeing all this grace and splendor None of us can understand. Not in error was the maiden In her pretty childhood fancy When she deemed it Fairy Land. Such enchanting forms of beauty, Chastely planned and deftly moulded, Prove there is a Mind of Beauty And a more than mortal Hand. 153 A Blossom of the Sea THE ROBINS. AS A fragrant breath from a mead afar There came to the robins a whisper low As they slept and dreamed under southern star, ''The fairies are lifting the veils of snow, Blithe April is coming in flowery car And the Dawns are setting the world aglow." They freighted their air-borne ships at night And breasted the waves of the upper blue ; They set their sails by the Northern Light And steered where the lure of the homeland drew; And their glad hearts thrilled as they hove in sight, As the heart must thrill if the heart be true. And now, in the shelter of evergreen boughs, In the twilight hush of the dying day They whisper their secrets and plight their vows : They sing in the morning their hearts away As the waking world with a call they rouse To rejoice in life and be glad as they. 154- ^Wf^ V SOKQS i ^ f \ 4 1 1 ifl' #^ 1 And Other Poems A SONG. ANTICIPATION. OCOME, for the light Is low on the hill, And, far away, Night Is lingering still. Be nigh when the flush Of daylight departs. That the calm and the hush May quiet our hearts. O stay till the stars At the sky-lattice stand Unfolding the bars With flame-lighted hand. Enclasp me once more As a dove to thy breast, My locks as of yore By thy fingers caressed. Then gaze in my eyes Till my soul thou shalt see, For mirrored there lies But an image of thee. 157 A Blossom of the Sea Reclined on thy breast, Awake yet adream, Thy Hps touch and rest Light as leaf on a stream. Their warmth and their glow Set my being aflame, As wine-flushes flow In thrills through the frame. Dispel not the charm, For aye let me rest, — My shelter thy arm, My heaven thy breast. 158 And Other Poems ELAINE. Dear, dainty Elaine, Her voice has a strain Like heart-haunting music of yore; The sound of her feet Is like far-echoed beat, In some fairy retreat. Of dream-laden wave on the shore. Chorus. This dainty, this fairy Elaine, The rarest, the sweetest, The fairest, the neatest, In grace the completest. The Edens of earth yet contain. Like mist- veil withdrawn From the forehead of Dawn Seems floating each soft ebon tress ; And her little white hand, Like a magical wand, Holds my heart at command By a touch or a clinging caress. — Chorus. If with dim mystic glow, Like a flame burning low, They cast but a glance into mine, ISQ A Blossom of the Sea Her dark-looming eyes My soul hypnotize Till submissive it lies, Or thrills as with flushes of wine. — Chorus. Her slow-heaving breast Is a pillow of rest With fresh apple bloom swelling high; And her breath, lightly drawn, Is the faint air of dawn That steals on the lawn From the roses their first waking sigh. — Chorus. Her lips once to kiss Were sufficient of bliss To compensate for ages of pain, Could one only forget, Or cease to regret, Nor long ever yet To press them again and again. — Chorus. Dear, dainty Elaine, To be mine would she deign, Of Earth I should ask nothing more ; And no heaven were fair, But a realm of despair, If she were not there, Forever to love and adore. — Chorus. i6o And Other Poems SONG. WHEN robins pipe their warning, Across the dewy lea, With flushing, fragrant morning Come sweeter thoughts of thee. All day the moments winging In ceaseless, silent flight, Soul messages are bringing On passing pinions light. When from the heaven starlit The twilight glories fall. Those dreamy lamps afar-lit Thy limpid eyes recall. Thee, when my spirit gazes Through misty vales of dream. I see in all the mazes Of valley, hill and stream. All joys my heart hath tasted Seem nothing now to me. And every moment wasted Unspent in thoughts of thee. SONG. OTURN to me dearest, no longer allow A frown to enshadow so placid a brow. Ah, pardon — (for anguish my reasoning drowns) — So lovely a face cannot darken with frowns. i6i A Blossom of the Sea O turn to me dearest and smile once again To soften my anguish, to banish my pain : To journey through life if thy smile were withdrawn Were to roam through a land when the flowers are gone. O turn to me dearest, once more let me hear Thy sweet, mellow tones and thy laugh ringing clear: No longer to list to thy low whispered word Were to dwell in a land without streamlet or bird. O turn to me dearest, to pardon, forgive. Look kindly again, bid thy suppHant live: To meet never more the warm glance of thine eye Were to dwell on an earth with no sun in the sky. O turn to me dearest, avert not thy face, 'Tis the lodestar of hope in this desolate place: 'Tis the Vision by day, with the beckoning hand ; 'Tis the angel I meet in the dim Slumber Land. O turn to me dearest; thou art, O believe, The image I kneel to at morn and at eve. If idolaters never a heaven may see, No heaven is mine, for I worship but thee. But thou art to me the one heaven I know, Sufficient for any fond mortal below; But, oh, when the earth and its joys are all by. To what other world will my spirit then fly ? 162 And Other Poems The fiends from their prison my soul would expel For loving an angel of heaven too well ; And the angels forever exclude from the throne, For naught could I worship except thee alone. SONG. WHEN down from realms of peerless blue The vernal suns their glances throw, Forbid the blooms to wake and lift Their faces to the genial glow ; Forbid, by day, the constant gaze That adoration mute declares, — By night, to veil their vestal brows And breathe their incense-laden prayers ; And then forbid my soul to be Entranced and worship only thee. When winging from the western wave The rising winds begin to blow. Forbid the bending bough to sway. Or fluttering leaf to tremble so ; Forbid the placid, dreaming lake Its surging billows high to fling. Or dimple into dainty smiles When lightly swept by swallow's wing; And then forbid my heart to thrill Or throb responsive to thy will. 163 A Blossom of the Sea SONG. SHE'S a bright little, slight little maid; But her hand on my life-harp when laid Can evoke any strain, Whether rapture or pain, A mortal touch ever essayed. She's a lithe Httle, blithe little maid; As a queen's her commands are obeyed : Nor enslaved though I be Would I wish to be free, Or deem that my fetters degrade. She's a sweet little, neat little maid ; But her eye from the dark ambuscade Or a low-drooping lash Such an arrow can flash As no soul can withstand or evade. She's a fair little, rare little maid. And her love from my heart cannot fade ; Angels offer no gain. Nor the fiends threaten pain. That my soul from its love can dissuade. 164 And Other Poems HOW JENNIE CROSSED THE BORDER. < ^ T 'M A LITTLE luckless maiden ^ Of a poor benighted land Where the Bird of F'reedom never Comes its pinions to expand. I shall break my galling fetters, O'er the border I shall flee For the full exhilaration Of the equal and the free." Thus within my heart I reasoned, And persuaded Cousin Joe To the land of light and freedom From this slavish land to go. When at last we reached the border. There we saw a joyous band Singing loud to bid us welcome, "Hail, Columbia, happy land." Now they tell me there's sparkle In my merry eyes of blue, On my cheek the flush of roses When they're sprinkled with the dew. Though, of course, I don't believe them, Yet my Cousin Joe avers i6y A Blossom of the Sea That my face is quite enchanting When it peeps from fluffy furs. So I donned a cosy jacket And a jaunty cap of seal, With a secret resolution Hearts of freedom there to steal. As a handsome lad approached me In a coat of blue, I fear That my eyes did slightly sparkle And a little flush appear. Oh, but how my pulses fluttered When he beckoned me aside With an air that plainly stated That he wouldn't be denied. "One request I have, dear maiden, — Pray refuse me not and scoff, — Give me both your cap and jacket, They're not stamped with 'Pribyloff.' Here we boast of perfect freedom; Freely therefore I declare, If our country you would enter, Foreign furs you must not wear." Then I felt the breath of freedom (It was ten degrees below) Standing minus cap and jacket On the platform in the snow, For he gathered up my garments. Turned and coldly left me there. ( Surely when they bought Alaska Home they brought the Russian Bear.) i68 And Othei^ Poems Then the group around the station Sang aloud another strain — Loud and long they sang exultant And we caught the glad refrain — " 'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." Then I thought: "I'm yet a stranger; This the only way may be That this people have of making Others jeel completely free. Calmly bear the sHght discomfort: Surgeons often cure with pain ; Custom makes us hug our fetters; Great may be the final gain/' Then I grew quite philanthropic : I would nurse them in their ills; So I donned a cap and apron And a dainty cap and frills. Scarce I entered on my duties When arrived Inspector Byrne. I was summoned to his presence And he gave me such a turn — For he turned me off and sent me Packing home the morrow morn, Saying, "We allow no nurses, — None except the native born." Worse than mine was Joe's adventure. When the great inspector learned i6g A Blossom of the Sea Joe had found a situation, He was summoned too and "Byrned." Proud the great inspector's bearing, Noble were his words and grand: "Pole, Italian or Hungarian Shall be welcome to our land ; But the alien from the border, Man or maiden though it be. Never shall be free to labor In the country of the free." Loud again broke in the music And our souls were thrilled and stirred, As in grand triumphant chorus Swelling high and clear we heard : "My country, 'tis of thee. Sweet land of liberty. Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died. Land of the pilgrims' pride, From every mountain side Let freedom ring." Joe and I then started homeward (Which we couldn't well avoid), But somehow upon the journey Both were more than overjoyed. "Well," said I to Joe, "hereafter Canada's the home for me. Where they don't sing much of freedom, But where men are truly free ; lyo And Other Poems Where a man wears what he pleases If it's good in heaven's sight ; Where a man is free to labor, Or do anything that's right; Where the laws are fair and equal, Justice never tarries long. Strong and swift to guard the upright, Swift and sure to punish wrong; Where the hand of legislator Never sways at touch of gold While our private rights and public Are for favor bought and sold; Where a theft is simply stealing, If the theft be great or small, Though it bear the seal and sanction Of a legislative hall ; Where a mighty corporation Cannot buy a tyrant's chain That will fetter honest rivals In the hurried race for gain; Where the struggling rush for riches Has not strangled heart and soul; Where the claims of God and justice Still are felt and still control ; Where uprightness is an honor And dishonesty a blight ; Where successful craft and cunning Do not pass for truth and right. Therefore, Joe, the Land of Maples Shall in future be my home; While a roof affords me shelter Never shall I further roam." lyi A Blossom of the Sea To a subject patriotic, Though my words are most subHme, Joe will never give attention Twenty minutes at a time. "Well," he said, "about the country You and I can both agree; There I own a little cottage, — Won't it do for you and me?" Wasn't that a mean advantage? What could helpless maiden say? I'll not tell you all the story, But I did not say him nay. With a kind of roguish twinkle 'Neath his drooping lid concealed, Joe remarked that every bargain To be valid must be sealed. "Certainly," said I, "the parting With my furs has cost me pain; I'll be only too delighted To be quickly 'sealed' again." This is how I crossed the border To a free and happy land. Look beside the maples yonder, There you'll see our cottage stand. Though of course I don't believe him, Yet my husband, Joe, avers Someone's face is quite enchanting In these cosy, fluffy furs. 172 And Other Poems A MORNING'S ADVENTURES WITH AUTOS. 'HP WAS a morn of early autumn 1 When the leaves were faintly brown That I harnessed Maud and Katie For a pleasant jaunt to town. Cousin Jennie sat beside me In a suit of latest mode, Maud and Katie beat a music On the smooth, resounding road. But a strange unearthly bellow Suddenly beside us rung, And we by the startled horses Almost in the ditch were flung. By us flashed an automobile ; But from those enthroned therein Nothing that was sublunary Might a moment's notice win. Nose and chin were elevated As they swept in triumph by, As if they were aviators Sailing through the upper sky. When, half choked with dust and blinded, I had calmed the frightened pair, Jennie leaned to me and whispered, "That's the automobile air." 173 A Blossom of the Sea When again our team was pacing At a gentle, steady stride, Rushing hke a maddened demon We a coming car descried. In a blur of dust and vapor, Puffing, buzzing, on it swept. Disregarding all our signals They the middle roadway kept, And with fixed and stolid faces They the rearing team surveyed. Wondering why we had presumption Their dominion to invade. Such a glance might Jove Olympic To a crawling earthworm cast If it dared to turn and wriggle While he crushed it as he passed. As they vanished in the distance. When again had cleared the air, Jennie leaned to me and whispered, "That's the automobile stare." Soon, as we a hill ascended. On a narrow road and steep, Came a car behind approaching. Struggling hard and panting deep. Since there wasn't room to pass us And we couldn't reach the top, They were forced to slow their engine And, through loss of speed, to stop. While they yanked and cranked to start it, We proceeded on our way. ^74 And Other Poems Oft a single glance betokens More than language can convey ; And if glance could scorch and wither As a burning furnace blast, By their glance we had been shriveled When again they glided past. We had too much self-composure For their angry look to care ; Jennie merely leaned and whispered, "That's the automobile glare/' Gaily then we trotted onward Till the town at last we neared. When a busy group before us Gathered round a car appeared. Ladies sat as patient martyrs On the roadside bank of green While their partners, grim and dusty. Tinkered at the stalled machine. One was peering at the spark-plug, One the battery overhauled. One with pincers, wrench and hammer Underneath the car had crawled. They with bruised and blackened fingers Tested wire and tightened screw, While, forgetful of the ladies. Hot and fast the curses flew. As we trotted by and left them Loading sulphur on the air, Jennie leaned again and whispered, "That's the automobile sivear." 175 A Blossom of the Sea A STIRRING SCENE. AUTUMN hushed the world to silence While September night and morn Flung a haze of golden glory On the emerald seas of corn. Streamlets crept with drowsy. murmur Mazy dell and meadow through ; Fairy fingers nightly penciled Forest leaf with dainty hue. Straggling bees from blooms belated Added to their amber hoard; Mellow sunbeams wines and sweetness In the flushing apple stored. Evening's hush lay on the meadows ; Clacking doors and ringing calls Told where lads their weary horses Guided to their littered stalls. Now, the muttered low of cattle Plodding home in straggling train ; Now, the merry voice of milkmaid Faintly echoed down the lane. But where yonder blushing maples Half the ample house conceal, Katie Lee stands making porridge Of the golden Indian meal. 176 And Other Poems Katie, queen of rural beauties ; — Katie, in whose dreamy eye Brimming worlds of lurking mischief 'Neath her drooping lashes lie ; — Katie of the wavy tresses Floating down like twilight haze, Tangling hearts in stronger meshes Than the artful hunter lays; — Katie of the dainty dimples Faint by fairy touch impressed; — Katie of the heart the truest Beating in the human breast. As from Katie's busy fingers Fell the streaming sands of gold. It just happened Willie Watson Down the grassy pathway strolled To the quiet room and, pausing, Leaned against the open door. (Katie might, but would not tell you This "just happened" oft before.) Scarce a flash of recognition Katie to the caller threw, But perhaps her busy fingers Just a little faster flew. Yet a form so lithe and stalwart. Brow and eyes so frank and clear. Might e'en to a timid maiden Worth a stolen glance appear. 177 A Blossom of the Sea Gazing at the living picture As the gloaming shadows fell, Silence closed his lips and held him Fettered by a magic spelL Passing strange that Willie Watson, Gayest lad in home or field, First in merriment or jesting, Felt his lips by silence sealed ! Still her lashes were imlifted. Still she uttered not a word. But the seething, bubbling porridge With increasing vigor stirred. Half indignant, half reproachful, Willie murmured with a sigh, ''Katie, so that pot of porridge More attractive seems than I ?" "Yes," the maid replied in accents Sweet as tinkling waterdrops, "This is very entertaining: This not only sighs but pops!' Once again 'tis mild September; Passing months have swiftly flown ; Yonder's Katie stirring porridge In a cottage of her own. ns And Other Poems THE LETTER. PERUSING this letter I fancy Her low, winning tones I can hear; The exquisite snow of its pages I deem like her bosom sincere. Round her brow, of a beauty immortal, As she leant loving words to indite, Her dark, loosened locks may have floated Like shadowing mists of the night. Here, also, her eyes must have rested, Whose soul-melting ardor divine Can thrill all the depths of my being When they flash but a glance into mine. When I think how her dear, dainty fingers The pen have enclasped, or would press The paper with soft fairy touches, I long for that clasp and caress. When I think that, when written, the maiden To seal it would possibly deign To touch with her lips the enclosure, I wish, — but all wishes are vain. no A Blossom of the Sea THE YANTIC. LITTLE Canada, my dear, won't you kindly lend an ear To your neighbor. Uncle Sam ? And a loving one I am ; And you know I love you more Than a daughter ! Fm a mighty clever one ! I'm the bravest 'neath the sun! I'm Achilles, — just about, — if you reckon on my shout! But you'll kindly let me stand with my feet on solid land, As I'm shaky when I go On the water. I have built a mighty boat, but the tarnal thing won*t float. If I venture on the sea, where a vessel ought to be, It's surprising how she makes A commotion. For she'll bump against the ground, or cavort and roll around, Like that barrel boat, away in your own Toronto bay. Till I tremble in my bones lest I go to Davy Jones If I venture any more On the ocean. i8o And Other Poems If in harbor she remains, she will break her anchor chains, And will dash against the pier, or among the vessels near, — For destruction, as you know, Is her mission. When the other ships have fled, she will bang herself instead Upon any handy rocks. As I really haven't docks, If she suffers more attacks she may go to — Halifax, Where I hope they'll soon improve Her condition. If I had her on the shore, then she'd trouble never more; On her decks would I parade, flash aloft my shining blade, While I everlastingly Made my jaw go. Now, I really think I could make a man-of-war of wood. Like that painted thing I had which I called an ironclad (By the way, you saw it there when you came to my a — Fair), Like that terror, Illinois, At Chicago. But I have a wooden brig, that is not so tarnal big. Neither carries iron plate quite enough to sink her straight — i8i A Blossom of the Sea As I said, I have a brig Called the Yantic. Now, right up through your '^canawl" mayn't I the vessel haul? ril just take her up and keep where the water isn't deep. When I've practised there my trade, till no longer I'm afraid. Then perhaps I'll try again The Atlantic, 182 And Other Poems JONATHAN AND I. {Not Jonathan and Da