A Legend of Old Persia and Other Poems | Page 2

Dreamer: p. 66.
Dialogues.
The Parting of Lancelot and Guinevere: p. 77.
The Hermit and the Faun: p. 80.
Love's Defiance: p. 85.
The Playmates: p. 87.
Dramas.
June and November: p. 91.
A Foolish Tragedy: p. 92.
Alone: p. 94.
The Wraith: p. 101.
The Two Murderers: p. 102.
Reflections.
The Wind and the Hills: p. 107.

The Happy Ones: p. 110.
A Question: p. 112.
The Earth: p. 113.
Aspirations: p. 114.
Romance: p. 115.
_Of the poems in this volume "Adeimantus" and "The Hermit and the
Faun" first appeared in_ THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, _and
"The Song of Snorro" in_ THE SPECTATOR. _They are republished
here by kind permission of the Editors._
FANTASIES.
Altruism: A Legend of Old Persia.
In the flowery land of Persia
Long ago, as poets tell,
Where three
rivers met together
Did a happy people dwell.
Never did these
happy people
Suffer sickness, plague, or dearth,
Living in a golden
climate
In the fairest place on earth,
Living thus thro' endless
summers
And half-summers hardly colder,
Growing, tho' they
hardly guessed it,
Very gradually older.
I can very well imagine
These old Persian lords and ladies
Sitting in
their pleasant gardens,
Dreaming, dozing, where the shade is;

Almond trees a mass of blossom,
Roses, roses, red as wine,
With
the helmets of the tulips
Flaming in a martial line,
While beside a
marble basin,
With a fountain gushing forth,
Stands a red-legged
crane, alighted
From the deserts of the North.
So they lived these ancient people,
With the happy harmless faces,

Dreaming till the purple twilight
In their flowery garden-places,

Finding every year the sunshine
And the wind a little colder,

Growing, tho' they hardly guessed it,
Very gradually older,
Till at
last they grew so frail
That to their gardens they were carried,
Very
feeble and exhausted,
Weak as babes--But still they tarried,
Lying till the purple twilight
Wrapped in wool but hardly warm,


Wearing shawls of costliest texture
Lest the wind might do them
harm,
Feeling very faint sensations
Of delight in each old breast,

Twittering with tiny voices
Like young swallows in a nest.
Then the
young men spoke together
As they feasted in the