Fires of Driftwood

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Title: Fires of Driftwood
Author: Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
Release Date: May 30, 2004 [EBook #12475]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
? START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRES OF DRIFTWOOD ***
Produced by Andrew Sly. Thanks to A Celebration of Women Writers for providing the source text.
FIRES OF DRIFTWOOD
BY ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY?WITH DECORATIONS BY J.E.H. MACDONALD A.R.C.A.
First published by McClelland & Stewart, Limited, Toronto, 1922.
The thanks of the author are due to the editors of Ainslee's Magazine, The American Magazine, The Canadian Magazine, Canadian Home Journal, The Canadian Bookman, The Forum, The Globe, Harper's Magazine, The Independent, The Ladies' World, McClure's Magazine, Metropolitan Magazine, The Reader Magazine, Scribner's Magazine, Saturday Night, and The Youth's Companion for permission to publish this verse in its present form.
CONTENTS
FIRES OF DRIFTWOOD?WHEN AS A LAD?LAUREATE?OUT OF BABYLON?LAST SPRING?PRESENCE?IN AN AUTUMN GARDEN?ROSE DOLORES?A PILGRIM?SPRING WILL COME?COSMOS?THE SECRET?I WATCH SWIFT PICTURES?FEAR?RESURRECTION?THE LOST NAME?THE HAPPY TRAVELLER?THE DEAD BRIDE?THE CROCUS BED?THE VISION?THE MIRACLE?THE HOMESTEADER?WET WEATHER?THE SLEEPING BEAUTY?DOWN AT THE DOCKS?LAKE LOUISE?THE GATEKEEPER?THE BRIDGE BUILDER?THE PRAIRIE SCHOOL?CALGARY STATION?VALE?THE WAY TO WAIT?THE PASSER BY?FIRST LOVE?SAD ONE, MUST YOU WEEP?JOSEPH?A CHRISTMAS CHILD?SPRING IN NAZARETH?INHERITANCE?SONG OF THE SLEEPER?THE TYRANT?THE GIFTS?THE TOWN BETWEEN?ON THE MOUNTAIN?THE PROPHET?GIVE ME A DAY?LITTLE BROWN BIRD?THE WATCHER?POSSESSION?TO ARCADY?THE FIELDS OF EVEN?I LOVE MY LOVE?SPRING AWOKE TO-DAY?IN TOWN?SUMMER'S PASSING?THE DOOM OF YS?TIME'S GARDEN?THE COMING OF LOVE?PREMONITION?THE CHILD?INTRUSION?THE SEA'S WITHHOLDING?LOVE UNKIND?CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN?I WHISPERED TO THE BOB-O-LINK?YOU?THE MOTHER?THE VASSAL?THE TROUBADOUR?INDIAN SUMMER?THE UNCHANGED?INDIFFERENCE?LAST THINGS?CALLOUS CUPID?THE MEETING?THE PIPER?WANDERLUST?GOLD?THE MATERIALIST?TIR NAN OG?THE LITTLE MAN IN GREEN?THE ENCHANTRESS?THE BANSHEE?THE WITCH?FAIRY SINGING?KILLED IN ACTION?SPRING CAME IN?FROM THE TRENCHES?THE REASONS?TO-DAY?MEMORY?DREAM?PERHAPS?GLAMOUR?FRIENDSHIP?THE RETURNED MAN?EPITAPH?FOR ONE WHO WENT IN SPRING
Fires of Driftwood
ON what long tides?Do you drift to my fire,?You waifs of strange waters??From what far seas,?What murmurous sands,?What desolate beaches--?Flotsam of those glories that were ships!
I gather you,?Bitter with salt,?Sun-bleached, rock-scarred, moon-harried,?Fuel for my fire.
You are Pride's end.?Through all to-morrows you are yesterday.?You are waste,?You are ruin,?For where is that which once you were?
I gather you.?See! I set free the fire within you--?You awake in thin flame!?Tremulous, mistlike, your soul aspires,?Blue, beautiful,?Up and up to the clouds which are its kindred!?What is left is nothing--?Ashes blown along the shore!
When as a Lad
WHEN, as a lad, at break of day?I watched the fishers sail away,?My thoughts, like flocking birds, would follow?Across the curving sky's blue hollow,?And on and on--?Into the very heart of dawn!
For long I searched the world--ah, me!?I searched the sky, I searched the sea,?With much of useless grief and rueing?Those winged thoughts of mine pursuing--?So dear were they,?So lovely and so far away!
I seek them still and always must?Until my laggard heart is dust?And I am free to follow, follow,?Across the curving sky's blue hollow,?Those thoughts too fleet?For any save the soul's swift feet!
Laureate
DEATH met a little child who cried?For a bright star which earth denied,?And Death, so sympathetic, kissed it,?Saying: "With me?All bright things be!"--?And only the child's mother missed it.
Death met a maiden on the brae,?Her eyes held dreams life would betray,?And gallant Death was greatly taken--?"Leave," whispered he,?"Your dream with me?And I will see you never waken."
Death met an old man in a lane;?So gnarled was he and full of pain?That kindly Death was struck with pity--?"Come you with me,?Old man," said he,?"I'll set you down in a fair city."
So, kingly Death along the way?Scatters rare gifts and asks no pay--?Yet who to Death will write a sonnet??If any dare,?Let him take care?No foolish tear be spilled upon it!
Out of Babylon
THEIR looks for me are bitter,?And bitter is their word--?I may not glance behind unseen,?I may not sigh unheard.
So fare we forth from Babylon,?Along the road of stone;?And no one looks to Babylon?Save I--save I alone!
My mother's eyes are glory-filled?(Save when they fall on me)?The shining of my father's face?I tremble when I see,
For they were slaves in Babylon,?And now they're walking free--?They leave their chains in Babylon,?I bear my chains with me!
At night a sound of singing?The vast encampment fills;?"Jerusalem! Jerusalem!"?It sweeps the nearing hills--
But no one sings of Babylon?(Their home of yesterday)?And no one prays for Babylon,?And I--I dare not pray!
Last night the Prophet saw me;?And, while he held me there,?The holy fire within his eyes?Burned all my secret bare.
"What! Sigh you so for Babylon?"?(I turned away my face)?"Here's one who turns to Babylon,?Heart traitor to her race!"
I follow and I follow!?My heart upon the rack;?I follow to Jerusalem--?The long road stretches back
To Babylon, to Babylon!?And every step I take?Bears farther off from Babylon?A heart that cannot break.
Last Spring
THIS morning at the door?I heard the Spring.?Quickly I set it wide?And,