Flame and Shadow | Page 8

with twilight,?Peace that since noon had left the purple phlox,?The heavy-headed asters, the late roses?And swaying hollyhocks.
For at high-noon I heard from this same garden?The far-off murmur as when many come;?Up from the village surged the blind and beating?Red music of a drum;
And the hysterical sharp fife that shattered?The brittle autumn air,?While they came, the young men marching?Past the village square. . . .
Across the calm Connecticut the hills change?To violet, the veils of dusk are deep --?Earth takes her children's many sorrows calmly?And stills herself to sleep.
Nahant
Bowed as an elm under the weight of its beauty,?So earth is bowed, under her weight of splendor,?Molten sea, richness of leaves and the burnished?Bronze of sea-grasses.
Clefts in the cliff shelter the purple sand-peas?And chicory flowers bluer than the ocean?Flinging its foam high, white fire in sunshine,?Jewels of water.
Joyous thunder of blown waves on the ledges,?Make me forget war and the dark war-sorrow --?Against the sky a sentry paces the sea-cliff?Slim in his khaki.
Winter Stars
I went out at night alone;?The young blood flowing beyond the sea?Seemed to have drenched my spirit's wings --?I bore my sorrow heavily.
But when I lifted up my head?From shadows shaken on the snow,?I saw Orion in the east?Burn steadily as long ago.
From windows in my father's house,?Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,?I watched Orion as a girl?Above another city's lights.
Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,?The world's heart breaks beneath its wars,?All things are changed, save in the east?The faithful beauty of the stars.
A Boy
Out of the noise of tired people working,?Harried with thoughts of war and lists of dead,?His beauty met me like a fresh wind blowing,?Clean boyish beauty and high-held head.
Eyes that told secrets, lips that would not tell them,?Fearless and shy the young unwearied eyes --?Men die by millions now, because God blunders,?Yet to have made this boy he must be wise.
Winter Dusk
I watch the great clear twilight?Veiling the ice-bowed trees;?Their branches tinkle faintly?With crystal melodies.
The larches bend their silver?Over the hush of snow;?One star is lighted in the west,?Two in the zenith glow.
For a moment I have forgotten?Wars and women who mourn --?I think of the mother who bore me?And thank her that I was born.
By the Sea
IX
The Unchanging
Sun-swept beaches with a light wind blowing?From the immense blue circle of the sea,?And the soft thunder where long waves whiten --?These were the same for Sappho as for me.
Two thousand years -- much has gone by forever,?Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men --?But here on the beaches that time passes over?The heart aches now as then.
June Night
Oh Earth, you are too dear to-night,?How can I sleep while all around?Floats rainy fragrance and the far?Deep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground?
Oh Earth, you gave me all I have,?I love you, I love you, -- oh what have I?That I can give you in return --?Except my body after I die?
"Like Barley Bending"
Like barley bending?In low fields by the sea,?Singing in hard wind?Ceaselessly;
Like barley bending?And rising again,?So would I, unbroken,?Rise from pain;
So would I softly,?Day long, night long,?Change my sorrow?Into song.
"Oh Day of Fire and Sun"
Oh day of fire and sun,?Pure as a naked flame,?Blue sea, blue sky and dun?Sands where he spoke my name;
Laughter and hearts so high?That the spirit flew off free,?Lifting into the sky?Diving into the sea;
Oh day of fire and sun?Like a crystal burning,?Slow days go one by one,?But you have no returning.
"I Thought of You"
I thought of you and how you love this beauty,?And walking up the long beach all alone?I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder?As you and I once heard their monotone.
Around me were the echoing dunes, beyond me?The cold and sparkling silver of the sea --?We two will pass through death and ages lengthen?Before you hear that sound again with me.
On the Dunes
If there is any life when death is over,?These tawny beaches will know much of me,?I shall come back, as constant and as changeful?As the unchanging, many-colored sea.
If life was small, if it has made me scornful,?Forgive me; I shall straighten like a flame?In the great calm of death, and if you want me?Stand on the sea-ward dunes and call my name.
Spray
I knew you thought of me all night,?I knew, though you were far away;?I felt your love blow over me?As if a dark wind-riven sea?Drenched me with quivering spray.
There are so many ways to love?And each way has its own delight --?Then be content to come to me?Only as spray the beating sea?Drives inland through the night.
If Death Is Kind
Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,?We will come back to earth some fragrant night,?And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending?Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.
We will come down at night to these resounding beaches?And the long gentle thunder of the