More Songs From Vagabondia | Page 2

39
A VAGABOND SONG 39
THREE OF A KIND 40

WOOD-FOLK LORE 42
AT MICHAELMAS 44
THE MOTHER OF POETS 48
A GOOD-BY 49
IN A COPY OF BROWNING 49
SHAKESPEARE HIMSELF 53
AT THE ROAD-HOUSE 56
VERLAINE 58
DISTILLATION 59
A FRIEND'S WISH 59
LAL OF KILRUDDEN 60
HUNTING-SONG 61
BUIE ANNAJOHN 62
MARY OF MARKA 63
PREMONITION 63
THE HEARSE-HORSE 64
THE NIGHT-WASHERS 64
MR. MOON 66
HEM AND HAW 70
ACCIDENT IN ART 71
IN A GARDEN 71

AT THE END OF THE DAY 72
_And ever with the vanguard
The vagrant singers come
The gamins
of the city
Who dance before the drum_
JONGLEURS.
What is the stir in the street?
Hurry of feet!
And after,
A sound as
of pipes and of tabers!
Men of the conflicts and labors,
Struggling and shifting and shoving,

Pushing and pounding your neighbors,
Fighting for leeway for
laughter,
Toiling for leisure for loving!
Hark, through the window
and up to the rafter,
Madder and merrier,
Deeper and verier,

Sweeter, contrarier,
Dafter and dafter,
A song arises,--
A thrill, an
intrusion,
A reel, an illusion,
A rapture, a crisis
Of bells in the air!

Ay, up from your work and look out of the window!
"Who are the
newcomers, Arab or Hindoo?
Persians, or Japs, or the children of
Isis?"
--Guesses, surmises--
Forth with you, fare
Down in the
street to draw nearer and stare!
Come from your palaces, come from
your hovels!
Lay down your ledgers, your picks and your shovels,

Your trowels and bricks,
Hammers and nails,
Scythes and flails,

Bargains and sales,
And the trader's tricks,
Deals, overreachings,

Worries and griefs,
Teachings and preachings,
Boluses, briefs,

Writs and attachments,
Quarterings, hatchments,
Clans and
cognomens,
Comments and scholia,
(World's melancholia)--
Cast
them aside, and good riddance to rubbish!
Here at the street-corner,
hearken, a strain,
Rough and off-hand and a bit rub-a-dub-ish,

Gives us a taste of the life we'd attain.
Who are they, what are they, whence have they come to us?
Where
will they go when their singing is done?
What is the garb they wear,
tattered and sumptuous,
Faded with days and superb in the sun?

What are they singing of?
Hush!
... There's a ringing of
Delicate
chimes;
And the blush
Of a veiled bride morning
Beats in the
rhymes.
Listen!
Out of the merriment,
Clear as the glisten
Of
dew on the