Rivers to the Sea | Page 8

moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters, Let me remember you,
soon will the winter be on us,
Snow-hushed and heartless.
Over my soul murmur your mute benediction
While I gaze, oh fields
that rest after harvest,
As those who part look long in the eyes they
lean to,
Lest they forget them.
THE SEA WIND
I AM a pool in a peaceful place,
I greet the great sky face to face,
I
know the stars and the stately moon
And the wind that runs with
rippling shoon--
But why does it always bring to me
The far-off,
beautiful sound of the sea?
The marsh-grass weaves me a wall of green,
But the wind comes
whispering in between,
In the dead of night when the sky is deep

The wind comes waking me out of sleep--
Why does it always bring
to me
The far-off, terrible call of the sea?
THE CLOUD
I AM a cloud in the heaven's height,
The stars are lit for my delight,

Tireless and changeful, swift and free,
I cast my shadow on hill and
sea--
But why do the pines on the mountain's crest
Call to me
always, "Rest, rest"?
I throw my mantle over the moon
And I blind the sun on his throne at
noon,
Nothing can tame me, nothing can bind,
I am a child of the
heartless wind--
But oh the pines on the mountain's crest


Whispering always, "Rest, rest."
THE POOR HOUSE
HOPE went by and Peace went by
And would not enter in;
Youth went by and Health went by
And Love that is their kin.
Those within the house shed tears
On their bitter bread;
Some were old and some were mad,
And some were sick a-bed.
Gray Death saw the wretched house
And even he passed by--
"They have never lived," he said,
"They can wait to die."
NEW YEAR'S DAWN--BROADWAY
WHEN the horns wear thin
And the noise, like a garment outworn,

Falls from the night,
The tattered and shivering night,
That thinks
she is gay;
When the patient silence comes back,
And retires,
And
returns,
Rebuffed by a ribald song,
Wounded by vehement cries,

Fleeing again to the stars--
Ashamed of her sister the night;
Oh,
then they steal home,
The blinded, the pitiful ones
With their
gew-gaws still in their hands,
Reeling with odorous breath
And
thick, coarse words on their tongues.
They get them to bed, somehow,

And sleep the forgiving,
Comes thru the scattering tumult
And
closes their eyes.
The stars sink down ashamed
And the dawn
awakes,
Like a youth who steals from a brothel,
Dizzy and sick.
THE STAR

A WHITE star born in the evening glow
Looked to the round green
world below,
And saw a pool in a wooded place
That held like a
jewel her mirrored face.
She said to the pool: "Oh, wondrous deep,

I love you, I give you my light to keep.
Oh, more profound than the
moving sea
That never has shown myself to me!
Oh, fathomless as
the sky is far,
Hold forever your tremulous star!"
But out of the woods as night grew cool
A brown pig came to the
little pool;
It grunted and splashed and waded in
And the deepest
place but reached its chin.
The water gurgled with tender glee
And
the mud churned up in it turbidly.
The star grew pale and hid her face
In a bit of floating cloud like lace.
DOCTORS
EVERY night I lie awake
And every day I lie abed
And hear the doctors, Pain and Death,
Conferring at my head.
They speak in scientific tones,
Professional and low--
One argues for a speedy cure,
The other, sure and slow.
To one so humble as myself
It should be matter for some pride
To have such noted fellows here,
Conferring at my side.
.
THE INN OF EARTH
I CAME to the crowded Inn of Earth,

And called for a cup of wine,
But the Host went by with averted eye
From a thirst as keen as mine.
Then I sat down with weariness
And asked a bit of bread,
But the Host went by with averted eye
And never a word he said.
While always from the outer night
The waiting souls came in
With stifled cries of sharp surprise
At all the light and din.
"Then give me a bed to sleep," I said,
"For midnight comes apace"--
But the Host went by with averted eye

And I never saw his face.
"Since there is neither food nor rest,
I go where I fared before"--
But the Host went by with averted eye
And barred the outer door.
IN THE CARPENTER'S SHOP
MARY sat in the corner dreaming,
Dim was the room and low,
While in the dusk, the saw went
screaming
To and fro.
Jesus and Joseph toiled together,

Mary was watching them,
Thinking of kings in the wintry weather
At Bethlehem.
Mary sat in the corner thinking,
Jesus had grown a man;
One by one her hopes were sinking
As the years ran.
Jesus and Joseph toiled together,
Mary's thoughts were far--
Angels sang in the wintry weather
Under a star.
Mary sat in the corner weeping,
Bitter and hot her tears--
Little faith were the angels keeping
All