Robert Louis Stevenson, an Elegy; And Other Poems | Page 8

would shatter, and this heart?I fain would break--this heart that, traitor-like,?Beats on with foolish and elastic beat:?If, after all, this life I waste and kill?Should still be thine, may still be lived for thee!?And this the dreadful trial of my love,?This silence and this blank that makes me mad,?That I be man to-day of all the days?My one poor hope of meeting thee again--?If Death be Love, and God's great purpose kind!
Oh, love, if some day on the heavenly stair?A wild ecstatic moment we should stand,?And I, all hungry for your eyes and hair,?Should meet instead your great accusing gaze,?And hear, instead of welcome into heaven:?'Ah! hadst thou but been true! but manfully?Borne the high pangs that all high souls must bear,?Nor fled to low nepenthes for your pain!?Hadst said--"Is she not here? more reason then?To live as though still guarded by her eyes,?Cleaner my thought, and purer be my deed;?True will I be, though God Himself be false!"'
Oh, hadst thou thus been man, to-day had we?Walked on together undivided now--?But now a thousand flaming years must pass,?And all the trial be gone o'er again.
SPIRIT OF SADNESS
She loved the Autumn, I the Spring,?Sad all the songs she loved to sing;?And in her face was strangely set?Some great inherited regret.
Some look in all things made her sigh,?Yea! sad to her the morning sky:?'So sad! so sad its beauty seems'--?I hear her say it still in dreams.
But when the day grew grey and old,?And rising stars shone strange and cold,?Then only in her face I saw?A mystic glee, a joyous awe.
Spirit of Sadness, in the spheres?Is there an end of mortal tears??Or is there still in those great eyes?That look of lonely hills and skies?
AN INSCRIPTION
Precious the box that Mary brake?Of spikenard for her Master's sake,?But ah! it held nought half so dear?As the sweet dust that whitens here.?The greater wonder who shall say:?To make so white a soul of clay,?From clay to win a face so fair,?Those strange great eyes, that sunlit hair?A-ripple o'er her witty brain,--?Or turn all back to dust again.
Who knows--but, in some happy hour,?The God whose strange alchemic power?Wrought her of dust, again may turn?To woman this immortal urn.
SONG
She's somewhere in the sunlight strong,?Her tears are in the falling rain,?She calls me in the wind's soft song,?And with the flowers she comes again.
Yon bird is but her messenger,?The moon is but her silver car;?Yea! sun and moon are sent by her,?And every wistful waiting star.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Robert Louis Stevenson, an Elegy; And Other Poems, by Richard Le Gallienne
? END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STEVENSON AND ELEGY ***
? This file should be named 10910-8.txt or 10910-8.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
? http://www.gutenberg.net/1/0/9/1/10910/
Produced by Brendan Lane, Carol David and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial?redistribution.
? START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE?PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at ).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and