The Dreamers | Page 8

be gone.
I shall look

upon it
As the parched on fountains,
_Yet it was the blinding night_

_That taught the joy of dawn._
When the first bird sings,
Oh, I shall hear rejoicing,
And all my life
shall thrill to it
And all my heart draw near.
I shall lean to listen

Lest a note elude me,
_Yet it was the fearsome night_
_That taught
me how to hear._
When the sun comes up
I shall lift my arms to it;
The fear of fear
shall fall from me
As shackles from a slave.
I shall run to hail it,

Free and unbewildered,
_Yet it was the silent night_
_That taught
me to be brave._
THE WEDDING GOWN
She put her wedding-gown away
As tenderly as one might close,

With kissing lips and finger-tips,
The petals of a rose
Still held for
the Belovèd's sake--
The loveliest that blows.
She put her wedding-gown away--
The quiet place was all astir

With vague perfume that filled the room,
Cedar and lavender,
Yet
sweeter still about it clung
The fragrant thoughts of her.
She put her wedding-gown away--
Yet lingered where its whiteness
gleamed
As one above a sleeping Love,
Oh, thus it was she seemed,

Reluctant still to turn and go
And leave him as he dreamed.
THE DISCIPLES
A great king made a feast for Love,
And golden was the board and
gold
The hundred, wondrous gauds thereof;
Soft lights like roses
fell above
Rare dishes exquisite and fine;
In jeweled goblets shone
the wine--
A great king made a feast for Love.
_Yet Love as gladly and full-fed hath fared_
_Upon a broken crust

that two have shared;_
_And from scant wine as glorious dreams
drawn up_
_Seeing two lovers kissed above the cup._
A great king made for Love's delight
A temple wonderful wherein

Served jeweled priest and acolyte;
There fell no darkness day or night

Since there his highest altar shone
With flaming gems as some
white sun,
A temple made for Love's delight.
_Yet Love hath found a temple as complete_
_In some bare attic
where two lovers meet;_
_And made his altar by one candle's flame_

_Seeing two lovers burned it in his name._
THE UNKNOWING
They do not know the awful tears we shed,
The tender treasures that
we keep and kiss;
They could not be so still--our quiet dead
In
knowing this.
They do not know what time we turn to fill
Love's empty chalice with
a cheaper bliss;
They could not be so still--so very still
In knowing
this.
HEART OF A HUNDRED SORROWS
Oh, Heart of a Hundred Sorrows,
Whose pity is great therefore,
The
gift that thy children bring thee
Is ever a sorrow more.
Sure of thy dear compassion,
Concerned for our own relief,
Ever
and ever we seek thee,
And each with his gift of grief.
Oh, not to reprove my brothers,
Yet I, who am less than less,

Would bring thee my joy of being
The rose of my happiness.
The spirit that makes my singing
The gladness without alloy,
Oh,
Heart of a Hundred Sorrows,
I bring thee a little joy.

THE RETURNING
I said I will go back again where we
Were glad together. But my dear,
my dear,
Where are the roses we were wont to see
The songs we
used to hear?
I said the hearth-flame that once burned for us
I will renew with all
the cheer of old,
Yet here within the circle luminous
Our very
hearts are cold.
That was a barren garden that we found,
This was an empty house we
came to meet,
We, who for all our longing, hear no sound
Of Love's
returning feet.
THE INLANDER
I never climb a high hill
Or gaze across the lea,
But, Oh, beyond the
two of them,
Beyond the height and blue of them,
I'm looking for
the sea.
A blue sea--a crooning sea--
A grey sea lashed with foam--
But, Oh,
to take the drift of it,
To know the surge and lift of it,
And 'tis I am
longing for it as the homeless long for home.
I never dream at night-time
Or close my eyes by day,
But there I
have the might of it,
The wind-whipped, sun-drenched sight of it,

That calls my soul away.
Oh, deep dreams and happy dreams,
Its dreaming still I'd be,
For
still the land I'm waking in,
'Tis that my heart is breaking in,
And
'tis far where I'd be sleeping with the blue waves over me.
AD FINEM
I like to think this friendship that we hold
As youth's high gift in our
two hands to-day
Still shall we find as bright, untarnished gold


What time the fleeting years have left us grey.
I like to think we two
shall watch the May
Dance down her happy hills and Autumn fold

The world in flame and beauty, we grown old
Staunch comrades on
an undivided way.
I like to think of Winter nights made bright
By book and hearth-flame
when we two shall smile
At memories of to-day--we two content

To count our vanished dawns by candle-light
Seeing we hold in our
old hands the while
The gift of gold youth left us as she went.
A SONG OF HELOISE
God send thee peace, Oh, great unhappy heart--
A world away, I pray
that thou mayst rest
Softly as on the Well-Belovèd's breast,
Where
ever in her wistful dreams