The Embers | Page 7

I still remember though
Ages have fled.
Whisper the word of life,--
"Love is not dead."
I HEARD THE DESERT CALLING
I heard the desert calling, and my heart stood still-- There was winter in my world and in my heart;?A breath came from the mesa, and a message stirred my will, And my soul and I arose up to depart.
I heard the desert calling, and I knew that over there In an olive-sheltered garden where the mesquite grows, Was a woman of the sunrise with the star-shine in her hair And a beauty that the almond-blossom blows.
In the night-time when the ghost-trees glimmered in the moon, Where the mesa by the water-course was spanned,?Her loveliness enwrapped me like the blessedness of June, And all my life was thrilling in her hand.
I hear the desert calling, and my heart stands still-- There is summer in my world, and in my heart;?A breath comes from the mesa, and a will beyond my will Binds my footsteps as I rise up to depart.
THE FORGOTTEN WORD
Once in the twilight of the Austrian hills,
A word came to me, wonderful and good;
If I had spoken it--that message of the stars--
Love would have filled thy blood;
Love would have sent thee pulsing to my arms,
Laughing with joy, thy heart a nestling bird
An instant passed--it fled; and now I seek in vain
For that forgotten word.
WHAT WILL IT MATTER?
What will this matter, dear, when you and I
Have left our sad world for some fairer sky?
What will it matter, dear, when, far apart,
We miss the touch of hand and beat of heart;
When one's at peace, while unto one is given
With lonely feet to walk the hills at even?
What will it matter that one fault more now
Brings clouds upon one eager mortal brow,
That one grace less is given to one poor soul,
When both drink from the last immortal bowl?
For fault and grace, dear love, when we go hence
Will find the same Eternal recompense.
THE COURIER STAR
Into a New World wandered I,
A strong vast realm afar;
And down the white peaks of its sky,
Beckoned my courier star.

It hailed me to mine ancient North,--