The Englishman and Other Poems | Page 3

hurled. I felt
the stirring in my blood, which permeates the world. I thrilled like
willows in the spring, when sap begins to flow, It was young passion in
my veins, but how was I to know?
The second was the silent road, where modest mothers dwell, And hide
from eager, curious minds, the truth they ought to tell. That misnamed
road called 'Innocence' should bear the sign 'to Hell.' With song and
dance in ignorance I walked that road and fell.
VIRTUE
O fallen one, unhappy one, but why not rise and go
Back to the ways
you left behind, and leave your sins below, Nor linger in this sink of sin,
since now you see, and know.

VICE
The third road was the fair high way, trod by the good and great. I cried
aloud to that vast crowd, and told my hapless fate. They hurried all
through door and wall and shut Convention's gate. I beat it with my
bleeding hands: they must have heard me knock. They must have heard
wild sob and word, yet no one turned the lock.
Oh, it is very desolate, on Virtue's path to stand,
And see the good
folks flocking by, withholding look and hand.
And so with hungry heart and soul, and weary brain and feet, I left that
highway whence you came, and sought the sinful street.
O prudent one, O spotless one, when good folks speak of me, Go, tell
them of the roads I came; the road ways fair, and three.
A BALLADE OF THE UNBORN DEAD
They walked the valley of the dead;
Lit by a weird half light;
No sound they made, no word they said;
And they were pale with fright.
Then suddenly from unseen places
came
Loud laughter, that was like a whip of flame.
They looked, and saw, beyond, above,
A land where wronged souls wait;
(Those spirits called to earth by
love,
And driven back by hate).
And each one stood in anguish dumb and
wild,
As she beheld the phantom of her child.
Yea, saw the soul her wish had hurled
Out into night and death;
Before it reached the Mother world,

Or drew its natal breath.
And terrified, each hid her face and fled

Beyond the presence of her unborn dead.
And God's Great Angel, who provides
Souls for our mortal land,
Laughed, with the laughter that derides,
At that fast fleeing band
Of self-made barren women of the earth.

(Hell has no curse that withers like such mirth.)
'O Angel, tell us who were they,
That down below us fared;
Those shapes with faces strained and grey,
And eyes that stared and stared;
Something there was about them,
gave us fear;
Yet are we lonely, now they are not here.'
Thus spake the spectral children; thus
The Angel made reply:
'They have no part or share with us;
They were but passers-by.'
'But may we pray for them?' the phantoms
plead.
'Yea, for they need your prayers,' the Angel said.
They went upon their lonely way;
(Far, far from Paradise);
Their path was lit with one wan ray
From ghostly children's eyes;
The little children who were never born;

And as they passed, the Angel laughed in scorn.
THE TRUTH TELLER
The Truth Teller lifts the curtain,
And shows us the people's plight;
And everything seems uncertain,

And nothing at all looks right.
Yet out of the blackness groping,
My heart finds a world in bloom;
For it somehow is fashioned for
hoping,
And it cannot live in the gloom.
He tells us from border to border,
That race is warring with race;
With riot and mad disorder,
The earth is a wretched place;
And yet ere the sun is setting
I am thinking of peace, not strife;
For my heart has a way of
forgetting
All things save the joy of life.
I heard in my Youth's beginning
That earth was a region of woe,
And trouble, and sorrow, and
sinning:
The Truth Teller told me so.
I knew it was true, and tragic;
And I mourned over much that was wrong;
And then, by some
curious magic,
The heart of me burst into song.
The years have been going, going,
A mixture of pleasure and pain;
But the Truth Teller's books are
showing
That evil is on the gain.
And I know that I ought to be grieving,
And I should be too sad to sing;
But somehow I keep on believing

That life is a glorious thing.
JUST YOU
All the selfish joys of earth,
I am getting through.
That which used to lure and lead
Now I pass and give no heed;
Only one thing seems of worth -
Just you.
Not for me the lonely height,
And the larger view;
Lowlier ways seem fair and wide,
While we wander side by side.
One thing makes the whole world
bright -
Just you.
Not for distant goals I run,
No great aim pursue;
Most of earth's ambitions seem
Like the shadow of a dream.
All the world to