The Englishman and Other Poems | Page 3

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 me means one -
Just you.
REFLECTION
Twice have I seen God's full reflected grace.
Once when the wailing of a child at birth?Proclaimed another soul had come to earth,?That look shone on, and through the mother's face.
And once when silence, absolute and vast,
Followed the final indrawn mortal breath,?Sudden upon the countenance of death?That supreme glory of God's grace was cast.
SONGS OF LOVE AND THE SEA
I
When first we met (the Sea and I),
Like one before a King,?I stood in awe; nor felt nor saw?The sun, the winds, the earth, the sky
Or any other thing.
God's Universe, to me,
Was just the Sea.
When next we met, the lordly Main
Played but a courtier's part;?Crowned Queen was I; and earth and sky,?And sun and sea were my domain,
Since love was in my heart.
Before, beyond, above,
Was only Love.
II
Love built me, on a little rock,
A little house of pine,
At first, the Sea?Beat angrily?About that house of mine;?(That dear, dear home of mine).
But when it turned to go away
Beyond the sandy track,
Down o'er its wall?The house would call,?Until the Sea came back;?(It always hurried back).
And now the