The White Bees | Page 6

thought
me of a cunning way
To hide the question and dissolve the doubt.

"Will you not give me now your hand,
"Dear Marguerite," I asked,
"to touch and hold,
"That by this token I may understand
"You are
the same true friend you were of old?"
She answered with a smile so
bright and calm
It seemed as if I saw new stars arise
In the deep
heaven of her eyes;
And smiling so, she laid her palm
In mine. Dear
God, it was not cold
But warm with vital heat!
"You live!" I cried,
"you live, dear Marguerite!"
Then I awoke; but strangely comforted,

Although I knew again that she was dead.
III
Yes, there's the dream! And was it sweet or
sad?
Dear mistress of my waking and my sleep,
Present reward of
all my heart's desire,
Watching with me beside the winter fire,

Interpret now this vision that I had.
But while you read the meaning,
let me keep
The touch of you: for the Old Year with storm
Is

passing through the midnight, and doth shake
The corners of the
house,--and oh! my heart
would break
Unless both dreaming and awake
My hand could feel
your hand was warm, warm,
warm!
SONGS FOR AMERICA
SEA-GULLS OF Manhattan
Children of the elemental mother,
Born upon some lonely island shore
Where the wrinkled ripples run
and whisper,
Where the crested billows plunge and roar;
Long-winged, tireless
roamers and adventurers,
Fearless breasters of the wind and sea,
In the far-off solitary places
I have seen you floating wild and free!
Here the high-built cities rise around you;
Here the cliffs that tower east and west,
Honeycombed with human
habitations,
Have no hiding for the sea-bird's nest:
Here the river flows begrimed
and troubled;
Here the hurrying, panting vessels fume,
Restless, up and down the
watery highway,
While a thousand chimneys vomit gloom.
Toil and tumult, conflict and confusion,

Clank and clamor of the vast machine
Human hands have built for
human bondage--
Yet amid it all you float serene;
Circling, soaring, sailing, swooping
lightly
Down to glean your harvest from the wave;
In your heritage of air
and water,
You have kept the freedom Nature gave.
Even so the wild-woods of Manhattan
Saw your wheeling flocks of white and grey;
Even so you fluttered,
followed, floated,
Round the Half-Moon creeping up the bay;
Even so your voices
creaked and chattered,
Laughing shrilly o'er the tidal rips,
While your black and beady eyes
were glistening
Round the sullen British prison-ships.
Children of the elemental mother,
Fearless floaters 'mid the double blue,
From the crowded boats that
cross the ferries
Many a longing heart goes out to you.
Though the cities climb and
close around us,
Something tells us that our souls are free,
While the sea-gulls fly
above the harbor,
While the river flows to meet the sea!
URBS CORONATA

(Song for the City College of New York)
O youngest of the giant brood
Of cities far-renowned;
In wealth and
power thou hast passed
Thy rivals at a bound;
And now thou art a
queen, New York;
And how wilt thou be crowned?
"Weave me no palace-wreath of pride,"
The royal city said;
"Nor
forge an iron fortress-wall
To frown upon my head;
But let me wear
a diadem
Of Wisdom's towers instead."
And so upon her island height
She worked her will forsooth,
She
set upon her rocky brow
A citadel of Truth,
A house of Light, a
home of Thought,
A shrine of noble Youth.
Stand here, ye City College towers,
And look both up and down;

Remember all who wrought for you
Within the toiling town;

Remember all they thought for you,
And all the hopes they brought
for you,
And be the City's Crown.
AMERICA
I Love thine inland seas,
Thy groves of giant trees,
Thy rolling plains;
Thy rivers' mighty
sweep,
Thy mystic canyons deep,
Thy mountains wild and steep,

All thy domains;
Thy silver Eastern strands,
Thy Golden Gate that stands
Wide to the
West;
Thy flowery Southland fair,
Thy sweet and crystal air,--
O
land beyond compare,
Thee I love best!
Additional verses for the National Hymn, March, 1906.
DOORS OF DARING
The mountains that enfold the vale
With walls of granite, steep and

high,
Invite the fearless foot to scale
Their stairway toward the sky.
The restless, deep, dividing sea
That flows and foams from shore to
shore,
Calls to its sunburned chivalry,
"Push out, set sail, explore!"

And all the bars at which we fret,
That seem to prison and control,

Are but the doors of daring, set
Ajar before the soul.
Say not, "Too poor," but freely give;
Sigh not, "Too weak," but
boldly try.
You never can begin to live
Until you dare to die.
A HOME SONG
I Read within a poet's book
A word that starred the page:
"Stone
walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage!"
Yes, that is true; and something more
You'll find, where'er you roam,

That marble floors and gilded walls
Can never make a home.
But every house where Love abides,
And Friendship is a guest,
Is
surely home, and home-sweet-home:
For there the heart can rest.
A NOON SONG
There are songs for the morning and songs
for the night,
For sunrise and sunset, the stars and the moon;
But
who will give praise to the