English

NO MORE .

This is the Burden of the Heart,
The Burden that it always bore:
We live to love; we meet to part;
And part to meet on earth No More:
We clasp each other to the heart,
And part to meet on earth No More.

There is a time for tears to start, —
For dews to fall and larks to soar:
The Time for Tears, is when we part
To meet upon the earth No More:

L'INCORONATA .

Come , thou stillest of all Hours,
Let abroad go nothing ill;
That the Vestals of the Flowers
May their mystic rites fulfil.

On her brow is set the splendor
Of the Everlasting Seal;
And behold the Vestals enter,
And around The Maiden kneel!

Slowly as sweet incense stealing
Upward on the Sabbath air,
All arising from their kneeling,

THE LAST WATCH .

I.

The stars shine down through the shivering boughs,
And the moonset sparkles against the spire
There is not a light in a neighbor's house,
Save one that burneth low,
And seemeth almost spent!
With shadowy forms in dark attire
Flickering in it to and fro,
As if in Pain and Doubt —

THE ENEMY .

I T was the dead
Of the long, long dark night;
And in my silent chamber the dim light
A pallid lustre shed.

Then with more care
Than is my wont withal,
I wended down the staircase, through the hall,
Into the open air.

AUTUMN SONG .

I N Spring the Poet is glad,
And in Summer the Poet is gay;
But in Autumn the Poet is sad,
And has something sad to say:

For the Wind moans in the Wood,
And the Leaf drops from the Tree;
And the cold Rain falls on the graves of the Good,
And the cold Mist comes up from the Sea:

And the Autumn Songs of the Poet's soul
Are set to the passionate grief,

THE JUBILEE

" Master of your wounded heart, regent of your pleasure!
We that long defied your art, tamed Moods at leisure,
All with you, nor now apart, would tread out our measure. "

" Welcome, equal powers benign, quit of ancient madness!
Dance with me beneath the vine, not ungentle Sadness;
Link your little hand in mine soberly, my Gladness. "

STERN APHRODITE

" I OLE is coy with me,
Goddess! and a month I suffer
Knowing not how far I be:
Teach me softer arts, or rougher,
Well to sail that sea. "

" Fie: bow long could Love divine
Venturing, abstain from answer,
Nor look landward for a sign!
Niggard, take of thine entrancer
Shipwreck in the brine. "

PREDICAMENTS

" I F the gods ruin send? " —
" Make that thy bride and friend. "

" If the gods cheat? " — " They say
The one true word alway. "

" If for some loss I pine? "
" — The past is theirs, yet thine. "

" If I sue not? " — " Vain cares!
The morrow's thine, not theirs. "

THE CO-ETERNAL

" Is it thou, silly heart,
Not prone on thy pallet, but grieving apart? "
— " Natal Star, even so. "

WOOD-PIGEONS

" I CANNOT soar beside, but must for ever suffer
Blue air athrill with thee to lap against my breast,
And dream it is thy wing. "
— " Dear, sighs about thee hover:
Among the dewy leaves my longing is thy guest.
Yet, lone and far apart, shall we no joy discover
To travel the same sky, and by one sea to rest?
Say, mate in all this world? "
— " Ah, mute forbidden lover,
Ah, song I shall not hear! "
— " Ah, sweet unbuilded nest! "

ON TIME'S THERESHOLD

" See: brood: remember: this thy function only;
Neither to have nor do is meet for thee. "
" Ah, earth's a palace where I must go lonely! "
" Nay: earth's a dungeon which thou passest, free. "