English

This crime will darken England, and dethrone
Justice. — On one side, human, prone to err,
Twelve men, and men, moreover, judging her
For one sin mainly — sin confessed and known.
But on the other side, as hourly shown,
The soul of England, greater than her laws:
The voice that bids the ermined Hangman pause:
The nation's sob, that deepens to a groan.

Carry out the sentence? What dishonour then
Shall rest for ever on the hands that slew,
Though England cried. " This woman's cause is mine! "

The violets shudder at thee, the roses dread
Along the garden-paths thy ghostly tread,
O death!
The sea-birds dart across the rocky narrows:
Their white wings would evade thy dark-winged arrows;
They would evade and shirk thy venomed breath.

All things have fear of thee. The very sun
Dies in the Western sea, its bright day done;
The light
Gives up to thee its glory, and the bloom
Of every summer passes into gloom
As surely as day passes into night.

Yet what if all things breathe, beyond all death,

Love bringeth vision. All the world is new:
The sky's clear raiment of unsullied blue;
The night's robe, star-bestrewn;
Each wave that gleams and curves, each flower that blows;
Each scented petal of soft pink or rose;
Each leaf of leafy June.

We see as God and Love see. Never more
Will colour now forsake the hills and shore
Or light forsake the skies.
Who slayeth self shall see, as angels see.
The whole world in its Eden-purity
With pure immortal eyes.

TO MY FRIEND DR. N. D. GADDY, OF LOVETT, INDIANA

Friend in the younger England far away, —
The great free land beneath whose boundless skies
Singers as large of spirit shall arise
When its dawn broadens to a golden day; —
Friend who didst travel o'er the sea-wastes grey
That guard us, — eager with recipient eyes
Once to behold the land whose heart supplies
The hearts that rule the peoples who obey: —

O riches of all the ages we have missed!
Dark eyes, dark tresses, in old Eastern lands, —
Wonderful thrilling of electric hands, —
Lips fairer than all flowers, alas! unkissed.
Blue tender veins on Cleopatra's wrist, —
Eyes gazing over thirsty Indian sands, —
Eyes watching wild waves break on Northern strands
Pine-shadowed; — oh, the long heart-piercing list!

And whom of all that long list have we seen?
Poets, who have the eternal heart of Time
Mixed with your own in magnitude sublime,

I.

Here in the teeming city lo! I cry
Towards the wide waste of waters: — give to me
Harbour of wind and light whereto to fly,
O Sea!

II.

Let all men know that though the world's harps choose
Full many flower-crowned loves, and bow the knee,
I am thy singer, — whom thy breath renews,
O Sea!

III.

Along the blood-stained road that Christ's foot trod
We follow hard, —
Watching the sweet eyes of the Son of God
And his brow scarred.

Along the weary lonely devious way
We follow him,
Through midnight blackness till the morning grey, —
Till stars wax dim.

Not on his head love's star-crown shone alone;
Nay! all may share
His glory who will share his sorrow's throne
On Calvary bare.

If any man will watch throughout the night,
Though wild winds roam
And on the savage beach the only light

But where shall man's eyes find her?—
By shores of dim grey sea?
Or under summer tree?
Or do the rose-bowers bind her?

Long may he seek, and, seeking,
Be sick of heart and sere,—
Ere falls upon his ear
The sound of her soft speaking.

Yea, old and sad and weary
He shall be ere the dawn
Gild forest and wet lawn
With light so sweet and eerie.

Ere in that light she stands,
A Bride for evermore,
With heart whence love-floods pour
And great immortal hands.

Not all the flowers and bowers wherein love shines
With soft seductive feet
Can still the yearning burning heart that pines
For one, and but one, woman sweet.

Not all the songs and throngs of maidens fair
With eyes of many hues
Can banish pain and strain and carking care,—
One love, but one, we still would choose:

That she, immortal, endless, still the same,
Might soothe our soul to rest;
To shoot love's arrow once, with but one aim,
Is wisest after all, and best.

Farewell, ferns and heather!
Cousin with dark eyes!
Farewell, golden weather,
Cloudless skies:

Farewell, Church and river;
Farewell, park and mead
Where the larches quiver, —
Sedge and reed:

Farewell, forest gleaming
Now with autumn gold
Where I wandered dreaming
Dreams of old:

Farewell, friends whose tender
Love and help and care
Doubled all the splendour
Of soft air;

Friends who made the alleys
Sweeter from their tread,
And the fir-lined valleys