PDF《Poems》

Draw near, draw near, chill child of fear, From the frontier-land of Gloom! Did you know that I loved you, Shadow? Did you guess whence the violets came? And the delicate heart with its Cupid dart, All opal and ruby-flame? Ah, once brown-gold were the lashes That shadowed your dreaming eyes, And your teeth were pearl '

neath the coral curl Of twin portals of Paradise. And warmer your cheeks were and softer (Alas, they are pale and cold!) Than the rose of the East, or the wine of the feast Red-rimming its carven gold. It was all so sad, O Shadow, And you faded away so soon, Like a note that flies, and fades, and dies Ere it grows to a golden tune. Gone! utterly gone, O Shadow;

No whisper, no word let fall;

No light is shed, and the moon is dead, And a chill creeps up the hall. I shall follow and follow you, Shadow, Till the sun, remote and red, Burns like a spark, and dim and dark Rise up the hosts of the dead. The Song of the Violin SHE stood in the curtains played over by light ― The tinted curtains ― a tired, sweet girl, With exquisite arms under laces of white Like an ivory figure in mother-of-pearl. I entered;

she saw me, but made no move;

To some I nodded, to some replied;

(A violin somewhere was singing of love) She blushed and paled, and I stood at her side. I asked for a dance ― she shook her head And laughed like a petted, petulant queen;

She had promised them all to others, she said, And you are so late ― and where have you been? They were talking low in the long, bright room, And I answered her, moving the blind aside ― Out there on the lawn in the velvet gloom, Wooing a woman to make her my bride. She suddenly shook like a startled dove;

Ruffled and paled and hung her head (A violin somewhere was singing of love, And bitter-sweet were the things it said). This heat is stifling! ― she moved away. Out here, I whispered, and hark to the tide! The woman ― where is she? I heard her say;

Now show me the woman you wooed for a bride. Here on the land ― and there on the sea, Her feet among roses, her head in the skies;

And now do you see her? She whispered I see, Her hand on my shoulder, a laugh in her eyes. Do you love her ― this lady so mystical, fine? I dwindle before her, a plain little miss;

She has stars in her hair ― only roses in mine;

But the Night has no heart, and the Night cannot kiss. Not now, if you please, sir! ― a moment she strove ― The curve of my arm softly circled her head . . . A violin somewhere was singing of love, And sweet beyond all were the things it said. At Her Door OPEN! Open! Open! I am here at your door outside;

The sea'

s blue tide flows speedily, And ebbs a thin red tide. The woman rose from her warm white bed, Threw back her hair and smiled;

The ears of scorn heard the words of love, And the wind and the words were wild. Wake! Awake! Awake! And hearken the woe outside;

The moon is hid in cloudiness;

Calleth and calleth the tide. The woman stood in the silence still As a thing men carve from stone. Her eyes burned largely in the dark, And the smile, like a stain, stayed on. Listen! Listen! Listen! Hear you the rain to-night? A warm dark rain is falling too, And I grow ghostly-white. The woman took three steps and bowed;

The smile waned from her lip;

She heard the dripping of the rain And a soft thick other drip. Open! Open! Open! I die in the dark alone. My voice goes up in weariness Against your heart of stone. The moon to a cloud-cleft stealing Gazed down on the yearning tide;

The woman opened the streaming door And stood in the rain outside. Silence! Stillness! She whispers, Ah, Love, that death should be! He sighed, Your lips are loveliness! And she sobbed, Woe is me! The woman pressed his dead white face With her face as deadly white: The moon drew in behind a cloud, And the tide moaned through the night. Stars in the Sea I TOOK a boat on a starry night And went for a row on the water, And she danced like a child on a wake of light And bowed where the ripples caught her. I vowed, as I rowed on the velvet blue Through the night and the starry splendour, To woo and sue a maiden I knew Till she bent to my pleadings tender. My painted boat she was light and glad And gladder my heart with wishing, And I came in time to a little lad Who stood on the rocks a-fishing. I said Ahoy! and he said Ahoy! And I asked how the fish were biting;