Song

YOU bound strong sandals on my feet,

You gave me bread and wine,

And bade me out, 'neath sun and stars,

For all the world was mine.

Oh take the sandals off my feet,

You know not what you do;

For all my world is in your arms,

My sun and stars are you.

The Rose and the Bee

IF I were a bee and you were a rose,

Would you let me in when the gray wind blows?

Would you hold your petals wide apart,

Would you let me in to find your heart,

If you were a rose?

"If I were a rose and you were a bee,

You should never go when you came to me,

I should hold my love on my heart at last,

I should close my leaves and keep you fast,

If you were a bee."

The Song Maker

I MADE a hundred little songs

That told the joy and pain of love,

And sang them blithely, tho' I knew

No whit thereof.

I was a weaver deaf and blind;

A miracle was wrought for me,

But I have lost my skill to weave

Since I can see.

For while I sang -- ah swift and strange!

Love passed and touched me on the brow,

And I who made so many songs

Am silent now.

Wild Asters

IN the spring I asked the daisies

If his words were true,

And the clever little daisies

Always knew.

Now the fields are brown and barren,

Bitter autumn blows,

And of all the stupid asters

Not one knows.

When Love Goes

   I

O MOTHER, I am sick of love,

I cannot laugh nor lift my head,

My bitter dreams have broken me,

I would my love were dead.

"Drink of the draught I brew for thee,

Thou shalt have quiet in its stead."

   II

Where is the silver in the rain,

Where is the music in the sea,

Where is the bird that sang all day

To break my heart with melody?

"The night thou badst Love fly away,

He hid them all from thee."

The Wayfarer

LOVE entered in my heart one day,

A sad, unwelcome guest;

But when he begged that he might stay,

I let him wait and rest.,p>

He broke my sleep with sorrowing,

And shook my dreams with tears,

And when my heart was fain to sing,

He stilled its joy with fears.

But now that he has gone his way,

I miss the old sweet pain,

And sometimes in the night I pray

That he may come again.

The Princess in the Tower

     I

The Princess sings:

I AM the princess up in the tower

And I dream the whole day thro'

Of a knight who shall come with a silver spear

And a waving plume of blue.

I am the princess up in the tower,

And I dream my dreams by day,

But sometimes I wake, and my eyes are wet,

When the dusk is deep and gray.

For the peasant lovers go by beneath,

I hear them laugh and kiss,

And I forget my day-dream knight,

And long for a love like this.

     II

The Minstrel sings:

I lie beside the princess' tower,

So close she cannot see my face,

And watch her dreaming all day long,

And bending with a lily's grace.

Her cheeks are paler than the moon

That sails along a sunny sky,

And yet her silent mouth is red

Where tender words and kisses lie.

I am a minstrel with a harp,

For love of her my songs are sweet,

And yet I dare not lift the voice

That lies so far beneath her feet.

     III

The Knight sings:

O princess cease your dreams awhile

And look adown your tower's gray side --

The princess gazes far away,

Nor hears nor heeds the words I cried.

Perchance my heart was overbold,

God made her dreams too pure to break,

She sees the angels in the air

Fly to and fro for Mary's sake.

Farewell, I mount and go my way,

-- But oh her hair the sun sifts thro' --

The tilts and tourneys wait my spear,

I am the Knight of the Plume of Blue.

When Love was Born

WHEN Love was born I think he lay

Right warm on Venus' breast,

And whiles he smiled and whiles would play

And whiles would take his rest.

But always, folded out of sight,

The wings were growing strong

That were to bear him off in flight

Erelong, erelong.

The Shrine

THERE is no lord within my heart,

Left silent as an empty shrine

Where rose and myrtle intertwine,

Within a place apart.

No god is there of carven stone

To watch with still approving eyes

My thoughts like steady incense rise;

I dream and weep alone.

But if I keep my altar fair,

Some morning I shall lift my head

From roses deftly garlanded

To find the god is there.

The Blind

THE birds are all a-building,

They say the world's a-flower,

And still I linger lonely

Within a barren bower.

I weave a web of fancies

Of tears and darkness spun.

How shall I sing of sunlight

Who never saw the sun?

I hear the pipes a-blowing,

But yet I may not dance,

I know that Love is passing,

I cannot catch his glance.

And if his voice should call me

And I with groping dim

Should reach his place of calling

And stretch my arms to him,

The wind would blow between my hands

For Joy that I shall miss,

The rain would fall upon my mouth

That his will never kiss.

Love Me

BROWN-THRUSH singing all day long

In the leaves above me,

Take my love this little song,

"Love me, love me, love me!"

When he harkens what you say,

Bid him, lest he miss me,

Leave his work or leave his play,

And kiss me, kiss me, kiss me!

The Song for Colin

I SANG a song at dusking time

Beneath the evening star,

And Terence left his latest rhyme

To answer from afar.

Pierrot laid down his lute to weep,

And sighed, "She sings for me,"

But Colin slept a careless sleep

Beneath an apple tree.

Four Winds

"FOUR winds blowing thro' the sky,

You have seen poor maidens die,

Tell me then what I shall do

That my lover may be true."

Said the wind from out the south,

"Lay no kiss upon his mouth,"

And the wind from out the west,

"Wound the heart within his breast,"

And the wind from out the east,

"Send him empty from the feast,"

And the wind from out the north,

"In the tempest thrust him forth,

When thou art more cruel than he,

Then will Love be kind to thee."

Roundel

IF he could know my songs are all for him,

At silver dawn or in the evening glow,

Would he not smile and think it but a whim,

If he could know?

Or would his heart rejoice and overflow,

As happy brooks that break their icy rim

When April's horns along the hillsides blow?

I may not speak till Eros' torch is dim,

The god is bitter and will have it so;

And yet to-night our fate would seem less grim

If he could know.

Dew

I DREAM that he is mine,

I dream that he is true,

And all his words I keep

As rose-leaves hold the dew.

O little thirsty rose,

O little heart beware,

Lest you should hope to hold

A hundred roses' share.

A Maiden

OH if I were the velvet rose

Upon the red rose vine,

I'd climb to touch his window

And make his casement fine.

And if I were the little bird

That twitters on the tree,

All day I'd sing my love for him

Till he should harken me.

But since I am a maiden

I go with downcast eyes,

And he will never hear the songs

That he has turned to sighs.

And since I am a maiden

My love will never know

That I could kiss him with a mouth

More red than roses blow.

"I Love You"

WHEN April bends above me

And finds me fast asleep

Dust need not keep the secret

A live heart died to keep.

When April tells the thrushes,

The meadow-larks will know,

And pipe the three words lightly

To all the winds that blow.

Above his roof the swallows,

In notes like far-blown rain,

Will tell the little sparrow

Beside his window-pane.

O sparrow, little sparrow,

When I am fast asleep,

Then tell my love the secret

That I have died to keep.

But Not to me

THE April night is still and sweet

With flowers on every tree;

Peace comes to them on quiet feet,

   But not to me.

My peace is hidden in his breast

Where I shall never be,

Love comes to-night to all the rest,

   But not to me.

Hidden Love

I HID the love within my heart,

And lit the laughter in my eyes,

That when we meet he may not know

My love that never dies.

But sometimes when he dreams at night

Of fragrant forests green and dim,

It may be that my love crept out

And brought the dream to him.

And sometimes when his heart is sick

And suddenly grows well again,

It may be that my love was there

To free his life of pain.

Snow Song

FAIRY snow, fairy snow,

Blowing, blowing everywhere,

Would that I

Too, could fly

Lightly, lightly through the air.

Like a wee, crystal star

I should drift, I should blow

Near, more near,

To my dear

Where he comes through the snow.

I should fly to my love

Like a flake in the storm,

I should die,

I should die,

On his lips that are warm.

Youth and the Pilgrim

GRAY pilgrim, you have journeyed far,

I pray you tell to me

Is there a land where Love is not,

By shore of any sea?

For I am weary of the god,

And I would flee from him

Tho' I must take a ship and go

Beyond the ocean's rim.

"I know a port where Love is not,

The ship is in your hand,

Then plunge your sword within your breast

And you will reach the land."

The Wanderer

I SAW the sunset-colored sands,

The Nile like flowing fire between,

Where Rameses stares forth serene,

And Ammon's heavy temple stands.

I saw the rocks where long ago,

Above the sea that cries and breaks,

Bright Perseus with Medusa's snakes

Set free the maiden white like snow.

And many skies have covered me,

And many winds have blown me forth,

And I have loved the green bright north,

And I have loved the cold sweet sea.

But what to me are north and south,

And what the lure of many lands,

Since you have leaned to catch my hands

And lay a kiss upon my mouth.

I Would Live in Your Love

I WOULD live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea,

Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes;

I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me,

I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul as it leads.

May

THE wind is tossing the lilacs,

The new leaves laugh in the sun,

And the petals fall on the orchard wall,

But for me the spring is done.

Beneath the apple blossoms

I go a wintry way,

For love that smiled in April

Is false to me in May.

Rispetto

WAS that his step that sounded on the stair?

Was that his knock I heard upon the door?

I grow so tired I almost cease to care,

And yet I would that he might come once more.

It was the wind I heard, that mocks at me,

The bitter wind that is more cruel than he;

It was the wind that knocked upon the door,

But he will never knock nor enter more.

Less than the cloud to the wind

LESS than the cloud to the wind,

Less than the foam to the sea,

Less than the rose to the storm

   Am I to thee.

More than the star to the night,

More than the rain to the lea,

More than heaven to earth

   Art thou to me.

Buried Love

I SHALL bury my weary Love

Beneath a tree,

In the forest tall and black

Where none can see.

I shall put no flowers at his head,

Nor stone at his feet,

For the mouth I loved so much

Was bittersweet.

I shall go no more to his grave,

For the woods are cold.

I shall gather as much of joy

As my hands can hold.

I shall stay all day in the sun

Where the wide winds blow,

But oh, I shall weep at night

When none will know.

Song

O WOE is me, my heart is sad,

For I should never know

If Love came by like any lad,

Without his silver bow.

Or if he left his arrows sharp

And came a minstrel weary,

I'd never tell him by his harp

Nor know him for my dearie.

"O go your ways and have no fear,

For tho' Love passes by,

He'll come a hundred times, my dear,

Before your turn to die."

Pierrot

PIERROT stands in the garden

Beneath a waning moon,

And on his lute he fashions

A little silver tune.

Pierrot plays in the garden,

He thinks he plays for me,

But I am quite forgotten

Under the cherry tree.

Pierrot plays in the garden,

And all the roses know

That Pierrot loves his music,

But I love Pierrot.

At Night

LOVE said, "Wake still and think of me,"

Sleep, "Close your eyes till break of day,"

But Dreams came by and smilingly

Gave both to Love and Sleep their way.

Song

WHEN Love comes singing to his heart

That would not wake for me,

I think that I shall know his joy

By my own ecstasy.

And tho' the sea were all between,

The time their hands shall meet,

My heart will know his happiness,

So wildly it will beat.

And when he bends above her mouth,

Rejoicing for his sake,

My soul will sing a little song,

But oh, my heart will break.

Love in Autumn

I SOUGHT among the drifting leaves,

The golden leaves that once were green,

To see if Love were hiding there

And peeping out between.

For thro' the silver showers of May

And thro' the summer's heavy heat,

In vain I sought his golden head

And light, fast-flying feet.

Perhaps when all the world is bare

And cruel winter holds the land,

The Love that finds no place to hide

Will run and catch my hand.

I shall not care to have him then,

I shall be bitter and a-cold --

It grows too late for frolicking

When all the world is old.

Then little hiding Love, come forth,

Come forth before the autumn goes,

And let us seek thro' ruined paths

The garden's last red rose.

The Kiss

I HOPED that he would love me,

And he has kissed my mouth,

But I am like a stricken bird

That cannot reach the south.

For tho' I know he loves me,

To-night my heart is sad;

His kiss was not so wonderful

As all the dreams I had.

November

THE world is tired, the year is old,

The little leaves are glad to die,

The wind goes shivering with cold

Among the rushes dry.

Our love is dying like the grass,

And we who kissed grow coldly kind,

Half glad to see our poor love pass

Like leaves along the wind.

A Song of the Princess

THE princess has her lovers,

A score of knights has she,

And each can sing a madrigal,

And praise her gracefully.

But Love that is so bitter

Hath put within her heart

A longing for the scornful knight

Who silent stands apart.

And tho' the others praise and plead,

She maketh no reply,

Yet for a single word from him,

I ween that she would die.

The Wind

A WIND is blowing over my soul,

I hear it cry the whole night thro' --

Is there no peace for me on earth

Except with you?

Alas, the wind has made me wise,

Over my naked soul it blew, --

There is no peace for me on earth

Even with you.

A Winter Night

MY window-pane is starred with frost,

The world is bitter cold to-night,

The moon is cruel, and the wind

Is like a two-edged sword to smite.

God pity all the homeless ones,

The beggars pacing to and fro.

God pity all the poor to-night

Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow.

My room is like a bit of June,

Warm and close-curtained fold on fold,

But somewhere, like a homeless child,

My heart is crying in the cold.

The Metropolian Tower

WE walked together in the dusk

To watch the tower grow dimly white,

And saw it lift against the sky

Its flower of amber light.

You talked of half a hundred things,

I kept each little word you said;

And when at last the hour was full,

I saw the light turn red.

You did not know the time had come,

You did not see the sudden flower,

Nor know that in my heart Love's birth

Was reckoned from that hour.

Gramercy Park

For W. P.

THE little park was filled with peace,

The walks were carpeted with snow,

But every iron gate was locked.

Lest if we entered, peace would go.

We circled it a dozen times,

The wind was blowing from the sea,

I only felt your restless eyes

Whose love was like a cloak for me.

Oh heavy gates that fate has locked

To bar the joy we may not win,

Peace would go out forevermore

If we should dare to enter in.

In the Metropolitan Museum

WITHIN the tiny Pantheon

We stood together silently,

Leaving the restless crowd awhile

As ships find shelter from the sea.

The ancient centuries came back

To cover us a moment's space,

And thro' the dome the light was glad

Because it shone upon your face.

Ah, not from Rome but farther still,

Beyond sun-smitten Salamis,

The moment took us, till you stooped

To find the present with a kiss.

Coney Island

WHY did you bring me here?

The sand is white with sno,

Over the wooden domes

The winter sea-winds blow --

There is no shelter near,

Come, let us go.

With foam of icy lace

The sea creeps up the sand,

The wind is like a hand

That strikes us in the face.

Doors that June set a-swing

Are bolted long ago;

We try them uselessly --

Alas, there cannot be

For us a second spring;

Come, let us go.

Union Square

WITH the man I love who loves me not,

I walked in the street-lamps' flare;

We watched the world go home that night

In a flood through Union Square.

I leaned to catch the words he said

That were light as a snowflake falling;

Ah well that he never leaned to hear

The words my heart was calling.

And on we walked and on we walked

Past the fiery lights of the picture shows --

Where the girls with thirsty eyes go by

On the errand each man knows.

And on we walked and on we walked,

At the door at last we said good-bye;

I knew by his smile he had not heard

My heart's unuttered cry.

With the man I love who loves me not

I walked in the street-lamps' flare --

But oh, the girls who can ask for love

In the lights of Union Square.

Central Park at Dusk

BUILDINGS above the leafless trees

Loom high as castles in a dream,

While one by one the lamps come out

To thread the twilight with a gleam.

There is no sign of leaf or bud,

A hush is over everything --

Silent as women wait for love,

The world is waiting for the spring.

Young Love

     I

I CANNOT heed the words they say,

The lights grow far away and dim,

Amid the laughing men and maids

My eyes unbidden seek for him.

I hope that when he smiles at me

He does not guess my joy and pain,

For if he did, he is too kind

To ever look my way again.

     II

I have a secret in my heart

No ears have ever heard,

And still it sings there day by day

Most like a caged bird.

And when it beats against the bars,

I do not set it free,

For I am happier to know

It only sings for me.

     III

I wrote his name along the beach,

I love the letters so.

Far up it seemed and out of reach,

For still the tide was low.

But oh, the sea came creeping up,

And washed the name away,

And on the sand where it had been

A bit of sea-grass lay.

A bit of sea-grass on the sand,

Dropped from a mermaid's hair --

Ah, had she come to kiss his name

And leave a token there?

     IV

What am I that he should love me,

He who stands so far above me,

What am I?

I am like a cowslip turning

Toward the sky,

Where a planet's golden burning

Breaks the cowslip's heart with yearning,

What am I that he should love me,

What am I?

     V

O dreams that flock about my sleep,

I pray you bring my love to me,

And let me think I hear his voice

Again ring free.

And if you care to please me well,

And live to-morrow in my mind,

Let him who was so cold before,

To-night seem kind.

     VI

I plucked a daisy in the fields,

And there beneath the sun

I let its silver petals fall

One after one.

I said, "He loves me, loves me not,"

And oh, my heart beat fast,

The flower was kind, it let me say

"He loves me," last.

I kissed the little leafless stem,

But oh, my poor heart knew

The words the flower had said to me,

They were not true.

     VII

I sent my love a letter,

And if he loves me not,

He shall not find my love for him

In any line or dot.

But if he loves me truly,

He'll find it hidden deep,

As dawn gleams red thro' chilly clouds

To eyes awaked from sleep.

     VIII

The world is cold and gray and wet,

And I am heavy-hearted, yet

When I am home and look to see

The place my letters wait for me,

If I should find one letter there,

I think I should not greatly care

If it were rainy or were fair,

For all the world would suddenly

Seem like a festival to me.

     IX

I hid three words within my heart,

That longed to fly to him,

At dawn they woke me with a start,

They sang till day was dim.

And now at last I let them fly,

As little birds should do,

And he will know the first is "I",

The others "Love" and "You".

     X

Across the twilight's violet

His curtained window glimmers gold;

Oh happy light that round my love

Can fold.

Oh happy book within his hand,

Oh happy page he glorifies,

Oh happy little word beneath

His eyes.

But oh, thrice happy, happy I

Who love him more than songs can tell,

For in the heaven of his heart

I dwell.