Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. COMPLIMENTS OF BARTLEBY.COM “If Spirits Walk” By Sophie Jewett (“Ellen Burroughs”) IF spirits walk, love, when the night climbs slow The slant footpath where we were wont to go, Be sure that I shall take the selfsame way To the hill-crest, and shoreward, down the gray, Sheer, gravelled slope, where vetches straggling grow. 5 Look for me not when gusts of winter blow, When at thy pane beat hands of sleet and snow; I would not come thy dear eyes to affray, If spirits walk. But when, in June, the pines are whispering low, 10 And when their breath plays with thy bright hair so As some one’s fingers once were used to play— That hour when birds leave song, and children pray, Keep the old tryst, sweetheart, and thou shalt know If spirits walk. 15 Armistice By Sophie Jewett (“Ellen Burroughs”) THE WATER sings along our keel, The wind falls to a whispering breath; I look into your eyes and feel No fear of life or death; So near is love, so far away 5 The losing strife of yesterday. We watch the swallow skim and dip; Some magic bids the world be still; Life stands with finger upon lip; Love hath his gentle will; 10 Though hearts have bled, and tears have burned, The river floweth unconcerned. We pray the fickle flag of truce Still float deceitfully and fair; Our eyes must love its sweet abuse; 15 This hour we will not care, Though just beyond to-morrow’s gate, Arrayed and strong, the battle wait. When Nature Hath Betrayed the Heart That Loved Her By Sophie Jewett (“Ellen Burroughs”) THE GRAY waves rock against the gray skyline, And break complaining on the long gray sand, Here where I sit, who cannot understand Their voice of pain, nor this dumb pain of mine; For I, who thought to fare till my days end, 5 Armed sorrow-proof in sorrow, having known How hearts bleed slow when brave lips make no moan, How Life can torture, how Death may befriend When Love entreats him hasten,—even I, Who feared no human anguish that may be, 10 I cannot bear the grief of the sea, I cannot bear the still grief of the sky. A Smiling Demon of Notre Dame By Sophie Jewett (“Ellen Burroughs”) QUIET as are the quiet skies He watches where the city lies Floating in vision clear or dim Through sun or rain beneath his eyes; Her songs, her laughter, and her cries 5 Hour after hour drift up to him. Her days of glory or disgrace He watches with unchanging face; He knows what midnight crimes are done, What horrors under summer sun; 10 And souls that pass in holy death Sweep by him on the morning’s breath. Alike to holiness and sin He feels nor alien nor akin; Five hundred creeping mortal years 15 He smiles on human joy and tears, Man-made, immortal, scorning man; Serene, grotesque Olympian.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 23:32:41 +0000
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