Part 4 (1/2)

Oh, I can jest with Margaret And laugh a gay good-night, But when I take my Helen's hand I dare not clasp it tight.

I dare not hold her dear white hand More than a quivering s.p.a.ce, And I should bless a breeze that blew Her hair into my face.

'T is Margaret I call sweet names: Helen is too, too dear For me to stammer little words Of love into her ear.

So now, good-night, fair Margaret, And kiss me e'er we part!

But one dumb touch of Helen's hand, And, oh, my heart, my heart!

Alcestis

Not long the living weep above their dead, And you will grieve, Admetus, but not long.

The winter's silence in these desolate halls Will break with April's laughter on your lips; The bees among the flowers, the birds that mate, The widowed year, grown gaunt with memory And yearning toward the summer's fruits, will come With lotus comfort, feeding all your veins.

The vining brier will crawl across my grave, And you will woo another in my stead.

Those tender, foolish names you called me by, Your pa.s.sionate kiss that clung unsatisfied, The pressure of your hand, when dark night hushed Life's busy stir, and left us two alone, Will you remember? or, when dawn creeps in, And you bend o'er another's pillowed head, Seeing sleep's loosened hair about her face, Until her low love-laughter welcomes you, Will you, down-gazing at her waking eyes, Forget?

So have I loved you, my Admetus, I thank the cruel fates who clip my life To lengthen yours, they tarry not for age To dim my eye and blanch my cheek, but now Take me, while my lips are sweet to you And youth hides yet amid this hair of mine, Brown in the shadow, golden in the light.

Bend down and kiss me, dying for your sake, Not gratefully, but sadly, love's farewell; And if the flowering year's oblivion Lend a new pa.s.sion to thy life, far down In the dim Stygian shadows wandering, I will not know, but still will cherish there, Where no change comes, thy love upon my lips.

Reminiscence

We sang old love-songs on the way In sad and merry s.n.a.t.c.hes, Your fingers o'er the strings astray Strumming the random catches.

And ever, as the skiff plied on Among the trailing willows, Trekking the darker deeps to shun The gleaming sandy shallows,

It seemed that we had, ages gone, In some far summer weather, When this same faery moonlight shone, Sung these same songs together.

And every gra.s.sy cape we pa.s.sed, And every reedy island, Even the bank'd cloud in the west That loomed a sombre highland;

And you, with dewmist on your hair, Crowned with a wreath of lilies, Laughing like Lalage the fair And tender-eyed like Phyllis:

I know not if 't were here at home, By some old wizard's orders, Or long ago in Crete or Rome Or fair Provencal borders,

But now, as when a faint flame breaks From out its smouldering embers, My heart stirs in its sleep, and wakes, And yet but half-remembers

That you and I some other time Moved through this dream of glory, Like lovers in an ancient rhyme, A long-forgotten story.