In a flowered dell the Lady Venus stood,

And less-than-echoes of remembered tearsHush all the loud confusion of the heart;And a shade, through the toss’d ranks of mirth and cryingHungers, and pains, and each dull passionate mood, —Quite lost, and all but all forgot, undying,Comes back the ecstasy of your quietude.So a poor ghost, beside his misty streams,Is haunted by strange doubts, evasive…

In the lonely streets unseen by man,A little dog danced. And the day began.All his life he’d been good, as far as he could,And the poor little beast had done all that he should.But this morning he swore, by Odin and ThorAnd the Canine Valhalla—he’d stand it no more!So his prayer he got granted—to do…

In every touch more intimate meanings hide;And flaming brains are the white heart of all.Here, million pulses to one centre beat:Closed in by men’s vast friendliness, alone,Two can be drunk with solitude, and meetOn the sheer point where sense with knowing’s one.Here the green-purple clanging royal night,And the straight lines and silent walls of town,And…

The years had given them kindness. Dawn was theirs,And sunset, and the colours of the earth.These had seen movement, and heard music; knownSlumber and waking; loved; gone proudly friended;Felt the quick stir of wonder; sat alone;Touched flowers and furs and cheeks. All this is ended.There are waters blown by changing winds to laughterAnd lit by…

Bearing, with quiet even steps, and great wings furled,A little dingy coffin; where a child must lie,It was so tiny. (Yet, you had fancied, God could neverHave bidden a child turn from the spring and the sunlight,And shut him in that lonely shell, to drop for everInto the emptiness and silence, into the night.…)They then…

Blind with much light, passed to the light more gloriousOr deeper blindness, no man’s hand, as thine,Has, on the world’s most noblest chord of song,Struck certain magic strains. Ears satiateWith the clamorous, timorous whisperings of to-day,Thrilled to perceive once more the spacious voiceAnd serene unterrance of old. We heard— With rapturous breath half-held, as a…

You whom I found so fair(Touch of your hands and smell of your hair!),My only god in the days that were.My eager feet shall find you again,Though the sullen years and the mark of painHave changed you wholly; for I shall know(How could I forget having loved you so?),In the sad half-light of evening,The face…

And their lips meet, and they do kiss,—So I have heard.They queerly find some healing so,And strange attainment in the touch;There is a secret lovers know,—I have read as much.And theirs no longer joy nor smart,Changing or ending, night or day;But mouth to mouth, and heart on heart,—So lovers say.

And found you sleeping in the quiet gloom,And holiness about you as you slept.I knelt there; till your waking fingers creptAbout my head, and held it. I had restUnhoped this side of Heaven, beneath your breast.I knelt a long time, still; nor even wept.It was great wrong you did me; and for gainOf that poor…

Blind with much light, passed to the light more gloriousOr deeper blindness, no man’s hand, as thine,Has, on the world’s most noblest chord of song,Struck certain magic strains. Ears satiateWith the clamorous, timorous whisperings of to-day,Thrilled to perceive once more the spacious voiceAnd serene unterrance of old. We heard— With rapturous breath half-held, as a…

Ah, the delirious weeks of honeymoon!Soon they returned, and, after strange adventures,Settled at Balham by the end of June.Their money was in Can. Pacs. B. Debentures,And in Antofagastas. Still he wentCityward daily; still she did abideAt home. And both were really quite contentWith work and social pleasures. Then they died.They left three children (besides George,…

With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power,To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping,Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary,Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move,And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary,And all the little emptiness of love!Oh! we, who have known shame, we have found release there,Where…