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 | The poems of Madison Cawein |  |
VI
Helooks from his window toward the sombre west:
Ridged and bleak the gray, forsaken
Twilight at the night has guessed;
And no star of dusk has taken
Flame unshaken in the west.
Twilight at the night has guessed;
And no star of dusk has taken
Flame unshaken in the west.
All day long the woodlands, dying,
Moaned, and drippings as of grief
Rained from barren boughs with sighing
Death of flying twig and leaf.
Moaned, and drippings as of grief
Rained from barren boughs with sighing
Death of flying twig and leaf.
Ah, to live a life unbroken
Of the flings and scorns of fate!
Like that tree, with branches oaken,
Strength's unspoken intimate.—
Of the flings and scorns of fate!
Like that tree, with branches oaken,
Strength's unspoken intimate.—
Who can say that we have never
Lived the life of plants and trees?—
Not so wide the lines that sever
Us forever here from these.
Lived the life of plants and trees?—
Not so wide the lines that sever
Us forever here from these.
108
Colors, odors, that are cherished,
Haply hint we once were flowers:
Memory alone has perished
In this garnished world that's ours.
Haply hint we once were flowers:
Memory alone has perished
In this garnished world that's ours.
Music,—that all things expresses,
All for which we 've sought and sinned,—
Haply in our treey tresses
Once was guesses of the wind.
All for which we 've sought and sinned,—
Haply in our treey tresses
Once was guesses of the wind.
But I dream!—The dusk, dark braiding
Locks that lack both moon and star,
Deepens; and, the darkness aiding,
Earth seems fading, faint and far.
Locks that lack both moon and star,
Deepens; and, the darkness aiding,
Earth seems fading, faint and far.
And within me doubt keeps saying—
“What is wrong, and what is right?
Hear the cursing! hear the praying!
All are straying on in night.”
“What is wrong, and what is right?
Hear the cursing! hear the praying!
All are straying on in night.”
| The poems of Madison Cawein | |