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The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder

Gilder, Richard Watson (1844-1909)

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THE NEW DAY
  
PRELUDE
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PART I
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PART II
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PART III
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I—“THE PALLID WATCHER OF THE EASTERN SKIES”
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II—“MY LOVE FOR THEE DOTH MARCH LIKE ARMÈD MEN”
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III—“WHAT WOULD I SAVE THEE FROM?”
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IV—“WHAT WOULD I WIN THEE TO?”
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V—“I WILL BE BRAVE FOR THEE”
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VI—“LOVE ME NOT, LOVE, FOR THAT I FIRST LOVED THEE”
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VII—BODY AND SOUL
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VIII—“THY LOVER, LOVE, WOULD HAVE SOME NOBLER WAY”
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IX—LOVE'S JEALOUSY
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X—LOVE'S MONOTONE
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XI—“ONCE ONLY”
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XII—DENIAL
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XIII—“ONCE WHEN WE WALKED WITHIN A SUMMER FIELD”
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XIV—SONG
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XV—LISTENING TO MUSIC
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XVI—“A SONG OF THE MAIDEN MORN”
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XVII—WORDS IN ABSENCE
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XVIII—SONG
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XIX—THISTLE-DOWN
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XX—“O SWEET WILD ROSES THAT BUD AND BLOW”
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XXI—THE RIVER
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XXII—THE LOVER'S LORD AND MASTER
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XXIII—SONG
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XXIV—“A NIGHT OF STARS AND DREAMS”
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XXV—A BIRTHDAY SONG
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XXVI—“WHAT CAN LOVE DO FOR THEE, LOVE?”
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XXVII—“THE SMILE OF HER I LOVE”
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XXVIII—FRANCESCA AND PAOLO
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XXIX—THE UNKNOWN WAY
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XXX—THE SOWER
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XXXI—“WHEN THE LAST DOUBT IS DOUBTED”
  
INTERLUDE
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PART IV
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THE CELESTIAL PASSION
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LYRICS
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TWO WORLDS AND OTHER POEMS
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THE GREAT REMEMBRANCE AND OTHER POEMS
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IN PALESTINE AND OTHER POEMS
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POEMS
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“IN THE HIGHTS”
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THE FIRE DIVINE
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IN HELENA'S GARDEN

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THE FIRE DIVINE

He who hath the sacred fire
Hidden in his heart of hearts,
It shall burn him clean and pure,
Make him conquer, make endure.
He to all things may aspire,
King of days, and souls, and arts.
Failure, fright, and dumb dismay
Are but wings upon his way.
Imagination and desire
Are his slaves and implements.
Faiths and foul calamities,
And the eternal ironies,
Are but voices in his choir.
Musician of decreed events—
Hungers, happinesses, hates,
Friendships lost, all adverse fates,
All passions and all elements,
Are but golden instruments
In his glorious symphonies.
Subject to his firm decrees
Are the heavens, are the seas;
But in utter humbleness
Reigns he, not to ban, but bless—
Cleansed, and conquering, and benign
Bearer of the fire divine.
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