University of Virginia Library

1891–1900

[A vagabond foot and a vagabond road]

[As, all distraught, with dark, neglected hair]

As, all distraught, with dark, neglected hair
She lifted up her face to mine I saw
The moon-white glory of her soul, and love
Smiled sadly at me from her shadowy eyes.

[The milkweeds nod their Rip-Van-Winkle heads]

The milkweeds nod their Rip-Van-Winkle heads
When Autumn blows; and in the snoring flue
The chill wind sleeps. All night it seems to me
A goblin gnome, a Lob Lie-by-the-Fire,
Sits humped upon the hob whining of cold,
Or whistling to the flame to keep him warm.

[In the Garden of Skulls and Serpents]

[The pure precision of a star, a flower]

The pure precision of a star, a flower,
The punctuality of their return
And order of their coming fill my soul
With the astonishment which mortals feel
For Bible beauties that no man explains.

[I have listened long unto the promises]

I have listened long unto the promises,
The confidences of the trees; and now,
Continuous with the trees, a stream expands,
Expounding all the woods' dim mysteries
In ripple rhymes sung softly to itself.

[I saw the Spring go by, her mouth a thread]

I saw the Spring go by, her mouth a thread
Of wild-rose red,
Blowing a golden oat;
And now, a crown of barley on her head,
The Summer comes, a poppy at her throat.

[An Eldorado of vales and peaks]

An Eldorado of vales and peaks,
That the cloudy ore of the sunset streaks,
Is the Eldorado my fancy seeks:
Where the gold lies thick that they feign to find,—
That never in earthly mine was mined,—
In the airy caves of the dæmonkind.

[A rune of glimmer and a scrawl of light]

A rune of glimmer and a scrawl of light,
Printing with gold the black-bound page of night,
The glow-worm is, making its blackness bright.

[The deep blue spike of the great lobelia glows]

The deep blue spike of the great lobelia glows
Beside the cardinal-flower along the ways
Where Summer goes stripping the wayside rose
Of all its blooms, and plumping red its hips;
Her grasshopper gown of rustling golds and grays
Bristling with burrs caught from the trefoil's sprays,
And from the thorny marigold's tick-like tips.

[I gazed upon the wasted lips of Want]

I gazed upon the wasted lips of Want
Within a city haunt
Of vice and sin,
And thought of the green, the abundant fields beyond
The sordid streets, whither Want could not win,
The sick and fond;
And, where the white-top like dim streaks of steam
Wavers its whiteness, lay him down and dream,
Lapped in the murmur of a meadowed stream.

[Green in the circle of contingent trees]

Green in the circle of contingent trees
The water lies wherein the new leaf sees
Its twinkling shadow. Through the boscage leers
The beast-like visage with the satyr smile
Of what has followed me this many a mile,
Earth's lust, hot-eyed, with horrible mouth and ears.

[On every side the roses rise]

On every side the roses rise
In crimson insolence and pride;
And near them, steeped in lordly dyes,
That to the roses' are allied,
Of transitory purple and pearl,
The poppies' delicate flowers uncurl.

[The shadows where no light looked through]

The shadows where no light looked through,
Ephemeral sapphire, lay in pools of blue;
And there the spendthrift flowers flung
Their petaled gold; and many a tongue
Of many a wild bird of their beauty sung.

[With all my heart I deem it no great folly]

With all my heart I deem it no great folly
To be in love with gentle Melancholy;

[What bird is that that sings so long]

What bird is that that sings so long?
To hear whose song
Each bashful bud opens its rosy ear,
Leaning it near.
While here,
Under the blossoming button-tree,
I seem to see
A shape, a presence look out at me;
And, clothed in raiment of white and gray,
Pass on like the Spirit of Easter Day.

[The sunset lets its heavy curtains down]

The sunset lets its heavy curtains down
Of thunder-purple orphreyed deep with gold
Around the cloudy-builded couch of Day,
Canopied with the star-wrought blue of heaven.

[These are the cups of Comus]

These are the cups of Comus,
These tulips pranked with flame,
The tulip-burning twilight fills
With wine of wondrous name.

[Yea; death behind her, gazing through her hair]

Yea; death behind her, gazing through her hair;
Death in her lips and in her body fair;
Ten hundred deaths to him whose heart is hers,
Who kisses her—death, darkness, and despair.

[The blue wild hyssop, with its dewy mouth]

The blue wild hyssop, with its dewy mouth,—
Cool, moist, and heavenly 'mid the pink-bloomed mint
Along the shallow creek, shrunk with the drouth,—
Seen suddenly thus, seems, swift, an instant's hint
Of some dim being—one, whom, still in vain,
I follow where their many delicate ears
The purple beard's-tongue and lobelia lean
Sidewise to silence, listening for the rain
Tiptoeing the trees through which she flees again—
The presence that my soul adores yet fears,
The Loveliness my eyes have never seen.

[Drab-colored seed pods of the autumn hung]

Drab-colored seed pods of the autumn hung,
Like beggar's tatters, on the red-bud boughs:
Around the old, old house there was no sound,
No song or sound, save on the rotting shed,
The dim old shed, a dove made plaintive moan.
In rapt clairvoyance gray the shadows lay
Around it seeing many things unseen
Of mortal eyes, strange things now dead and gone,
Ghosts of the sometime gladness dwelling there,
Spectres of age and youth, and sorrows old,
Older than all the oldness sleeping there
'Mid clemencies of days forever gone.

[A poet's soul 's unconscious of its dreams]

A poet's soul's unconscious of its dreams
As is the night unconscious of its stars,
As is the heaven of all its clouds and winds,
And Earth, retentive Earth, of all its flowers.

[The bright half moon, a boat pearl-white]

The bright half moon, a boat pearl-white,
Floats down the cloud-canals of night.

[When earth forgets one flower that comes with spring]

When earth forgets one flower that comes with spring,
And heaven one star that beautifies the night,
Shall I forget that song I heard her sing.

[All night it rained. Now in the dawn]

All night it rained. Now in the dawn
The purple-berried cedars stand
Weighed down with wet the sun strikes through.

[I love to linger o'er the roseless rose]

I love to linger o'er the roseless rose
When hips are ripe and candle-flames they seem,
Orange and red, lit in the Autumn's honor,
Who softly goes,
Her ruby crown upon her,
Adown the ways where vines like banners stream.

[The auroral scent of morning lilies blows]

The auroral scent of morning lilies blows
Mixed with nocturnal perfumes of the rose
Around the Dawn whose state invades the sky
Trailing wild raiment of sidereal dye,
Holding her torch of spheric fire high.

[As I went riding toward the sea]

As I went riding toward the sea,
By field and hill and flower and tree,
The thickets parted and suddenly
A satyr's face laughed out at me.

[Clung o'er with cockle-burrs and thorny seeds]

Clung o'er with cockle-burrs and thorny seeds,
Sad Autumn dreamed among her feathering weeds.