Could I only aside have cast him.
It was almost dark, and the moments sped,
And the searching night wind found us,
But he drew me nearer and softly said—
(How the pure, sweet wind grew still, instead,
To listen to all that my lover said;

Oh, the whispering wind around us!)

I am sure he knew when he held me fast,
That I must be all unwilling;

For I tried to go, and I would have passed,
As the night was come with its dew, at last,

And the sky with its stars was filling.

But he clasped me close when I would have fled,
And he made me hear his story,

And his soul came out from his lips and said—
(How the stars crept out where the white moon led,
To listen to all that my lover said;

Oh, the moon and the stars in glory!)

I know that the grass and the leaves will not tell,
And I'm sure that the wind, precious rover,
Will carry my secret so safely and well

That no being shall ever discover
One word of the many that rapidly fell

From the soul-speaking lips of my lover;

And the moon and the stars that looked over

Shall never reveal what a fairy-like spell
They wove round about us that night in the dell,
In the path through the dew-laden clover,
Nor echo the whispers that made my heart swell
As they fell from the lips of my lover.
Homer Greene [1853-

MAY-MUSIC

OH! lose the winter from thine heart, the darkness from thine

eyes,

And from the low hearth-chair of dreams, my Love-o'

May, arise;

And let the maidens robe thee like a white white-lilac tree, Oh! hear the call of Spring, fair Soul,—and wilt thou come with me?

Even so, and even so!
Whither thou goest, I will go.

I will follow thee.

Then wilt thou see the orange trees star-flowering over Spain, Or arched and mounded Kaiser-towns that molder mid

Almain,

Or through the cypress-gardens go of magic Italy?

Oh! East or West or South or North, say, wilt thou come with me?

Even so, or even so!

Whither thou goest, I will go.

I will follow thee.

But wilt thou farther come with me through hawthorn red and white

Until we find the wall that hides the Land of Heart's Delight? The gates all carved with olden things are strange and dread to see:

But I will lift thee through, fair Soul. Arise and come with me!

Even so, Love, even so!

Whither thou goest, I will go!

Lo, I follow thee.

Rachel Annand Taylor [18

SONG

FLAME at the core of the world,

And flame in the red rose-tree;

The one is the fire of the ancient spheres,

The other is Junes to be;

And, oh, there's a flame that is both their flames
Here at the heart of me!

As strong as the fires of stars,

As the prophet rose-tree true,

The fire of my life is tender and wild,

.

Its beauty is old and new;

For out of the infinite past it came

With the love in the eyes of you!

Arthur Upson [1877-1908]

A MEMORY

THE Night walked down the sky
With the moon in her hand;
By the light of that yellow lantern
I saw you stand.

The hair that swept your shoulders

Was yellow, too,

Your feet as they touched the grasses

Shamed the dew.

The Night wore all her jewels,

And you wore none,

But your gown had the odor of lilies

Drenched with sun.

And never was Eve of the Garden

Or Mary the Maid

More pure than you as you stood there
Bold, yet afraid.

And the sleeping birds woke, trembling,
And the folded flowers were aware,

And my senses were faint with the fragrant
Gold of your hair.

And our lips found ways of speaking

What words cannot say,

Till a hundred nests gave music,

And the East was gray.

Frederic Lawrence Knowles [1869-1905]

LOVE TRIUMPHANT

HELEN'S lips are drifting dust;
Ilion is consumed with rust;
All the galleons of Greece

Drink the ocean's dreamless peace;

Lost was Solomon's purple show
Restless centuries ago;

Stately empires wax and wane—
Babylon, Barbary, and Spain;-
Only one thing, undefaced,

Lasts, though all the worlds lie waste
And the heavens are overturned.
-Dear, how long ago we learned!

There's a sight that blinds the sun,
Sound that lives when sounds are done,
Music that rebukes the birds,

Language lovelier than words,

Hue and scent that shame the rose,
Wine no earthly vineyard knows,
Silence stiller than the shore
Swept by Charon's stealthy oar,
Ocean more divinely free

Than Pacific's boundless sea,—

Ye who love have learned it true.

-Dear, how long ago we knew!

Frederic Lawrence Knowles [1869-1905]

LINES

LOVE within the lover's breast

Burns like Hesper in the West,
O'er the ashes of the sun,

Till the day and night are done;

Then, when dawn drives up his car

Lo! it is the morning star.

Love! thy love pours down on mine,

As the sunlight on the vine,

As the snow rill on the vale,
As the salt breeze on the sail;
As the song unto the bird
On my lips thy name is heard.

As a dewdrop on the rose
In thy heart my passion glows;
As a skylark to the sky,
Up into thy breast I fly;

As a sea-shell of the sea

Ever shall I sing of thee.

George Meredith [1828-1909]

LOVE AMONG THE RUINS

WHERE the quiet-colored end of evening smiles
Miles and miles

On the solitary pastures where our sheep

Half-asleep

Tinkle homeward through the twilight, stray or stop As they crop

Was the site once of a city great and gay,

(So they say)

Of our country's very capital, its prince

Ages since

Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far
Peace or war.

Now, the country does not even boast a tree,
As you see,

To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills
From the hills

Intersect and give a name to (else they run
Into one),

Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires
Up like fires

O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall

Bounding all,

Made of marble, men might march on nor be pressed, Twelve abreast.