III

YOUTH TO THE POET

(TO OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES)

Strange spell of youth for age, and age for youth, Affinity between two forms of truth!— As if the dawn and sunset watched each other, Like and unlike as children of one mother And wondering at the likeness. Ardent eyes Of young men see the prophecy arise Of what their lives shall be when all is told; And, in the far-off glow of years called old, Those other eyes look back to catch a trace Of what was once their own unshadowed grace. But here in our dear poet both are blended— Ripe age begun, yet golden youth not ended;— Even as his song the willowy scent of spring Doth blend with autumn's tender mellowing, And mixes praise with satire, tears with fun, In strains that ever delicately run; So musical and wise, page after page, The sage a minstrel grows, the bard a sage. The dew of youth fills yet his late-sprung flowers, And day-break glory haunts his evening hours. Ah, such a life prefigures its own moral: That first "Last Leaf" is now a leaf of laurel, Which—smiling not, but trembling at the touch— Youth gives back to the hand that gave so much.

EVENING OF DECEMBER 3, 1879.

THE SWORD DHAM

"How shall we honor the man who creates?" Asked the Bedouin chief, the poet Antar;— "Who unto the truth flings open our gates, Or fashions new thoughts from the light of a star; Or forges with craft of his finger and brain Some marvelous weapon we copy in vain; Or chants to the winds a wild song that shall wander forever undying?

"See! His reward is in envies and hates; In lips that deny, or in stabs that may kill." "Nay," said the smith; "for there's one here who waits Humbly to serve you with unmeasured skill, Sure that no utmost devotion can fail, Offered to you, nor unfriended assail The heart of the hero and poet Antar, whose fame is undying!"

"Speak," said the chief. Then the smith: "O Antar, It is I who would serve you! I know, by the soul Of the poet within you, no envy can bar The stream of your gratitude,—once let it roll. Listen. The lightning, your camel that slew, I caught, and wrought in this sword-blade for you;— Sword that no foe shall encounter unhurt, or depart from undying."

Burst from the eyes of Antar a swift rain,—Gratitude's glittering drops,—as he threw One shining arm round the smith, like a chain. Closer the man to his bosom he drew; Thankful, caressing, with "Great is my debt." "Yea," said the smith, and his eyelids were wet: "I knew the sword Dham would unite me with you in an honor undying."

"So?" asked the chief, as his thumb-point at will Silently over the sword's edge played. —"Ay!" said the smith, "but there's one thing, still: Who is the smiter, shall smite with this blade?" Jealous, their eyes met; and fury awoke. "I am the smiter!" Antar cried. One stroke Rolled the smith's head from his neck, and gave him remembrance undying.

"Seek now who may, no search will avail: No man the mate of this weapon shall own!" Yet, in his triumph, the chieftain made wail: "Slain is the craftsman, the one friend alone Able to honor the man who creates. I slew him—I, who am poet! O fates, Grant that the envious blade slaying artists shall make them undying!"

"AT THE GOLDEN GATE"

Before the golden gate she stands, With drooping head, with idle hands Loose-clasped, and bent beneath the weight Of unseen woe. Too late, too late! Those carved and fretted, Starred, resetted Panels shall not open ever To her who seeks the perfect mate.

Only the tearless enter there: Only the soul that, like a prayer, No bolt can stay, no wall may bar, Shall dream the dreams grief cannot mar. No door of cedar, Alas, shall lead her Unto the stream that shows forever Love's face like some reflected star!

They say that golden barrier hides A realm where deathless spring abides; Where flowers shall fade not, and there floats Thro' moon-rays mild or sunlit motes— 'Mid dewy alleys That gird the palace, And fountain'd spray's unceasing quiver— A dulcet rain of song-birds' notes.

The sultan lord knew not her name; But to the door that fair shape came: The hour had struck, the way was right, Traced by her lamp's pale, flickering light. But ah, whose error Has brought this terror? Whose fault has foiled her fond endeavor? The gate swings to: her hope takes flight.

The harp, the song, the nightingales She hears, beyond. The night-wind wails Without, to sound of feast within, While here she stands, shut out by sin. And be that revel Of angel or devil, She longs to sit beside the giver, That she at last her prize may win.

Her lamp has fallen; her eyes are wet; Frozen she stands, she lingers yet; But through the garden's gladness steals A whisper that each heart congeals— A moan of grieving Beyond relieving, Which makes the proudest of them shiver. And suddenly the sultan kneels!

The lamp was quenched; he found her dead, When dawn had turned the threshold red. Her face was calm and sad as fate: His sin, not hers, made her too late. Some think, unbidden She brought him, hidden, A truer bliss that came back never To him, unblest, who closed the gate.

CHARITY

I

Unarmed she goeth; yet her hands Strike deeper awe than steel-caparison'd bands. No fatal hurt of foe she fears,— Veiled, as with mail, in mist of gentle tears.

II

'Gainst her thou canst not bar the door: Like air she enters, where none dared before. Even to the rich she can forgive Their regal selfishness,—and let them live!

HELEN AT THE LOOM

Helen, in her silent room, Weaves upon the upright loom; Weaves a mantle rich and dark, Purpled over, deep. But mark How she scatters o'er the wool Woven shapes, till it is full Of men that struggle close, complex; Short-clipp'd steeds with wrinkled necks Arching high; spear, shield, and all The panoply that doth recall Mighty war; such war as e'en For Helen's sake is waged, I ween. Purple is the groundwork: good! All the field is stained with blood— Blood poured out for Helen's sake; (Thread, run on; and shuttle, shake!) But the shapes of men that pass Are as ghosts within a glass, Woven with whiteness of the swan, Pale, sad memories, gleaming wan From the garment's purple fold Where Troy's tale is twined and told. Well may Helen, as with tender Touch of rosy fingers slender She doth knit the story in Of Troy's sorrow and her sin, Feel sharp filaments of pain Reeled off with the well-spun skein, And faint blood-stains on her hands From the shifting, sanguine strands.

Gently, sweetly she doth sorrow: What has been must be to-morrow; Meekly to her fate she bows. Heavenly beauties still will rouse Strife and savagery in men: Shall the lucid heavens, then, Lose their high serenity, Sorrowing over what must be? If she taketh to her shame, Lo, they give her not the blame,— Priam's wisest counselors, Aged men, not loving wars. When she goes forth, clad in white, Day-cloud touched by first moonlight, With her fair hair, amber-hued As vapor by the moon imbued With burning brown, that round her clings, See, she sudden silence brings On the gloomy whisperers Who would make the wrong all hers. So, Helen, in thy silent room, Labor at the storied loom; (Thread, run on; and shuttle, shake!) Let thy aching sorrow make Something strangely beautiful Of this fabric; since the wool Comes so tinted from the Fates, Dyed with loves, hopes, fears, and hates. Thou shalt work with subtle force All thy deep shade of remorse In the texture of the weft, That no stain on thee be left;— Ay, false queen, shalt fashion grief, Grief and wrong, to soft relief. Speed the garment! It may chance, Long hereafter, meet the glance, Of Oenone; when her lord, Now thy Paris, shall go tow'rd Ida, at his last sad end, Seeking her, his early friend, Who alone can cure his ill, Of all who love him, if she will. It were fitting she should see In that hour thine artistry, And her husband's speechless corse In the garment of remorse!

But take heed that in thy work Naught unbeautiful may lurk. Ah, how little signifies Unto thee what fortunes rise, What others fall! Thou still shall rule, Still shalt twirl the colored spool. Though thy yearning woman's eyes Burn with glorious agonies, Pitying the waste and woe, And the heroes falling low In the war around thee, here, Yet the least, quick-trembling tear 'Twixt thy lids shall dearer be Than life, to friend or enemy.

There are people on the earth Doomed with doom of too great worth. Look on Helen not with hate, Therefore, but compassionate. If she suffer not too much, Seldom does she feel the touch Of that fresh, auroral joy Lighter spirits may decoy To their pure and sunny lives. Heavy honey 'tis she hives. To her sweet but burdened soul All that here she may control— What of bitter memories, What of coming fate's surmise, Paris' passion, distant din Of the war now drifting in To her quiet—idle seems; Idle as the lazy gleams Of some stilly water's reach, Seen from where broad vine-leaves pleach A heavy arch; and, looking through, Far away the doubtful blue Glimmers, on a drowsy day, Crowded with the sun's rich gray;— As she stands within her room, Weaving, weaving at the loom.

THE CASKET OF OPALS

I

Deep, smoldering colors of the land and sea Burn in these stones, that, by some mystery, Wrap fire in sleep and never are consumed. Scarlet of daybreak, sunset gleams half spent In thick white cloud; pale moons that may have lent Light to love's grieving; rose-illumined snows, And veins of gold no mine depth ever gloomed; All these, and green of thin-edged waves, are there. I think a tide of feeling through them flows With blush and pallor, as if some being of air,— Some soul once human,—wandering, in the snare Of passion had been caught, and henceforth doomed In misty crystal here to lie entombed.

And so it is, indeed. Here prisoned sleep The ardors and the moods and all the pain That once within a man's heart throbbed. He gave These opals to the woman whom he loved; And now, like glinting sunbeams through the rain, The rays of thought that through his spirit moved Leap out from these mysterious forms again.

The colors of the jewels laugh and weep As with his very voice. In them the wave Of sorrow and joy that, with a changing sweep, Bore him to misery or else made him blest Still surges in melodious, wild unrest. So when each gem in place I touch and take, It murmurs what he thought or what he spake.

FIRST OPAL

My heart is like an opal Made to lie upon your breast In dreams of ardor, clouded o'er By endless joy's unrest.

And forever it shall haunt you With its mystic, changing ray: Its light shall live when we lie dead, With hearts at the heart of day!

SECOND OPAL

If, from a careless hold, One gem of these should fall, No power of art or gold Its wholeness could recall: The lustrous wonder dies In gleams of irised rain, As light fades out from the eyes When a soul is crushed by pain. Take heed that from your hold My love you do not cast: Dim, shattered, vapor-cold— That day would be its last.

II

THIRD OPAL

He won her love; and so this opal sings With all its tints in maze, that seem to quake And leap in light, as if its heart would break:

Gleam of the sea, Translucent air, Where every leaf alive with glee Glows in the sun without shadow of grief— You speak of spring, When earth takes wing And sunlight, sunlight is everywhere! Radiant life, Face so fair— Crowned with the gracious glory of wife— Your glance lights all this happy day, Your tender glow And murmurs low Make miracle, miracle, everywhere.

Earth takes wing With birds—do I care Whether of sorrow or joy they sing? No; for they make not my life nor destroy! My soul awakes At a smile that breaks In sun; and sunlight is everywhere!

III

Then dawned a mood of musing thoughtfulness; As if he doubted whether he could bless Her wayward spirit, through each fickle hour, With love's serenity of flawless power, Or she remain a vision, as when first She came to soothe his fancy all athirst.

FOURTH OPAL

We were alone: the perfumed night, Moonlighted, like a flower Grew round us and exhaled delight To bless that one sweet hour.

You stood where, 'mid the white and gold, The rose-fire through the gloom Touched hair and cheek and garment's fold With soft, ethereal bloom.

And when the vision seemed to swerve, 'T was but the flickering shine That gave new grace, a lovelier curve, To every dream-like line.

O perfect vision! Form and face Of womanhood complete! O rare ideal to embrace And hold, from head to feet!

Could I so hold you ever—could Your eye still catch the glow Of mine—it were an endless good: Together we should grow

One perfect picture of our love!... Alas, the embers old Fell, and the moonlight fell, above— Dim, shattered, vapor-cold.

IV

What ill befell these lovers? Shall I say? What tragedy of petty care and sorrow? Ye all know, who have lived and loved: if nay, Then those will know who live and love tomorrow. But here at least is what this opal said, The fifth in number: and the next two bore My fancy toward that dim world of the dead, Where waiting spirits muse the past life o'er:

FIFTH OPAL

I dreamed my kisses on your hair Turned into roses. Circling bloom Crowned the loose-lifted tresses there. "O Love," I cried, "forever Dwell wreathed, and perfume-haunted By my heart's deep honey-breath!" But even as I bending looked, I saw The roses were not; and, instead, there lay Pale, feathered flakes and scentless Ashes upon your hair!

SIXTH OPAL

The love I gave, the love I gave, Wherewith I sought to win you— Ah, long and close to you it clave With life and soul and sinew! My gentleness with scorn you cursed: You knew not what I gave. The strongest man may die of thirst: My love is in its grave!

SEVENTH OPAL

You say these jewels were accurst— With evil omen fraught. You should have known it from the first! This was the truth they taught:

No treasured thing in heaven or earth Holds potency more weird Than our hearts hold, that throb from birth With wavering flames insphered.

And when from me the gems you took, On that strange April day, My nature, too, I gave, that shook With passion's fateful play.

The mingled fate my love should give In these mute emblems shone, That more intensely burn and live— While I am turned to stone.

V

Listen now to what is said By the eighth opal, flashing red And pale, by turns, with every breath— The voice of the lover after death.

EIGHTH OPAL

I did not know before That we dead could rise and walk; That our voices, as of yore, Would blend in gentle talk.

I did not know her eyes Would so haunt mine after death, Or that she could hear my sighs, Low as the harp-string's breath.

But, ah, last night we met! From our stilly trance we rose, Thrilled with all the old regret— The grieving that God knows.

She asked: "Am I forgiven?"— "And dost thou forgive?" I said, Ah! how long for joy we'd striven! But now our hearts were dead.

Alas, for the lips I kissed And the sweet hope, long ago! On her grave chill hangs the mist; On mine, white lies the snow.

VI

Hearkening still, I hear this strain From the ninth opal's varied vein:

NINTH OPAL

In the mountains of Mexico, Where the barren volcanoes throw Their fierce peaks high to the sky, With the strength of a tawny brute That sees heaven but to defy, And the soft, white hand of the snow Touches and makes them mute,—

Firm in the clasp of the ground The opal is found. By the struggle of frost and fire Created, yet caught in a spell From which only human desire Can free it, what passion profound In its dim, sweet bosom may dwell!

So was it with us, I think, Whose souls were formed on the brink Of a crater, where rain and flame Had mingled and crystallized. One venturous day Love came; Found us; and bound with a link Of gold the jewels he prized.

The agonies old of the earth, Its plenitude and its dearth, The torrents of flame and of tears, All these in our souls were inborn. And we must endure through the years The glory and burden of birth That filled us with fire of the morn.

Let the diamond lie in its mine; Let ruby and topaz shine; The beryl sleep, and the emerald keep Its sunned-leaf green! We know The joy of sufferings deep That blend with a love divine, And the hidden warmth of the snow!

TENTH OPAL

Colors that tremble and perish, Atoms that follow the law, You mirror the truth which we cherish, You mirror the spirit we saw. Glow of the daybreak tender, Flushed with an opaline gleam, And passionate sunset-splendor— Ye both but embody a dream. Visions of cloud-hidden glory Breaking from sources of light Mimic the mist of life's story. Mingled of scarlet and white. Sunset-clouds iridescent, Opals, and mists of the day, Are thrilled alike with the crescent Delight of a deathless ray Shot through the hesitant trouble Of particles floating in space, And touching each wandering bubble With tints of a rainbowed grace. So through the veil of emotion Trembles the light of the truth; And so may the light of devotion Glorify life—age and youth. Sufferings,—pangs that seem cruel,— These are but atoms adrift: The light streams through, and a jewel Is formed for us, Heaven's own gift!

LOVE THAT LIVES

Dear face—bright, glinting hair; Dear life, whose heart is mine— The thought of you is prayer, The love of you divine.

In starlight, or in rain; In the sunset's shrouded glow; Ever, with joy or pain, To you my quick thoughts go

Like winds or clouds, that fleet Across the hungry space Between, and find you, sweet, Where life again wins grace.

Now, as in that once young Year that so softly drew My heart to where it clung, I long for, gladden in you.

And when in the silent hours I whisper your sacred name, Like an altar-fire it showers My blood with fragrant flame!

Perished is all that grieves; And lo, our old-new joys Are gathered as in sheaves, Held in love's equipoise.

Ours is the love that lives; Its springtime blossoms blow 'Mid the fruit that autumn gives, And its life outlasts the snow.