Songs of Travel

AND OTHER VERSES

by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

eighth impression

LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1908

The following collection of verses, written at various times and places, principally after the author’s final departure from England in 1887, was sent home by him for publication some months before his death. He had tried them in several different orders and under several different titles, as “Songs and Notes of Travel,” “Posthumous Poems,” etc., and in the end left their naming and arrangement to the present editor, with the suggestion that they should be added as Book III. to future editions of “Underwoods.” This suggestion it is proposed to carry out; but in the meantime, for the benefit of those who possess “Underwoods” in its original form, it has been thought desirable to publish them separately in the present volume. They have already been included in the Edinburgh Edition of the author’s works.

S. C.

CONTENTS

i. The Vagabond—Give to me the life I love

ii. Youth and Love: i.—Once only by the garden gate

iii. Youth and Love: ii.—To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside

iv. In dreams, unhappy, I behold you stand

v. She rested by the Broken Brook

vi. The infinite shining heavens

vii. Plain as the glistering planets shine

viii. To you, let snows and roses

ix. Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams

x. I know not how it is with you

xi. I will make you brooches and toys for your delight

xii. We have loved of Yore—Berried brake and reedy island

xiii. Mater Triumphans—Son of my woman’s body, you go, to the drum and fife

xiv. Bright is the ring of words

xv. In the highlands, in the country places

xvi. Home no more home to me, wither must I wander?

xvii. Winter—In rigorous hours, when down the iron lane

xviii. The stormy evening closes now in vain

xix. To Dr. Hake—In the belovèd hour that ushers day

xx. To ---—I knew thee strong and quiet like the hills

xxi. The morning drum-call on my eager ear

xxii. I have trod the upward and downward slope

xxiii. He hears with gladdened heart the thunder

xxiv. Farewell, fair day and fading light!

xxv. If this were Faith—God, if this were enough

xxvi. My Wife—Trusty, dusky, vivid, true

xxvii. To the Muse—Resign the rhapsody, the dream

xxviii. To an Island Princess—Since long ago, a child at home

xxix. To Kalakaua—The Sliver Ship, my King—that was her name

xxx. To Princess Kaiulani—Forth form her land to mine she goes

xxxi. To Mother Maryanne—To see the infinite pity of this place

xxxii. In Memoriam E. H.—I knew a silver head was bright beyond compare

xxxiii. To my Wife—Long must elapse ere you behold again

xxxiv. To my Old Familiars—Do you remember—can we e’er forget?

xxxv. The tropics vanish, and meseems that I

xxxvi. To S. C.—I heard the pulse of the besieging sea

xxxvii. The House of Tembinoka—Let us, who part like brothers, part like bards

xxxviii. The Woodman—In all the grove, not stream nor bird

xxxix. Tropic Rain—As the single pang of the blow, when the metal is mingled well

xl. An End of Travel—Let now your soul in this substantial world

xli. We uncommiserate pass into the night

xlii. Sing me a song of a lad that is gone

xliii. To S. R. Crockett—Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and rain are flying

xliv. Evensong—The embers of the day are red