THE GARDEN

OF THE SUN

ALBERT ERNEST
STAFFORD SMYTHE

A C

L L A

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in

2015

https://archive.org/details/gardenofsunOOsmyt

THE GARDEN OF THE SUN

THE MACMILLAN

CO. OF
TORONTO

MACMILLAN &
LONDON

CANADA,

Ltd.

CO., Limited

BOMBAY - CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK

- BOSTON - CHICAGO - DALLAS

ATLANTA - SAN FRANCISCO

COPYRIGHT,

1923

The Garden of the Sun

by
Albert Ernest Stafford Smythe

TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF

CANADA LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE
MCMXXIII

The sonnets on pages

16, 17, 18, 20, 21,

22 and 23 appeared in a volume,

"Poems Grave and Gay," printed in 1891. "The Forgotten Poet,"

" Mary Stuart " and " Lough Swilly " are reproduced from the same volume at the suggestion of Mr. Francis Grierson. The sonnet " Goodbye "
appeared in The Canadian Magazine. "Facing Benevenue" and "By
Wave and War" first appeared in The Irish Theosophist in 1898.

Contents
PAGE

The Seasons of the Gods

When Arthur Comes

Confidite:

Ego

Vici

The Resurrection of

10

Mundum

Lilith

.11
12

Lilith Regenerate

13

Lilith Respondit

14

Lilith Redemptrix

15

The Lunar Rainbow

16

Edith

17

To Her Whom

it

May Concern

Goodbye

.18
19

Evening Lark Song

20

In Recognition

21

The Slaughter of Agag

22

Death the Revealer

23

The Forgotten Poet

24

The Champions

25

Our Lady Demeter

26

27

Revival

Walt Whitman

28

Tennyson

29

Laurier

30

Walter Allward

31

PAGE

Mark Twain

32

Goldwin Smith

33

Mary Stuart

34

The Moon of March

35

April

36

An

Day

April

38

Lough Swilly

39

Facing Bene venue Across the Foyle

.41

November Sunshine

43

Heart's Rue at Iskaheen

45

Mullaghcarn

47

49

Little Song of Love

The

Soul's Sufficiency

51

The

Pilgrims' Journey

52

Anastasis

54

The Beauty Eternal

56

The Burden of the World

58

By Wave and War

62

The Shining of the Way

64

The Way of the Master

Sun Worship

God

.68
70

The Sun-Dream
"God Giveth

It

71

A Body."

72

Love

75

Before the Burial

77

A Spring Shower
Hymn For The Peace

81

is

79


The Seasons Of The Gods
I

sat with

May upon a midnight hill

Wrapped

in a

dusk of unremembered years

And thought on

And

buried April

on the tears

shrouds of March, and youth's dead daffodil

All withered

on a mound

of Spring.

The earth moved sweetly

in

And

still

her sleep, the

Spheres

Wrought peace about her

Chimed the high music

path, and for her ears

of their blended will.

The God who dreamed the Earth,

That makes me

thrall to

as

this

frame

death and coward of

birth-

Dreamed He not March below some vanished

Moon
Under an

earlier

The cosmic

Heaven's auroral flame

April flowering into mirth

Of May, and joy

of Universal June?

[9]


When Arthur Comes
Could that dim sovereign of the English dawn
Pendragon's

heir,

and lord of Camelot,

God's knight-at-arms, and soul without a blot

Turn from the dream that happy Death has drawn

Through age-long April hours

And

of Avalon,

seek again the empire-centring spot

Where our enwrinkled freedom was begot

To

cherish faith

Which

among

the earthlier spawn:

of the champions of the Table

Round

Should bear a nobler than the Maple crest

Knight virginal among the knights, to shun

The

errors of

an elder day, and found,

Vauntless and dauntless, with a croziered breast,

realm of Justice in a world at one?

[10]

Ego

Confidite:

Vici

Mundum

Stain not thy noble sorrow with regret:

When

our plans

fail

God's better plan succeeds:

Our wants may lack, but He

Infinite thrift discharging

All

thou hast suffered

is

supplies our needs,

every debt.

the

trial set

For those who aim at mind-delivering deeds,

The rout

of greeds

and

policies

and

creeds,

The God-birth pangs and throes and bloody sweat.

Beside the harsh base speech of sordid

The murmur

life

of the stars falls pure; beside

The struggling warrior they who warred before

Stand inwardly to stay him through the
God's heart holds

The

all, I

cry,

when,

lonely battle goes against

[11]

strife.

fiercely plied,

me

sore.


The Resurrection of
From what

And

old

life

Lilith

of ours, long overpast

buried in the deeps of time and change,

From Banba, Khem,

or

what dawn-land and

strange,

To

these sad eyes, dim-peering through the vast,

Enchantress, risest thou, thus late and

And

luring

me from wonted ways

From vows and dues

last,

to range

and

of minster, mart,

grange
Into that

Lo

doom where

have seen the

petals,

From

the unblossomed

Torn,

till

And

bud

Thou

of Love's red rose

the tender crimson core

wilt thou take

And shadows gloom

it,

fast?

one by one,

blenching from the passionate

!

men

sorrow holds

lies

bare

summer

ere the withered close,

the Garden of the

[12]

air.

Sun

Lilith Regenerate
Or

art thou all

read upon thy brow ?

The world surmounted, Faith

With
Thee

to con thy chart,

crystal virtue for thy valorous art.

their bright

Self-rule besides,

wisdom

till

Gods

allow,

and patience, and the vow

Of reverence, and the

Of Love,

will the

less

and greater part

the starred heavens of thy heart

Unroll the seven splendours of the Plough.

And

on a sterner quest

shall serve thee

Beyond the shores that compass mortal might,

Where, on the verges of the broken world

The

storm-crests of eternity are hurled;

Out-launching through the surfs of death to

breast

The darkly heaving

floods

[13]

and dare the Night.

LlLITH RESPONDIT
Nay,

rather, lord

and

lover, cast

thy rose

On the high altar of the Sun's white flame

And let it shrivel like the thing called Fame,
Or

hiss

and vanish,

Before swift Joy;

as hot

Sorrow goes

or, as at battle's close,

They

fling

Upon

the bonfire, piled in Victory's name,

the broken weapon with no blame

For honour's love and not

No

idol

I,

for hate of foes.

nor angel, but a soul,

fellow-servant with thyself

Save that
veiled

my soul's

and

all,

face thou hast seen un-

There read some fragment of life's backward

Or caught some
Revealing

shaft of mirrored glory

God between

[14]

us

scroll,
fall

and not quailed.

LlLITH REDEMPTRIX

The

lover

and the hero bear one heart

Hold thyself high and wear the double crown,

And

To

suffer not at all the world's

set great

There

renown

Nature and thy soul apart.

a love beyond the grange and mart

is

Above the range

of

Of custom

no pale; whose Word brings

sets

vows

for

which the frown

down
The

ineffable

And with

And

power of Life whence

that Love

woo

with that power

all

things start.

thee to this breast

join thee

on the height

And draw thee from the deeps to make one life

Between

An

us, rich for

our fellows, God-possessed

ageless unity of

man and

Unsunderably true as sight and

[15]

wife
light.

The Lunar Rainbow.

Once, long agone,

saw the lunar bow

Set in a western vapour,

dim and

pale,

Cloud-piered, mist-built of moonbeams, rising

frail,

Bridging the night that drifted black below,

While

far

And

above

faint stars shed

gleam and glow;

fancy there, as through a filmy

Beheld true saintly knights

in silver mail

Armed, on the archway pacing to and

This was

And

my

these

veil,

fro.

love that spanned the east and west,

my

thoughts, ambitions, hopes and

prayers

That turned devoted

But ah

Moon Marion

The vault

of heaven

The dream

service to their Queen.

darkened to their quest

is full

of midnight airs,

dissolved, the skies

sheen.

[161

have

lost their

Edith

let

me

Who

sing as clear as

does not

merry Merle

mourn when morning

In April-time, because his nest

1

see the delicate

That

fringes

custom of the

is

aglow

is

low

curl

on her forehead's haughty

pearl,

The ample arching brows that overgrow

Eyes

And

wistful-wise, not

lips

knowing

all

they show,

where womanhood has kissed the

girl.

Nobility has touched her on the brow,

And Beauty on
Has

her cheek, and by the hand

led her to a throne

where

many bow

Before the queenship of her loveliness

But many

What

stare

and do not understand

sovereign attributes these signs express.

[17]

To Her Whom
Canst leave the

it

spoil of

May Concern
Eden on vintage morns

To see the waste with toil and

hardship quelled

Canst thou go forth as one who had rebelled,

Still

innocent, and meet the bitter scorns?

Canst take with

me

that journey through the

thorns

And

thistle-fields,

undriven, self-compelled?

Can Love be thy flame-swordsman,

With

sterner heed than his

who

God's consecrated curse be on

We

unbeheld,

visibly

us,

then

warns

shall fare forth unanxious, hand-in-hand,

To

labour, prospering as our days increase,

Redeeming

deserts for the world of

men

Spring will be with us in a winter land

Grief

we

shall

know, but also love and peace.

18]

Goodbye
Not

less I love

you

but you did not come

Unfaltering, fervid

To walk
Some
The

when

craved the right

beside you in the noonday light.

dumb

strange reluctance of the soul struck

voice of treaty, left your heart-strings

And

numb,

turned you from the venture and the

height.

My

golden years

yielded

you

my

slight

And silver years must hoard their scanty sum.

You,

like the traveller,

gathered from the deep,

Pondering the chances of the grappled ships

One towards

the morning, one the setting

sun
Persuaded, took the irrevocable leap.

Love knows, nor wavers while the full tide slips.

Goodbye

God haven you when all is done

[19]


Evening Lark Song
At a

rural railway

station

en route to Glasgow, leaving

May,

Scotland, 9 p.m. 20th

There's the last lark in Scotland

1889.

Hear him pour

His sweet enchantment on the quiet

A
Or

air

benediction or a vesper prayer,

praise for all the gladness gone before.

Still

there

And

all

is

light to sing

and

light to soar

the glowing western heavens wear

Gold promise of the morrow.

Exultantly rejoice for

While

I,

gifts in store ?

with heart more

That grows beside

Ere daylight

Does he dare

like the

his nest

shamefast flower

and shuts

its

eye

fades, dreading the sunset hour,

Leave these bright Scottish years and each dear

tieFaces of friends, kind hands,

warm hearts

Love's

dower,
Unthrifted, yet secure, while

[20]

Time

rolls by.


In Recognition.
Brother, your lyrics pass the laws of kings

Whose dread

decrees but steeled the captive's

heart;

Your home-taught

lays a softer

power impart,

Love, joy, and peace, the might that mercy brings.

And, though your muse lack flight of angel's wings,

To walk and
Strong in

talk with
straits,

life's

men

no mean

is

art,

secure against death's

dart,

Attuned to truth, foreprizing hallowed things;

Not

of the mockers, nor of those

who make

Love's sacrament a feasting, passion-spiced

Not

lucre-thralled, nor cankered with the ache

Of envy

Not

free of

of the world

almsdeed honour-priced
but humbly,

Striving the nobler

manhood

[21

for

His sake,

after Christ.

The Slaughter of Agag

I

SAMUEL, XV.

"Surely the bitterness of death

past,"

is

Cried he whose safety Saul, the sovereign, willed

When all the blood of Amalek else was spilled

And at his nation's grave he stood, the last.
But Samuel came with countenance
With wrath aroused and charity

And
Hewed

there before the Lord

into pieces

Prophet of Love

The tyranny

Be

Priest of

Spread

And be

all chilled;

was Agag

killed,

by the Enthusiast.
whose covenant hath reversed

that bruised the broken reed,

Love and

Thy

overcast,

bless

mild rule

till

where

Hate

all

have cursed;

itself

be

the King of Love, whose wisdom

Is pure,

freed,
first

then peaceable, and saves indeed.

[22]

Death the Revealer

I

know

that death

is

God's interpreter

His quiet voice makes gracious meanings clear

In grievous things that vex us deeply here

Between the cradle and the sepulchre.

We, gazing

And

fear the

dawn

Till

With

into darkness, greatly err,

is

gold and frankincense and myrrh.

a mystery

cannot read

Around the mastery

For love

And

is

no more dread

but a heart to brood and bleed,

life is

but a dream among the dead

Whose wisdom waits

Till the

fear,

reveals the vestments of a Seer

gifts of

There

shrouded shadow of a

for us.

God

day break and shadows

[23]

give
all

me

be

heed

fled

The Forgotten Poet

With fragrance

flown, as of a long-plucked bud,

The

song

little

Sweet

sing with so

for a day, will

Of days that

Mixed with

all

is

care,

swoon upon the

will forget

The master-song

much

my

flood

song was

fair.

mighty rushing wind

fragrance,

strong with a great

breath

From cloudland and the climes that win the mind,

And

full

Full well

My

know

awaken death.

the storm will smite

my

flower,

tiny short-stemmed blossom of the sod

But,
I'll

of pulses to

when

bear

it

my

flower

and

have lived an hour,

on the wind away to God

And wind and

flower

and

spirit

may

Some Eden-garden where new worlds

[24]

adorn
are born.

The Champions
In

Memoriam

Lieutenants Malone, Aggett and

chums

of Lieutenant

many

others,

Conn Smythe, M.C.

Ennobled by the mightiness of Life

That poured

its

valour in their eager souls,

They turned from boyhood and the pleasant

goals

Of sport and home and

love, to join the strife

Of God and Chaos, following the

And drum

fife

of sun-helmed Michael,

who

controls

The cosmic war, and

as the battle

rolls,

Leads the young Champions where death most

is

rife.

Some

lost their bodies,

Yet they

will

garments of the

come anew, but now they

glorious

company,

they'll

come, their

With joy

Once more

To

flesh,

in dust,

clear the

still

world of

[25]

rest,

in realms of light
spirits to

enmesh

plighted to the quest,

all

the brood of night.


Our Lady Demeter
Our gracious

lady, bending from the stars,

Mother

of

men, on thy dear heart we lean;

Our hands

blood, but

all

all

our wishes

clean

weary of the wars

Still

dauntless, but so

And

sick of Kaisers militant

Who

and Tsars

and

slay for pride

lust of power,

and

mean
Their

The

field of

own good

only, hastening to glean

hate ere death

Our enemy and we

let

down

the bars.

sleep in thy breast

When the tired day is done and

To cradle deepest in thy love,
;

One arm

to

him and

lull his

release

sullen rest

Bathe him with pity should

we yearn

if

his night-watch

turn

His broken

will to

pardon and to peace.

[26]

Revival

Once more the message our Light Bringer spoke,

The

great Heart Doctrine, sifter of men's souls

Once more the power that

trols

stroke

faith that

moves the pilgrim

Life

and Change, and

rend the

all

between the poles

since first the

Once more the Old Lion

false

cosmos woke

of the Secret Lore

and make the true appear

Once more the Master's Word, serene and

With judgment

To

folk

seek within themselves the ancient scrolls

Of Dark and Day

To

strikes the master-

Once more the

Of

drives, inspires, con-

Once more the sword that

To

point the

just to

Way

that

measure out the

all

may

clear,

score,

reach the Door,

And, understanding Love, abandon

[27]

fear.


Walt Whitman
Oannes, Lord of wisdom, time and

The Word

Name
None

in

above

toil,

man, incarnate, evermore,

all,

Amen, on

Nilus' shore,

other under heaven on Christian

In India

OM,

from

Whom

soil,

the worlds uncoil,

The Shepherd Krishna's Song,

blind Homer's

Lore,

Gautama's

The

Secret,

Cross, anointed

and His Love

Who

King with David's

bore
oil

These of the Elder Brethren dwelt on earth,

And, God becoming man, raised

Man

to

God

God-voices calling Peace from age to age.

And

later

came, through the

strait gate of birth

The World- Word, by sea-sand and

With Leaves

of Grass, simplicity

[28]

prairie sod,

most

sage.

Tennyson
They wait about thy

And

think to wear that kingless crown of thine

Whose
Whose

grave, an envious band,

glory 'twas to rest

lustre

on brows benign,

was the magic of thy hand

Let them but seek beyond time's whirling sand

Where Memory

And

learn of her

Through

sits in

her remotest shrine,

how men become

fellowship of service, poor or grand.

And, though thy path be barred, nor

Now at thy feet,

And
Yet

shall

divine

till

sets aright
I

To some

find thee

love for

all

may

kneel

atones

what God regards

when

amiss,

make appeal

wise sceptre of the shining thrones

Of other

ages, other lives

[29]

than

this.

Laurier
Low

the snowy plume, the voice

lies

Whose

is stilled

clarion music set our hearts aflame

All the romance, the victory, the fame,

Sinks into vanishment like rain-drops spilled

Upon

the ocean vastness.

And we who

We who

thrilled

cast about for sign of

blame

Alike stand stricken while our grief goes lame

And

weary, following the woe none willed.

French heart

That

To

in British breast, this radiant soul

lived for

Canada and spent

build a nation over

all

its

power

the north,

After long shrewd desireless years,

its

goal

Attained, turned in a last triumphant hour

To meet

St.

Alban on the holy swarth.

[30]

Walter Allward
From

sea to sea the broad land harbours us

The sons

of generations that

Around the world

and we, forth from the dead,

Are picked to build

shelter

Who

have spread

for

our breed's over-plus

and a home 'neath Hesperus,

shines above

To know what

and gives us lowlihead

service

is,

so that

we sped

Across the main to end War's incubus.

From

age to age eternity

is

ours

And, having made a name, we proudly send

Our Master

Among

in Stone to set our Pillar high

the nations on a

hill

of flowers

Where late was fire and blood, with

And Truth

at stake

Life

awry

that men may comprehend.

[31]

Mark Twain
A

little

And

boy, he climbed to the top of the world

his soul sat there musing.

And evening and

He saw

life

Dawn and noon

the night-time failed

him

not.

roundly from his polar height,

And measured

tears

and laughter at

his

mood.

His heart-beat stirred the auroral sheen: the stars

Circled his Jovial head.

Awhile he dwelt

In light undulled, and then again awhile

In darkness unrelieved.

He

But evermore

brought the night and day in craft together.

Yet was he son of man and walked the earth

comrade with

He

his fellows.

Loving truth,

laughed at shams, and in a worthy time

Will

come

again,

and dwell with

[32]

all

he loved.

Goldwin Smith

How

the last word in silver cadence

The chords
The

sage

still

falls,

of age clear-ringing from far youth;

follows where the prophet calls

In "careful, cautious, reverent search for truth."

133]


Mary Stuart
Ah! Mary, Mary, queen of

Unhumbled by

hearts,

the years,

Thy memory has magic arts

To move the springs of tears
The

For both

fulfilled

and love to move,

springs of tears

thy

fate;

And still will one the other prove

And love be weeping late.
Late, ah! so late! for

me

to

come

mourner at thy grave,

When

death has bidden

all

be

dumb

That would, but could not save

Late, ah! so late! for

Who

me

to weep,

know thy name,

who magnified thee sleep
With those who mocked thy fame.

When

only

those

The mournfullest in majesty,

The queenliest to mourn,
Most beautiful in misery,
In misery forlorn.
'Tis all the

world remembers now,

But never now to frown

The glory of a perfect brow,
The shadow of a crown.
[34]

The Moon of March

To Franz

Lehar's

Famous Waltz

Golden rose the moon of March that

night

still

mild

Silver white through purple pierced the star-points

bright

Not

a whisper

murmured

in the pines above,

Silence lived like music in a

Thirty years have vanished

Life

and death the shadows

Good and

betrayed us

ill

pains

dream of

like

love.

the sunset gleam,

falling

on a stream

wrought

Peace the only perfect

gift

the soul attains.

Birth has taught us yearning for Eternal

Births to

come

will set

us far that shining

Day
way

Beauty clothes the pageant, Love preserves

whole
All the

us passing

mighty magic serves the Sun-led

[35]

soul.

it


April

My thoughts grow not so blithe

As when these

in

any moon

clear, bright, blue-skied

days shine

out

With sudden beauty

Green buds, shy

for the bare earth's breast,

flowers,

and liberated brooks.

The gladsome dawn

leaps lightly o'er the land;

The

tires;

fair

Move
Till

day never

gently forward,

the tender hours

full

of faith

and hope,

Venus' sevenfold radiance rules the night.

There

is

no rapture

in the year's ripe

charms

Like that inspired by April's innocence:

maid among the months;

She

is

For

May braids

But

April, laughing-eyed

the

little

up her

With wind-loose

Who
And

locks

hair,

and June's a woman;

and venturous,

and timid-daring

feet,

neither asks for love, nor knows, but takes

gives

and makes a joy of life

girl is April,

fresh-cheeked

pure and young of heart

Young-hearted were we

all,

but some forget;

Lark-song and primrose bank and sunny gleam

Fade out and

fail

and

will

[36]

not be recalled.

Dim and deformed

In

cells

the gods of youth are laid

of death that shuddering

memory

For men wear winter when the spring

And

only poets keep the crown of

[37]

life.

is

shuns;

high,

An

April

I feel

so glad this April

That

The ants

joyance into flower.

can love and think and talk

say,

creatures,

is

blue, the grass

is

The

air nutters

down

the slope

shovellings of last year's hope.

Behold

Though

He maketh

all

things

new

were earth, and Heaven

bridal earth

and Heaven meet.

[38]

you!

Spring shall the miracle repeat

And

green,

nest again the birds convene

The warm

do they know

sweet God's living waters flow

The sky

To

the buoyant power

that crawl upon the walk,

The happy

How

feel

fling their

They

day

could give the world away.

The maples

And

Day


Lough Swilly
I

came through the

To where

still

meadows

the dead have rest.

Across the Lake of Shadows

The ranges
Gloomed

of the

West

to their utmost crest.

sturdy-pinioned legion

Bore heavy through the night,

The mountain-guarded

region

Throbbed with the burdened

The long

flight

sea held the sight.

Voices, as from a distance,

Were swept along the strand

With

pitiful persistence

Crying

To
"We,

have no hand

build the broken land."

warriors of the waters,

We,

We,

"We

lords of

towns and towers,

chieftains' heirs

We, peers
Earth

is

and daughters,

of ancient powers,

no longer
[39]

ours.

"The days have faded from

us

Fulfilling all their fee,

The sun

gives no

more promise,

The night no new

The shore

is

decree;

as the sea.

"The mountains stand up grimly

Where the rough tempests

The waters wait

Around

We

beat,

there dimly

their patient feet

have no tryst to meet."

Oh, melancholy voices,

Your passion

is

not vain

Unwisely he rejoices

Who

struggles not to gain

All seasons that remain.

And by

the Lake of Shadows,

Above
I

its

clouded face,

meadows

came through the

still

And pondered on

Love's grace

That leaves me yet a

[40]

space.

Facing Benevenue Across the Foyle

The yellow eyes

of April

With Easter- tears

The dew

of resurrection

on them

Is shining

Spring sets

of beauty

dreams to

The whin-breath
lifts

yet.

new bounds

All old-world

And

are wet:

stirs like

fold;

music,

the earth to gold.

Cloud-banks of pearl and purple

Enwrap the
With

shadows

veils of lace-like

The grey

around;

hills

sea's face

is

wound;

silent tide is flowing

Along the

silent shore;

The night has never covered

A
O

day more dear before

love,

To
And

life,

all

love,

wonder,

we must

think that

die,

the world be nothing

Around us

as

life,

we

lie

wonder,

[41]

To

think that, deep within,

The kingdoms

of the ages

Are waiting to begin

And you and

have wandered

Through earths and

Nor

yet

know

births of old,

half the glory

The human heart can

The

hold.

self-same power that

With help

for

human

fills

us

woe,

Has wrought upon the winter

And made

the primrose blow.

[42]


November Sunshine
One

through

figure flitting

my

dreamland ways

Holds out dear hands and beckons

And

all

the world

is

to go,

sweeter for a phrase

That dimly whispers when the

Once leaping through the

Far up the heights, the sky

A little rill,

me

lights are low;

silences of snow,

turned to haze,

all

escaping, rippled so;

Adventured thus,

my

dreamland

figure strays.

Belated on the spray that afternoon

The

red,

unripened bramble-berries hung,

Touched with November sunshine, fading soon

A
A

smile,

untimely bright, in mockery flung;

blackbird,

all his

summer anthems

sung,

Fled with a scream; about our feet lay strewn

The

leafy havoc;

To know,
They

and

too late for

my

heart was wrung

life, life's

only boon.

pass, these uninterpretable years,

weird, oracular host, abrupt

Interminably ranked.
Despoiling us of

And

all

and

stern,

Time domineers,
the joys

yet, Soul-shiningly, the

[43]

we

earn;

mist-banks burn

With glory on the

The

hither side of tears.

out- world

phantoms nevermore return;

The world within

enfolds the years and spheres.

[44]

Heart's Rue at Iskaheen

Sorrow and trouble have

made myself

all

day

Over the bright eyes and the young heart of a

lass;

And

forty years of foolishness full of sore

dismay

through hunger and longing come to

Little sees

pass.

Sure, for the

hope of

her,

if

God had made me

blind,
I'd die in love of listening to her only speak;

And, were

deaf and dark,

Would reach
mother's

And

think

my groping mind

to her like wean's hands to the

cheek.

sure there's millions

God made

of us,

man

and maid,

And maybe
One

life

That

we'll get trial of

each other

all

or another, and faith I'm not afraid

this

young

slip of

girl will

wander out of

call.

But what odds, when the angels round the

glass,

[45]

sea of

And

all

the devils in the pit and

Don't matter a buckey to a

man

all

between

that loves a

lass,

dark-haired lass with sea-deep eyes in Iska-

heen

[46]

MULLAGHCARN
It

was worth a

On

life

to live to see that

day

the hill-top in the heart of Old Tyrone,

With the sun

in all the valleys

bright with

and the heavens

May

Old Tyrone, Old Tyrone, Old Tyrone!

There we watched the wee roads wandering

off

where every wind has blown

Threading

hill

and

valley,

mountain pass and

glen
4

'Could you leave behind

Lisleer, face the

world

without a fear?"

Was my question, and it passed beyond our ken.

Our two hearts went soaring up
As we climbed the heather

in that blue

sky

slopes of Mullagh-

carn;
It

was

all

a world of glory and our hopes were set

on high
Mullaghcarn, Mullaghcarn, Mullaghcarn

There we found a ferny hollow with a

little

shining tarn

Like a mirror, showing heaven in

[47]

its glass;


There was never such a throne

for a king

and queen

alone

As we made among the bracken and the

There you heard the

And your

were

eyes

music faint and

fairy

filled

with

grass.

fine,

love-light,

Nor ah mine,
Lives of old and lives to follow wove their magic
spell benign,

Norah mine, Norah mine, Norah mine!

That was years and years

knows

When

it

ago, dear, but love never

decline

serves the Selfless Heart through shine

and showers;
For we vowed to Angus Oge we should give His
blessing

Youth

vogue

eternal,

Love and Wisdom

ours.

[481

His

and


A
Oh,

Little Song of Love

why

When
That

should

men may

all

And my
The

my

love

hide

it

see

darling

darling loves

me

flower in its sweetness,

The

bird in

its glee,

Have shared my
Since

my

heart's secret

darling loves me.

The sun on the mountain,

The

star

Are more
Since

My

on the

in

my

darling loves me.

degree,

am joined
Since

The

vision

brothers and sisters

Of every
I

my

sea,

to your fortunes

my

darling loves me.

angels in heaven,

And God

even He

Are more to
Since

my

my

liking

darling loves me.

[49]

Wide earth has no purpose

And

life

But that

And my

has no plea,
love

my

darling

darling loves

[50]

me


The
Love awoke

Soul's Sufficiency

in a

midnight hour,

Found me steeped

in the

dark of

Wrought on the gloom with a

Touched the heart

crystal

cup

woodland shadow dim,

in a

Drank, and passed, and

Pressed

smile of power,

of a mortal strife.

Beauty drank from a

Deep

life,

my

lips to

took

it

up,

the hallowed brim.

Truth came flashing a magic

Each man saw what

glass,

youth

his age or

Told him waited to come to pass

them knelt and worshipped Truth.

All of

Life

was

full

Woman's

of wonderful things:

eyes and an infant's breath,

Angel's whispers and devils' wings

Speeding
Soul,

me

Soul,

is

over the ways of death.

the Beauty thine

Thine the Love and the Mirror wide?

Thine the eyes and the breath divine?
Soul, than thee,

is

there aught beside?

[51]

The
I

Pilgrims' Journey

hear the hail of the pilgrims

As they

And

travel along the road,

see the dust of their

As they stagger beneath

And

tramping
their load.

brown and

the road winds

sullen

Across a weary plain,

And

the westward hillsides darken

With a sudden dash

The

of rain.

pilgrims pass forever

Beyond that

And peak and

far hill-bar,

plain are changeless,

And sun and moon and

But the songs

Have words

And

of the

star.

mighty singers

of the plains beyond,

the mountain barriers rising

Where the heavy

For the songs are
Till the plains

hearts despond.

for

on and upward

grow
[52]

fair

with flowers,

And

the valleys smile from the conquered

heights

Through

all

the pilgrim hours.

So the joys of the pilgrims' journey

Are the summits that never

The

crests of

And

cease,

renewed endeavour,

the valleys of rest and peace.

[53]


Anastasis

What

To

shall

profit a

it

gain the world

And

lose his soul, as

man
if

he can

they

say-

In their uninstructed way?

The whole

of the earth in gain;

The whole

of your soul!

You
'Tis

judge yourself in the cost.

you

Your

not your soul

soul

You would
To

Too vain

If

is lost.

you only knew,

reach to the heaven's blue;

the heartmost centre sink,

Ere you severed the

To be
And

lost in

silver link,

your petty

lust

scattered in cosmic dust.

For your soul

is

a Shining Star

Where the Throne and the Angels

And

after a

With the

thousand years

salve of his bottled tears

Your

soul shall gather again

From

the dust of a world of pain

[54]

are.


The frame
The man

of a slave set free

that you ought to be,

The man you may be

If

you turn

to-night

to the Valley of Light.

[55]


The Beauty Eternal
When you
And

look in the grey morning depths of the

who

eyes of a

girl

the

hot flame of desire

little

is

pure,
is

uplifted

and

kindled to light,

You

are near to the

of

Beauty Eternal, the Kingdom

Dreams that endure,

The peace not

of this world, the

power and the

might.

When

the

Spirit

of

God had descended and

entered a body of dust,

The frame

of mortality failed

and was rent into

fragments of clay,

Of death and of breath they were mingled, of

and of dust and of
In pity

God

life

lust

fondled them, waiting their day.

God

them and
nourished them, quick with His Word,
With His tenderness touched, and His kindness,

In fairness and freedom

reared

His mercy, His joy and His awe,

In the hearts of them

omnipotence
Its

humanity

all,

starry-dark, living

stirred,

love, its divinity law.

[56]

fire

of


Immortal the spark

subdued

the shining confined and

is,

in a robe

Of the mortal,

corruptible, visionless, fading,

and fear-bearing foam

The foam-spray

in space of the

time-waves of ages

that beat on the globe

With diamonded

The gleam

of the

crests

from the

infinite

foam and the dark of the

dome.
fire is

the fashion of birth,

Ye

are

Gods

in the

making or foam of the sea

in

your death as ye choose,

Your eyes may be blind or awake to the marvellous

path of the earth,

Ye may

journey with God-steps, or fiend-wise,

refuse.

Then foam
of

To

fire in

your heart,

the grey morning depths of the eyes of a

saint

And

to its fashion; but you, with the spirit

lift

your gaze, wise of

God

the splendour of

mould you;

will;

shall enfold

you and

desire shall depart

The Beauty Eternal

shall dwell

[57]

with you

still.


The Burden of the World
Spake the Lords on high upon the Thrones above
the firmament:

"Half the world with

light

is

blind,

and

half

the world with night.

Whence

come the

shall

Man again,

the open-eyed,

the Messenger,
Full of deeds to

hew

Way

and words to carry

light ?

We, who

rule in realms

above the cherubim and

seraphim,

Looking down the steeps of

life,

see every stage

of growth.

On

the powers above depend the limits of the

nethermost,

Deep and high

are

in

all

the spheres their needs

drawn from both.

All the paths of all the worlds are

ways

of mortal

pilgrimage;
All the

broken destinies are ruts upon the road

Where the

hosts

of Nature

pass the myriad

metamorphoses
Space and sound and stone and sky and heart
of

fire

to

God.
[581


"High above the purple

night,

and through the

morning's pearliness,
Rise the clamoured prayers and pains of

who do not

men

see

Virtue not the end of

life

and Godhood not

its

ultimate
Levels where

we contemplate remoter Gods

than we.
Springing out of nothingness to mensurate the
Universe,

Sparks of Being wrap themselves by turns in

Nature's veils;
Self-unfolding, burst the sheathes

outworn of each

embodiment,
Learning darkness fades, and discord sinks, and
falsehood

fails.

Mounting over hate and

pride, fear, anger, lust,

and indolence

Wars that frame new worlds men wage,

achiev-

ing vast release,

Overcoming ignorance to face the One

Justice, Love, All- Wisdom,

Peace!"

[59]

Ineffable,

Power, Divinity of

This the chant of hope the Gods have sung to sad

humanity;
All the kings of

men have come

with sweat upon

the brow;

Earth has

filled

her breast to feed the toiler in

extremity,

Yielding to the fierce caress of spade and hoe

and plough.
Brother to the rock and

tree, of bird

and brute

confederate,

In the hollow of his heart there flames the living

fire;

Comrade

of the

wave and

cloud, the wheeling suns

companioning,

Inwardly the music echoes of the starry

Souls of

choir.

them ascending through apprenticeship

to

Deity

Rush where powers of darkness,

striving, agonize

the worst.

Scarred and stunned and torn and worn, but straining

on

None of all
Shout

it

like conquerors,

the brood of men

is

broken or accurst.

to the sodden slums, ye pillars of society;

[60]


Show

to the gutter-tribes, nor fear their visage

it

grim;

Take

it

to the labour-hells, where wages stand for

torturing;

Tell

it

to the negro ere ye lynch

him

for

your

whim.
Preach

it

in

your

prison-cells,

ye arbiters of

liberty;

Drill

your armies once again, and sing the joys

of war;
Fill

your mines with news of

it,

and comfort

all

your mariners

Marvel not at rivalry of brothel-shop and bar!

Do

not hope that

God

shall

dry the world's tear-

blotted countenance,

You that have the hands to wipe the bitter tears

away;
Following the Master of

The Broken Heart, your

brotherhood,

Bearing what your fellows bear, shall hasten on

His day!

[61]


By Wave and War
Once again the ocean

fulness,

Once again the daring

leap,

my limbs o'er-lapped with

All my joy upon the deep

All

coolness,

Arm that urges, wave that surges,

Foam that flies along the flood,
Over-strive and over-conquer
All the

numbness and the nullness

In the languor of

And

my

blood,

dash among the breakers, and

overbear

their rancour
Till I feel

myself a

Once again the

And

shield

the foe

There are
There

is

is

is

rallies,

battle-shout,

hacked and gory,

bold and stout;
there are

sallies,

death in every blow,

But the mood

And

might and mood.

in

field of glory,

Once again the

And my

man

the young

of

war grows

men and

godlike,

the hoary

Charge with equal hearts aglow,

[62]


Till

a thrust has pierced their fury

headlong

They

flung them

lying clod-like
but they triumph as they go!

are silent

Once again the

soul's

Under warring

will

submergence

and

sense,

By the Law's almighty urgence

And the Sun's bright vehemence;
Plunging, diving, onward striving,

Through the shocks

Through the

of change

coils of flesh

Till in love-compelled

the Throne of

and passion,

convergence

Towards the Heart of

To

and chance

all

Romance,

Him who

watches, in the old

victorious fashion

Comes a

brother in humanity's advance.

[63]

The Shining of the Way

With

little lilts

And

of sorrow

melodies of joy

That love and duty borrow

To make

the heart's employ;

By gleam of smiles and

By glimpse of falling
As youth

By

is

The

age's over-years;

The

men

refashion

fetterings of fate.

is

Where

And

of passion,

winter storms of hate,

sons of

Time

tears,

followed after

Through summer heats

By

laughter,

an ancient
Life

is

castle

liege

and

lord,

grants to every vassal

Unspeakable accord;

And Birth is Life's high gateway,

And Death is Life's wide door;

Who

triumphs not shall straightway

Re-enter as before,
Till

every thought engendered,

And

every breath

men

[64]

draw,

And

every act

is

rendered

In tribute to the Law.

Here stand the courts of

That men have

The

called success;

cells of self-denial,

The chambers
The

trial

of distress;

halls of disappointment,

Where

feeble hearts sink

down,

Despairing Love's anointment,

The chrism and the crown.

In every room a casement

Unshuttered to the day,

Admits, from tower to basement,

The

shining of the

Turn here thy cheek,

Way.

O smitten,

Nor dread a second blow;

That which

thyself hast written

Alone the judgments show.

The
Is

And

prodigal with Circe

midway
the

first

Commands

to the goal,

word

of

mercy

the breach

[65]

made

whole.

and no favour

Strict justice

Thy

soul

is

Thy foeman
As agent

seeking

still;

waver

shall not

of thy Will.

The man that weaves

his clothing

With knots and cords

shame and loathing

Shall wear with

The

rags of his offence.

And he who weaves

Of

of sense,

silver

Shall sit

Where

and of

and wait
love

is

his raiment

gold,
for

bought and

But he who weaves

sold.

his vesture

Of lightning and of

The earth obeys

payment

flame,

his gesture,

The heavens name

his

Name.

Majestically sitting

Upon

its

twain dim piers

Time's archway spans the

Of shadowy men and

They come and go and

And come and go

[66]

flitting

years.

vanish,

again,


But deep nor high can banish

The power that

Night struggles

dwells in men.

for

enthronement,

And Death upheaps

But

his clods;

Life proclaims atonement

The

souls of

men

[67]

are Gods!

The Way of the Master

I

know

that the Master walked on earth,

For I've heard the

And

that

all

Had He
I

know

He

tale of

His

did would

been mortal and

I
I

human

birth,

have done
God's Son.

that His heart was crushed and wrung,

For I've cherished that which has turned and

stung;

And He

could not help but love us

Though some

And

know

And His

And
To
I

all

life

all

are held in an evil thrall.

that His law was Brotherhood,

was gentle and kind and good,

that the sad earth needs this hour

bring

men

peace

is

to use that power.

have overtaken many a band

Of pilgrims following Faith's command,

And

journeyed awhile where their prophet

led,

Then, passing on, found the Path ahead,

With the Master's guide-marks,

And His

foot-prints

marked
[68]

true

and

in the clay

just,

and dust,


But over-trodden,

By

those

who

and blurred,

effaced

some

followed

lesser

Word.

may pass them all in the years, perchance,

And reach new realms of the soul's expanse,
I

And many may

But the Master
For the best

When

follow where
still

know

will

of His heart to-day,

In the knowledge gained from

In the living

Where the

And
For
1

love, of

comrade mine, we

way

have sunk away

my

higher place

His boundless grace.

shall never part

of the loving heart,

lust of gold

and the wanton's

the cup of the curse shall not

know

all

guile

defile.

that the Master walked on earth,

have heard the

And

have gone

be leading on.

I've bettered that, will

Of His endless

that

He

Had He been

tale of

His

did would

mortal and

[69]

human

birth,

have done

God's Son.


Sun Worship
Steadfast the

Sun

steers

through the awful void;

Steadfast the earth wheels in her mighty place;

Only we mortals lag and are annoyed

That the Gods march not with our stumbling

pace.

What

are our

follies,

what are

our

all

fears,

Our deep despair, or that bright hope that buoys?

What

all

the rapture,

What but

all

the child's adventures with his toys?

Comrades that waver,

Loves the

He knows

lo!

least lucent of

circle

His starry

love of law

is

is

line;

but to run

our true law of love;

life

Divine

fainter octave thrills to that

And wakes

One

His just laws assign.

In this rich concord

Our

the All-Shining

His course, and ours

Sure in the

The

the bitter tears

the silent

Wisdom

[70]

is

won;

above
of the Sun.


The Sun-Dream
We are not perfect,
Our love

But always

is

comrade, in our

lives;

but a broken thought of God;

in our hearts there

is

that strives

Towards heights untrod.

The

good has made us one;

will to follow

Love could not bind us

We

else so close

and

fast;

have not turned our faces from the Sun

And

night

is

past.

Dear, not for us to boast that

we

are strong,

But, deep within, the Sun-dream, beauty, burns,

And

life

and truth

will sing us,

song by song,

All Love's concerns.

Out

of the tender night's enfolded shade

We

slip,

empurpled, to the

And duty broadens

Like day-break

strife

that scars,

while ambitions fade

stars.

[71]

"God Giveth

it

a Body"

O Lamb of God,
O Love Divine,
The
Of

The

life is

Thine;

bitter word,

The

The

Rood

daily

careless look,

heart unstirred,

The vow

The cup

forsook

of gall,

The death

in wait,

The kingdom

all

Left desolate

There are no seeds

That

sin

can sow,

There are no weeds

Vice bids to blow,

But rankly choke

Thy

harvest

field

Where prophets spoke

And martyrs
The golden

kneeled.

ears

Are scant and few,

[72]

The famine

years

Their plagues pursue.

Still

In

The

grain

by grain

human

birth

souls of

men

Are cast to earth

Sown

in the flesh

Of form and sense

To

face afresh

Life's turbulence,

Until, within,

Transmuted, bright,

As gods they win

Pure forms of

From

light.

infant need

To hero-power;
From psychic seed
To

To

spirit flower;

conquer death

While ages run;

To

breathe the breath

That wakes the Sun;

[73]

These are thy ways

Eternal Will,

With
I

love

and

seek Thee

[74]

praise
still

God
In Paradise

The

know

living waters flow;

The Tree

of Life drops

But on

this lovely earth

Where Sons

of

God

take birth

quell its mortal strife,

Where
There

the Well of Life?

is

is

a realm of song

Beyond the thought

There

is

heard deep in

The chords

And

of night;

my

heart

of music start;

bright within

The rainbow

of wrong;

a world of light

Beyond our eyes

I

down

king and clown;

Its fruit for

To

Love

is

my

glory stole.

Father, forth from

roam by land and

blend, through

life

to

Thy

life I

[75]

Thee

sea;

Earth, water, air and

From

soul

desire,
fire;

range

The

wiser with each change,

Thy

love

More

like to

The key
Is in

Nor
I

more

to

free to

know,

Thee to grow.
all this

joy

no earthly toy;
priest nor altar-stone

Thee

need, but

Thy Word

alone.

not afar

is

In sun or

moon

But near

as

or star,

Love Thou

All radiant in

my

[76]

heart.

art,

Before the Burial

Mystery of

With the
Hidden

Not

folly lies

secret of the wise

Pyramids

in the

by

so safe as

these

Nevermore the loving

lids.

look,

Nevermore the shy rebuke,

Nevermore the

soul awake,

Earth enchanted

Oh! we

live

for

thy sake.

behind the

light,

Day is far beyond our sight;

What we see is all a dream,
Starlight rippling

on a stream.

Little daughter, only twelve,

Yet already must we delve

In the quiet mother breast

For the marvel of thy

Did there

flash

At the naming

rest?

an incense flame
of thy

name?

In thy presence did there

Purifying

fire

on

all?

[77]

fall

Wert thou not

of

comrade heart

With the host whose mighty

Guards the

From

careless race of

art

man

th'impiteous primal ban?

Something of the

life

divine

In thy nature glowed benign;

Sealed to duty, hand and brow,

Of the Kingdom, such wert thou.

When

thy soul

shall

walk the earth

Clothed anew in mortal birth,

May

follow through the spheres

Worthy

of thy love

[78]

and

tears

Spring Shower

Oh! you could not help but

listen

All the mild soft day,

And your

eyes might chance to glisten

In the old dim way,

When you heard the warm rain

And the April robins calling,
Knowing

spring

was

falling,

disenthralling

All the world from winter's sway.

Now

the land will lose the leanness

Of the cold white snow;

All the fields will burst to greenness,

And

the wild flowers blow;

In the woods fresh

And

life is

waking,

the swollen buds are breaking

Watch

for apple

blossoms flaking

Where the orchards stand

Life at last

Makes

a-row.

the grass upthrusting,

the sad sod sing;

By the little grave, still -trusting,

You may hear Love's wing:
[79]

Cleanse your hearts of

There's a

new day,

Winter's grudge

is

all

things hateful,

strong and fateful;

gone, be grateful

For the miracle of spring.

[80]


Hymn for the Peace
Lord of the Universe,
Brother and Friend,

We

are

Thy

warriors

World without end;

In

Thy Name

conquerors,

Shod with Thy peace,

Crowned with Thy clemency,

War now

shall cease.

Servant, Deliverer,

Thine was the power

Bitter the agony,

Dark was the hour;

Brave hearts that trusted Thee

Met Thee
Thee we give

in death;

praise for

them

While we have breath.

Speak to the nations, Lord,

Join us in one;

Grant

Thy

in our
will

Canada

be done.

[81]


Wisdom and
Give

us,

equity

and

Take Thou our

love;
offerings

Olive and dove.

Land

of our heritage,

Glory of earth,

Haven

of Liberty,

Home
Mother

of

new

birth;

invincible,

True-hearted, tried,

Canada, Canada,

God be Thy

guide.

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