A Summer's Poems

F. J. LYS
LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED ESSEX STREET, STRAND 1893
These poems were written,—except No. III., which was partly written two or three weeks earlier,—during a stay of six weeks, in August and September, at Hallstatt, among the mountains of Upper Austria.
They are published at once, not because I am unaware of their defects, but in the hope that, in spite of these, they may give some small pleasure to a few friends and other readers.
F. J. L.
Oxford, September 28th, 1893 .
A SUMMER'S POEMS.
Thy whispers float upon the liquid air, The sunbeams quiver by thy breath made quick, The myriad forest-branches thronging thick Thrill with delight thy mystic touch to bear, Like an enchanted harp to fingers fair Yielding a music that can soothe the sick, Or heal a heart that cruel pain doth prick; Waters and winds thy living spirit share; Thy wrath is in the thunder, and thy tears Weep for man's dulness in melodious rain. Mistress, forgive me if on deafened ears, Full of life's clamour and its harsh refrain, Thy words have fallen all these barren years, And take me for thy minister again.
Happy blossom that shinest, Lit by the smiles of the sun, Lavishing of thy finest Fragrance on every one; Happy that ne'er repinest For the day when the dusk is begun, But humbly thy head inclinest, Content that thy work is done.
Sorrowing hearts thou cheerest, Bidding them live like thee, Who calmly the wild storm hearest Gathering threateningly, And never the dark night fearest, And trustest that, though they be Withered and dead, thy dearest Another summer shall see.
Proudly the glad ships breast the buoyant wave, Touched by the radiant fingers of the sun, Exulting in the promise of dawn, and brave Over the deep their unknown race to run, From nothingness that none remembereth On to the undiscovered haven of death.
Out of the impenetrable night they drew, Mist-curtained, moving darkly through the haze; And the East brightened and the breezes blew, And o'er life's widening waters now they gaze, Greet the companions of their voyage, and know Some dim awakening purpose in them grow.