Helen Redeemed and Other Poems

Δῶρον Ἔρως Ἀΐδῃ
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1913
Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Archaic spellings have been retained. All Greek words have mouse-hover transliterations, Δῶρον, and appear as originally printed.

Love owes tribute unto Death, Being but a flower of breath, Ev'n as thy fair body is Moment's figure of the bliss Dwelling in the mind of God When He called thee from the sod, Like a crocus up to start, Gray-eyed with a golden heart, Out of earth, and point our sight To thy eternal home of light.
Here on earth is all we know: To let our love as steadfast blow, Open-hearted to the sun, Folded down when our day's done, As thy flower that bids it be Flower of thy charity. 'Tis not ours to boast or pray Breath from us shall outlive clay; 'Tis not thine, thou Pitiful, Set me task beyond my rule.
Yet as young men carve on trees Lovely names, and find in these Solace in the after time, So to have hid thee in my rhyme Shall be comfort when I take The lonely road. Then, for my sake, Keep thou this my graven sigh, And, that I may not all die, Open it, and hear it tell, Here was one who loved thee well.
October 6, 1912.


Three of the Poems here published have appeared in book form already, in the Volume called Songs and Meditations , long out of print.