Songs of Travel, and Other Verses

by Robert Louis Stevenson

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

I—THE VAGABOND
(To an air of Schubert)

Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river—
There’s the life for a man like me,
There’s the life for ever.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o’er me;
Give the face of earth around
And the road before me.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Or let autumn fall on me
Where afield I linger,
Silencing the bird on tree,
Biting the blue finger.
White as meal the frosty field—
Warm the fireside haven—
Not to autumn will I yield,
Not to winter even!

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o’er me;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.