"O daughter, thine eyes be better than mine,"
(The waves ascend high on yonder dome)
"North or South is there never a sign?"
(And a ship is long due home.)
They watched there all the long night through—
(The wind's out with a will to roam)
Wind and rain and sorrow for two—
(And heaven on the long reach home.)
The second volume marked a decided advance in technique. When we remember also the Pre-Raphaelite spirit, with its love of rhythm and imagery, we are not surprised to find here an appreciation "To Dante Gabriel Rossetti." Especially has the poet made progress in the handling of the sonnet, as may be seen in the following:
My thoughts go marching like an armèd host
Out of the city of silence, guns and cars;
Troop after troop across my dreams they post
To the invasion of the wind and stars.
O brave array of youth's untamed desire!
With thy bold, dauntless captain Hope to lead
His raw recruits to Fate's opposing fire,
And up the walls of Circumstance to bleed.
How fares the expedition in the end?
When this my heart shall have old age for king
And to the wars no further troop can send,
What final message will the arm'stice bring?
The host gone forth in youth the world to meet,
In age returns—in victory or defeat?
Then there is the epilogue with its heart-cry:
Lord of the mystic star-blown gleams
Whose sweet compassion lifts my dreams;
Lord of life in the lips of the rose
That kiss desire; whence Beauty grows;
Lord of the power inviolate
That keeps immune thy seas from fate,
* * * * *
Lord, Very God of these works of thine,
Hear me, I beseech thee, most divine!
Within very recent years Mr. Braithwaite has attracted unusual attention among the discerning by a new note of mysticism that has crept into his verse. This was first observed in "Sandy Star," that appeared in the Atlantic (July, 1909):
No more from out the sunset,
No more across the foam,
No more across the windy hills
Will Sandy Star come home.