HESPER
Her eyes are like the evening air,
Her voice is like a rose,
Her lips are like a lovely song,
That ripples as it flows,
And she herself is sweeter than
The sweetest thing she knows.
A slender, haunting, twilight form
Of wonder and surprise,
She seemed a fairy or a child,
Till, deep within her eyes,
I saw the homeward-leading star
Of womanhood arise.
ARRIVAL
Across a thousand miles of sea, a hundred
leagues of land,
Along a path I had not traced and could not
understand,
I travelled fast and far for this,—to take thee
by the hand.
A pilgrim knowing not the shrine where he would
bend his knee,
A mariner without a dream of what his port
would be,
So fared I with a seeking heart until I came to
thee.
O cooler than a grove of palm in some heat-weary
place,
O fairer than an isle of calm after the wild sea
race,
The quiet room adorned with flowers where first
I saw thy face!
Then furl the sail, let fall the oar, forget the paths
of foam!
The Power that made me wander far at last has
brought me home
To thee, dear haven of my heart, and I no more
will roam.
DEPARTURE
Oh, why are you shining so bright, big Sun,
And why is the garden so gay?
Do you know that my days of delight are done,
Do you know I am going away?
If you covered your face with a cloud, I'd dream
You were sorry for me in my pain,
And the heads of the flowers all bowed would
seem
To be weeping with me in the rain.