There's a little, rose-wreathed cottage nestling close upon its border
Where a tangled mass of blossoms half conceals an open door,
There's a sweet, narcotic perfume from a garden's wild disorder,
And the jealous poppies cluster where its kisses thrill the shore.
From across its dimpled bosom comes the half-hushed, careful calling
Of a whippoorwill whose lonely heart is longing for its mate,
And the sun aslant the sleepy eyes of fox-gloves gently falling
Tells the fisherman out yonder that the hour is growing late.
From the branches of the poplars a spasmodic sleepy twitter
Comes, 'twould seem, in careless answer to the pleading of a song,
And perhaps the tiny bosom holds despair that's very bitter
For his notes are soon unheeded by the little feathered throng.
Then the twilight settling denser shows a rush-light dimly burning—
Ah, how well I know the landing drowsing 'neath its feeble beams,
And my homesick heart to mem'ries of the yesterday is turning
While I linger here, forgotten, with no solace but my dreams.
[MARION FORSTER GILMORE]
Miss Marion Forster Gilmore, the young Louisville poet and dramatist, was born at Anchorage, Kentucky, November 27, 1887. She was educated at Hampton College, Louisville, and at a private school in Washington, D. C. At the age of fourteen years she wrote a poem while crossing the Rocky Mountains that attracted the attention of Joaquin Miller and Madison Cawein, and won her the friendship of both poets. When but fifteen years old she had completed her three-act tragedy of Virginia, set in Rome during the days of the Decemvirs. This is purely a play for the study, and hardly fitted for stage presentation, yet it has been praised by William Faversham, the famous actor. Miss Gilmore contributed lyrics to the Cosmopolitan Magazine and Leslie's Weekly, which, with her play, she published in a charming book, entitled Virginia, a Tragedy, and Other Poems (Louisville, Kentucky, 1910). The Cradle Song, originally printed in the Cosmopolitan for May, 1908, is one of the best of her shorter poems. Miss Gilmore has recently returned to her home at Louisville, after having spent a year in European travel and study.[98]
Bibliography. Cosmopolitan Magazine (January, 1909); Current Literature (August, 1910).
THE CRADLE SONG[99]
[From Virginia, a Tragedy, and Other Poems (Louisville, Kentucky, 1910)]