Preluding
Frail fronds of ferns uncurling,
Blue iris flags unfurling,
Pale showers of blossoms swirling
Like clouds of wind-blown snow;
With fragile wildings playing,
Like two blithe children maying,
Across the glad meads straying,
Together, dear, we go.
The silver clouds far-drifting,
Vague lights and shadows shifting,
The sungleams gold-dust sifting
Down thro' the latticed leaves;
Gray brooks the meadows lacing,
Young flow'rs the uplands gracing,
Her faery 'broidery tracing
The skillful spider weaves.
From long, long day-dreams shaken,
The vivid violets waken;
His Southern haunts forsaken,
The bluebird flecks the sky;
Ah, breath of bloom-bright heather,
Ah, golden Maytime weather,
We drift in dreams together—
Together, you and I.
The Heights of Silence
(Transcribed from "The Choir Invisible.")
Above the valleys, peopled, fair and warm,
Rise the bleak, silent uplands where abide
Wraiths of lost loves, love's recompense denied,
Unspoken, unconfessed, unsatisfied....
Cold, silent heights, engirt with zones of storm,
Where Love for aye unmated must abide.