Copyright, 1902, by
Charles Scribner’s Sons
———
Published March, 1902
The De Vinne Press

To my Father

You called the old farm Bramble Brae,
And loved it till your hair was gray
And footsteps faltered while you trod
The sloping upland bright with sod.
It blossomed in your quiet life
With gowans from the Neuk of Fife;
And while you walked the waving wheat
You dreamed of heather and the peat.
You’ve gane awa! My spirit yearns
To hear you read the songs of Burns;
The melody I’ve faintly caught
Is just the lesson that you taught.
If any hear your gentle voice
In verse of mine, then I’ll rejoice
And sing along my stumbling way,
“He’s home again in Bramble Brae!”

CONTENTS

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
PAGE
[The Unillumined Verge][1]
[From One Long Dead][4]
[Father to Mother][6]
[The Child to the Father][8]
[A Prayer of Old Age][10]
[The Rhone Glacier—Sunset][14]
[James McCosh][17]
[McGiffen][22]
[At the Farragut Statue][25]
[News from a Missing Liner][27]
[For a Classmate Dead at Sea][29]
BRAMBLE BRAE
[A Toast to our Native Land][33]
[The Towers of Princeton][34]
[Roosevelt in Wyoming][36]
[Uncle Sam to Kipling][38]
[A New Year’s Wish for Those Who Write][40]
[To Chloe][42]
[To the Elf on my Calendar][43]
[Caprice][44]
[Retrospect][46]
[In the Crowd][47]
[Remembrance][48]
[Off Fort Hamilton in Summer][49]
[Over the Ferry][50]
[Bramble Brae in October][52]
WITH FLOWERS
[On a Spray of Heather][57]
[The Hothouse Violet Speaks][59]
[A Song][61]
[What the Flowers Said][63]
[Diana’s Valentine][65]
[With Some Birthday Roses][67]
WRITTEN IN BOOKS
[In a Volume of Herrick][71]
[In “Shakespeare’s Sonnets”][73]
[In “Sonnets from the Portuguese”][74]
[In George Meredith’s Poems][75]
[In “The King’s Lyrics”][76]
[The Song of Tembinoka, King of Apemama][77]
[In the Manner of Kipling][79]
[For a Novel of Hall Caine’s][80]
[In “Helbeck of Bannisdale”][81]
[A Christmas Greeting][82]
[In Nicholson’s “Almanac of Sports”][83]
[In Nicholson’s “City Types”][84]
[In “The Golden Treasury”][85]
[A Valentine][86]
[In “Hallo, my Fancy!”][87]
[The Book Speaks][88]
[In Herford’s Verses][89]
[In a Book of Gibson’s Drawings][90]
[In a Volume of Miss Guiney’s Poems][91]
[In “Barbara Frietchie—A Play”][92]
[To C. H. M. and H. H. M.][94]
[To my Mother][96]
[A Book’s Soliloquy][97]
[Envoy][99]

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

On the dark decline of the unillumined
verge between the two worlds.
George Meredith.

THE UNILLUMINED VERGE
TO A FRIEND DYING

They tell you that Death’s at the turn of the road,
That under the shade of a cypress you’ll find him,
And, struggling on wearily, lashed by the goad
Of pain, you will enter the black mist behind him.