ON THE RIVER
The faint stars wake and wonder,
Fade and find heart anew;
Above us and far under
Sphereth the watchful blue.
Silent she sits, outbending,
A wild pathetic grace,
A beauty strange, heart-rending,
Upon her hair and face.
O spirit cries that sever
The cricket's level drone!
O to give o'er endeavor
And let love have its own!
Within the mirrored bushes
There wakes a little stir;
The white-throat moves, and hushes
Her nestlings under her.
Beneath, the lustrous river,
The watchful sky o'erhead.
God, God, that Thou should'st ever
Poison thy children's bread!
THE BRACELET OF GRASS
The opal heart of afternoon
Was clouding on to throbs of storm,
Ashen within the ardent west
The lips of thunder muttered harm,
And as a bubble like to break
Hung heaven's trembling amethyst,
When with the sedge-grass by the lake
I braceleted her wrist.