Into the silver dark the lovers went,
Over the silver sea to golden isles,
Piping their songs of heavenly wonderment
And fabling the unhaunted age with smiles.
And ever with the swift melodious miles
A sterner harmony breathed through their bliss;
“The old shall be outworn. That which reviles
The gods shall perish by their ministries.
But we will walk with truth: The best of life is this.”
PART II
I KNOW WHERE A DOVE——
I know where a dove sits brooding in the dark
Nested in leaves the quiet boughs among;
And when the midnight falls I lean to mark
Her home where a star is hung.
The star, it does not know the secret dove,
The dove that firefly planet may not see.
What lovelier things the night may fold from me——
The watching eye, the brooding heart, and love.
PROLOCUTOR
O for one of the stars to know me,
To say “That is she” as I say “It is there.”
O for my hills to show me
If they care.
But when I speak to them nothing hears me.
Even the bird on the near bough fears me.
The fire on my hearth does not know that it cheers me.
... Heart that waits by the fire, do you guess
All you must voice in your tenderness?
WONDER
Here are the shadows veiling green with grey
And winning all the wonder from the light;
Here phantom fragrance swells and fails like sound;
The hour distills itself to dark; the day
Dreams in its grave and lo, the dream is night.