Helen Redeemed and Other Poems

Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Archaic spellings have been retained. All Greek words have mouse-hover transliterations, Δῶρον , and appear as originally printed. DEDICATION Love owes tribute unto Death, Being but a flower of breath, Ev'n as thy fair body is Moment's figure of the bliss Dwelling in the mind of God When He called thee from the sod, Like a crocus up to start, Gray-eyed with a golden heart, Out of earth, and point our sight To thy eternal home of light. Here on earth is all we know: To let our love as steadfast blow, Open-hearted to the sun, Folded down when our day's done, As thy flower that bids it be Flower of thy charity. 'Tis not ours to boast or pray Breath from us shall outlive clay; 'Tis not thine, thou Pitiful, Set me task beyond my rule. Yet as young men carve on trees Lovely names, and find in these Solace in the after time, So to have hid thee in my rhyme Shall be comfort when I take The lonely road. Then, for my sake, Keep thou this my graven sigh, And, that I may not all die, Open it, and hear it tell, Here was one who loved thee well. October 6, 1912. CONTENTS PAGE Helen Redeemed 1 Hypsipyle 123 Oreithyia 149 Clytié 155 Lai of Gobertz 159 The Saints' Maying 169 The Argive Women 173 Gnatho 187 To the Gods of the Country 193 Fourteen Sonnets— Alma sdegnosa 197 The Winds' Possession 198 Aspetto reale 199 Kin Confessed 200 Quel giorno più 201 Absence 202 Presence 203 Dream Anguish 204 Hymnia-Beatrix 206 Lux e Tenebris 207 Duty 208 Wages 209 Eye-Service 210 Cloister Thoughts 211 The Chamber Idyll 213 Epigrammata— The Old House 217 Blue Iris 217 The Rosebud 218 Spring on the Down 218 Snowy Night 219 Evening Mood 219 The Parting 220 Dedication of a Book 221 NOTE Three of the Poems here published have appeared in book form already, in the long out of print. HELEN REDEEMED PROEM Sing of the end of Troy, and of that flood Of passion by the blood Of heroes consecrate, by poet's craft Hallowed, if that thin waft Of godhead blown upon thee stretch thy song To span such store of strong And splendid vision of immortal themes Late harvested in dreams, Albeit long years laid up in tilth. Most…