The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume 3 (of 5) Nature poems

Part 1

Chapter 11,775 wordsPublic domain

THE POEMS OF MADISON CAWEIN

VOLUME III

NATURE POEMS

THE POEMS OF MADISON CAWEIN

_Volume III_

NATURE POEMS

_Illustrated_ WITH PHOTOGRAVURES AFTER PAINTINGS BY ERIC PAPE

INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS

PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y.

TO DOCTOR HENRY A. COTTELL WHOSE KIND WORDS OF FRIENDSHIP AND APPROVAL HAVE ENCOURAGED ME WHEN I MOST NEEDED ENCOURAGEMENT

CONTENTS

PAGE

IN THE SHADOW OF THE BEECHES

ALONG THE OHIO 56

AMONG THE KNOBS 124

AUTUMN 53

BENEATH THE BEECHES 99

BLACK VESPER’S PAGEANTS 22

BOY COLUMBUS, THE 80

BRIDLE-PATH, THE 101

BROOK, THE 145

“BROKEN RAINBOW ON THE SKIES OF MAY, A” 71

COIGNE OF THE FOREST, A 6

DREAM, THE 63

DREAMS 143

FALL FANCIES 134

FALLEN BEECH, A 3

FALLS OF THE OHIO, THE 127

FARMSTEAD, THE 74

FOREST AND FIELD 29

GRASSHOPPER, THE 27

GRAY DAY, A 113

HAUNTED HOUSE, THE 49

HEART O’ SPRING, THE 69

HEAT 16

HOLLOW OF THE HILLS, A 97

HOUSE IN THE HILLS, A 8

IN THE SHADOW OF THE BEECHES 1

IN THE WILDWOOD 96

INDIAN SUMMER 42

LATE OCTOBER 136

LOG-BRIDGE, THE 121

MILL-WATER, THE 60

MOOD O’ THE EARTH, THE 116

NIGHT 47

NOONING 119

NORTH BEACH, FLORIDA 82

NOVEMBER WALK, A 138

OLD FARM, THE 106

OLD INN, THE 58

OLD SWING, THE 146

ON THE JELLICO SPUR OF THE CUMBERLANDS 87

ORGIE 73

RAIN IN THE WOODS 13

SLEET-STORM IN MAY, A 67

SPRING TWILIGHT 65

STORM, THE 84

SUMMER 38

TO AUTUMN 148

TO SORROW 44

TO SUMMER 110

TWILIGHT MOTH, A 24

VINTAGER, THE 21

WHIPPOORWILL, THE 94

WHITE EVENING, THE 141

WIND, THE 10

WINTER DREAMS 149

YOUNG SEPTEMBER 19

TANSY AND SWEET-ALYSSUM

ABANDONED 233

AFTER LONG GRIEF AND PAIN 171

AIRY TONGUES 184

AMBITION 243

ARCANA 236

AUTUMN SORROW 212

BABY MARY 197

BARE BOUGHS 191

BEFORE THE END 226

BY THE TRYSTING-BEECH 170

CLEARING 210

“CLOUDS OF THE AUTUMN NIGHT” 167

COLD 228

COMRADERY 174

COMRADES 161

CREEK-ROAD, THE 232

COVERED BRIDGE, THE 231

DARK DAY OF SUMMER, A 213

DAYS AND DAYS 214

DESPAIR 245

DESPONDENCY 244

DROUTH IN AUTUMN 215

DUSK IN THE WOODS 159

FEN-FIRE, THE 199

FLOWER OF THE FIELDS, A 153

FULFILLMENT 237

HAUNTED WOODLAND, THE 172

HILLS OF THE WEST 204

HILLSIDE GRAVE, THE 230

HOAR-FROST 227

HOME 158

IMPERFECTION 235

IN SUMMER 216

IN WINTER 218

LAST WORD, A 249

MUSIC AND SLEEP 242

OCCULT 176

OLD SONG, AN 196

OMENS 234

ON STONY-RUN 156

ON THE FARM 219

OPIUM 241

PATHS 221

QUATRAINS 246

RAIN AND WIND 186

RED-BIRD, THE 209

ROCK, THE 163

SNOW 195

SOMNAMBULIST, THE 240

SONG IN SEASON, A 224

STANDING-STONE CREEK 165

SUNSET FANCY, A 198

THEN AND NOW 169

THRENODY, A 193

TOO LATE 238

UNDER ARCTURUS 188

WILLOW BOTTOM, THE 207

WIND AT NIGHT, THE 183

WIND OF SPRING, THE 206

WINTER MOON, THE 229

WITCH, THE 239

WOOD, THE 200

WOOD NOTES 202

WOOD WORDS 178

WEEDS BY THE WALL

AFTER RAIN 308

AGE OF GOLD, THE 313

ALONG THE STREAM 275

ANTHEM OF DAWN 331

ARTIST, THE 347

AT THE LANE’S END 334

BEECH BLOOMS 294

BEFORE THE RAIN 306

BLUEBIRD, THE 363

BROKEN DROUTH, THE 286

CAN SUCH THINGS BE 345

CAVERNS 364

CHIPMUNK, THE 266

CRICKET, THE 259

DREAMER, THE 355

DROUTH 283

ENCHANTMENT 343

FEUD 288

FOREWORD 253

IMMORTELLES 320

IN THE FOREST 344

KNIGHT-ERRANT 346

LOVE OF LOVES, THE 316

LULLABY, A 321

MESSAGE OF THE LILIES, THE 329

MID-WINTER 357

MUSINGS 325

ON CHENOWETH’S RUN 300

PATH BY THE CREEK, THE 271

PESTILENCE 324

POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY 348

QUATRAINS 351

QUEST, THE 304

“QUO VADIS” 349

REINCARNATION 299

REQUIESCAT 302

RESPONSE 360

RICHES 312

ROAD HOME, THE 280

SCREECH-OWL, THE 264

SIMULACRA 362

SONG FOR LABOR, A 314

SPRING 358

SUNSET AND STORM 293

SUNSET CLOUDS 311

SWASHBUCKLER, THE 361

TREE TOAD, THE 262

THREE THINGS 318

TO A CRITIC 350

TRANSFORMATION 359

UNANOINTED 290

UNHEARD 298

VOICES 278

WILD IRIS, THE 268

WINTER 356

WORSHIP 297

A VOICE ON THE WIND

A. D. NINETEEN HUNDRED 479

ADVENTURERS 457

AFTERWORD 483

ALLUREMENT 422

AUGUST 423

BUSH-SPARROW, THE 426

CONTENT 443

COMMUNICANTS 420

DEAD DAY, THE 421

DEATH OF LOVE, THE 462

DISCOVERY 447

DREAM SHAPE, A 432

DUSK 473

EARTH AND MOON 472

END OF SUMMER, THE 475

EPIPHANY 408

EVENING ON THE FARM 401

FALL 440

FOREST SPRING, THE 450

FROST 456

HILLS, THE 452

IN THE LANE 406

INVOCATION 458

JULY 398

LAND OF HEARTS MADE WHOLE, THE 372

LEAF-CRICKET, THE 384

LIFE 409

LIGHT AND WIND 469

LOVE DESPISED 465

LOVE, THE INTERPRETER 464

MAID WHO DIED OLD, A 418

MAY 438

MEETING IN THE WOODS 413

MUSIC 430

OCTOBER 445

OF THE SLUMS 468

OLD BARN, THE 434

OLD SPRING, THE 448

OWLET, THE 387

PASSING GLORY, THE 476

PEARLS 466

POET, THE 390

PROEM 367

PROTOTYPES 477

QUATRAINS 481

QUIET 429

RAIN 439

ROSE AND RUE 415

SEPTEMBER 474

SONG OF THE THRUSH, THE 454

SUMMER NOONTIDE 393

SUNSET IN AUTUMN 441

SUPERSTITION 478

TO THE LOCUST 396

TOUCHES 471

TRANSMUTATION 455

UNANSWERED 463

UNCALLED 480

UNDER THE HUNTER’S MOON 404

VOICE ON THE WIND, A 369

WIND OF SUMMER, THE 378

WIND OF WINTER, THE 382

WINDS, THE 470

WOMAN SPEAKS, THE 467

WOOD WITCH, THE 436

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

UNDREAMED OF THINGS THAT HAPPENED LONG AGO (See page 8) _Frontispiece_

PAGE

GHOSTLY AND WINDY WHITE 168

MY SPIRIT SAW HER PASS 432

PROLOGUE

_There is a poetry that speaks Through common things: the grasshopper, That in the hot weeds creaks and creaks, Says all of summer to my ear: And in the cricket’s cry I hear The fireside speak, and feel the frost Work mysteries of silver near On country casements, while, deep lost In snow, the gatepost seems a sheeted ghost._

_And other things give rare delight: The guttural harps the green-frogs tune, Those minstrels of the falling night, That hail the sickle of the moon From grassy pools that glass her lune: Or,--all of August in its loud Dry cry,--the locust’s call at noon, That emphasizes heat, no cloud Of lazy white makes less with its cool shroud._

_The rain,--whose cloud dark-lids the moon, That great white eyeball of the night,-- Makes music for me; to its tune I hear the flowers unfolding white, The mushroom growing, and the slight Green sound of grass that dances near; The melon ripening with delight; And in the orchard, soft and clear, The apple redly rounding out its sphere._

_The grigs make music as of old, To which the fairies whirl and shine Within the moonlight’s prodigal gold, On woodways wild with many a vine: When all the wilderness with wine Of stars is drunk, I hear it say-- “Is God restricted to confine His wonders only to the day, That yields the abstract tangible to clay?”_

_And to my ear the wind of Morn,-- When on her rubric forehead far One star burns big,--lifts a vast horn Of wonder where all murmurs are: In which I hear the waters war, The torrent and the blue abyss, And pines,--that terrace bar on bar The mountain side,--like lovers kiss, And whisper words where all of grandeur is._

_The jutting crags,--dark, iron-veined With ore,--the peaks, where eagles scream, That pour their cataracts, rainbow-stained, Like hair, in many a mountain stream, Can lift my soul beyond the dream Of all religions; make me scan No mere external or extreme, But inward pierce the outward plan And learn that rocks have souls as well as man._

IN THE SHADOW OF THE BEECHES

In the shadow of the beeches, Where the fragile wildflowers bloom; Where the pensive silence pleaches Green a roof of cool perfume, Have you felt an awe imperious As when, in a church, mysterious Windows paint with God the gloom?

In the shadow of the beeches, Where the rock-ledged waters flow; Where the sun’s slant splendor bleaches Every wave to foaming snow, Have you felt a music solemn As when minster arch and column Echo organ worship low?

In the shadow of the beeches, Where the light and shade are blent; Where the forest-bird beseeches, And the breeze is brimmed with scent,-- Is it joy or melancholy That o’erwhelms us partly, wholly, To our spirit’s betterment?

In the shadow of the beeches Lay me where no eye perceives; Where,--like some great arm that reaches Gently as a love that grieves,-- One gnarled root may clasp me kindly While the long years, working blindly, Slowly change my dust to leaves.

A FALLEN BEECH

Nevermore at doorways that are barken Shall the madcap wind knock and the moonlight; Nor the circle which thou once didst darken, Shine with footsteps of the neighboring moonlight, Visitors for whom thou oft didst hearken.

Nevermore, gallooned with cloudy laces, Shall the morning, like a fair freebooter, Make thy leaves his richest treasure-places; Nor the sunset, like a royal suitor, Clothe thy limbs with his imperial graces.

And no more, between the savage wonder Of the sunset and the moon’s up-coming, Shall the storm, with boisterous hoof-beats, under Thy dark roof dance, Faun-like, to the humming Of the Pan-pipes of the rain and thunder.

Oft the Satyr-spirit, beauty-drunken, Of the Spring called; and the music measure Of thy sap made answer; and thy sunken Veins grew vehement with youth, whose pressure Swelled thy gnarly muscles, winter-shrunken.

And the germs, deep down in darkness rooted, Bubbled green from all thy million oilets, Where the spirits, rain and sunbeam suited, Of the April made their whispering toilets, Or within thy stately shadow footed.

Oft the hours of blonde Summer tinkled At the windows of thy twigs, and found thee Bird-blithe; or, with shapely bodies, twinkled Lissom feet of naked flowers around thee, Where thy mats of moss lay sunbeam-sprinkled.

And the Autumn with his gypsy-coated Troop of days beneath thy branches rested, Swarthy-faced and dark of eye; and throated Songs of hunting; or with red hand tested Every nut-burr that above him floated.

Then the Winter, barren-browed, but rich in Shaggy followers of frost and freezing, Made the floor of thy broad boughs his kitchen, Trapper-like, to camp in; grimly easing Limbs snow-furred and moccasined with lichen.

Now, alas! no more do these invest thee With the dignity of whilom gladness! They--unto whose hearts thou once confessed thee Of thy dreams--now know thee not! and sadness Sits beside thee where, forgot, dost rest thee.

A COIGNE OF THE FOREST