Chapter 3

And now the joss broke in with his song: "Dying ember, bird of Chang, Soul of Chang, do you remember? -- Ere you returned to the shining harbor There were pirates by ten thousand Descended on the town In vessels mountain-high and red and brown, Moon-ships that climbed the storms and cut the skies. On their prows were painted terrible bright eyes. But I was then a wizard and a scholar and a priest; I stood upon the sand; With lifted hand I looked upon them And sunk their vessels with my wizard eyes, And the stately lacquer-gate made safe again. Deep, deep below the bay, the sea-weed and the spray, Embalmed in amber every pirate lies, Embalmed in amber every pirate lies."

Then this did the noble lady say: "Bird, do you dream of our home-coming day When you flew like a courier on before From the dragon-peak to our palace-door, And we drove the steed in your singing path -- The ramping dragon of laughter and wrath: And found our city all aglow, And knighted this joss that decked it so? There were golden fishes in the purple river And silver fishes and rainbow fishes. There were golden junks in the laughing river, And silver junks and rainbow junks: There were golden lilies by the bay and river, And silver lilies and tiger-lilies, And tinkling wind-bells in the gardens of the town By the black-lacquer gate Where walked in state The kind king Chang And his sweetheart mate . . . With his flag-born dragon And his crown of pearl . . . and . . . jade, And his nightingale reigning in the mulberry shade, And sailors and soldiers on the sea-sands brown, And priests who bowed them down to your song -- By the city called Han, the peacock town, By the city called Han, the nightingale town, The nightingale town."

Then sang the bird, so strangely gay, Fluttering, fluttering, ghostly and gray, A vague, unravelling, final tune, Like a long unwinding silk cocoon; Sang as though for the soul of him Who ironed away in that bower dim: -- "I have forgotten Your dragons great, Merry and mad and friendly and bold. Dim is your proud lost palace-gate. I vaguely know There were heroes of old, Troubles more than the heart could hold, There were wolves in the woods Yet lambs in the fold, Nests in the top of the almond tree . . . The evergreen tree . . . and the mulberry tree . . . Life and hurry and joy forgotten, Years on years I but half-remember . . . Man is a torch, then ashes soon, May and June, then dead December, Dead December, then again June. Who shall end my dream's confusion? Life is a loom, weaving illusion . . . I remember, I remember There were ghostly veils and laces . . . In the shadowy bowery places . . . With lovers' ardent faces Bending to one another, Speaking each his part. They infinitely echo In the red cave of my heart. `Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart,' They said to one another. They spoke, I think, of perils past. They spoke, I think, of peace at last. One thing I remember: Spring came on forever, Spring came on forever," Said the Chinese nightingale.

Love Songs. [Sara Teasdale]

Come

Come, when the pale moon like a petal Floats in the pearly dusk of Spring, Come with arms outstretched to take me, Come with lips that long to cling.

Come, for life is a frail moth flying, Caught in the web of the years that pass, And soon we two, so warm and eager, Will be as the gray stones in the grass.

Message

I heard a cry in the night, A thousand miles it came, Sharp as a flash of light, My name, my name!

It was your voice I heard, You waked and loved me so -- I send you back this word, I know, I know!

Moods

I am the still rain falling, Too tired for singing mirth -- Oh, be the green fields calling, Oh, be for me the earth!

I am the brown bird pining To leave the nest and fly -- Oh, be the fresh cloud shining, Oh, be for me the sky!

Night Song at Amalfi

I asked the heaven of stars What I should give my love -- It answered me with silence, Silence above.

I asked the darkened sea Down where the fishers go -- It answered me with silence, Silence below.

Oh, I could give him weeping, Or I could give him song -- But how can I give silence My whole life long?

Song

Let it be forgotten as a flower is forgotten, Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold, Let it be forgotten forever and ever, Time is a kind friend, he will make us old.

If any one asks, say it was forgotten Long and long ago, As a flower, as a fire, as a hushed footfall In a long forgotten snow.

Love is a Terrible Thing. [Grace Fallow Norton]

I went out to the farthest meadow, I lay down in the deepest shadow;

And I said unto the earth, "Hold me," And unto the night, "O enfold me,"

And unto the wind petulantly I cried, "You know not for you are free!"

And I begged the little leaves to lean Low and together for a safe screen;

Then to the stars I told my tale: "That is my home-light, there in the vale,

"And O, I know that I shall return, But let me lie first mid the unfeeling fern.

"For there is a flame that has blown too near, And there is a name that has grown too dear, And there is a fear . . ."

And to the still hills and cool earth and far sky I made moan, "The heart in my bosom is not my own!

"O would I were free as the wind on wing; Love is a terrible thing!"

Valley Song. [Carl Sandburg]

Your eyes and the valley are memories. Your eyes fire and the valley a bowl. It was here a moonrise crept over the timberline. It was here we turned the coffee cups upside down. And your eyes and the moon swept the valley.

I will see you again to-morrow. I will see you again in a million years. I will never know your dark eyes again. These are three ghosts I keep. These are three sumach-red dogs I run with.

All of it wraps and knots to a riddle: I have the moon, the timberline, and you. All three are gone -- and I keep all three.

Spring in Carmel. [George Sterling]

O'er Carmel fields in the springtime the sea-gulls follow the plow. White, white wings on the blue above! White were your brow and breast, O Love! But I cannot see you now. Tireless ever the Mission swallow Dips to meadow and poppied hollow; Well for her mate that he can follow, As the buds are on the bough.

By the woods and waters of Carmel the lark is glad in the sun. Harrow! Harrow! Music of God! Near to your nest her feet have trod Whose journeyings are done. Sing, O lover! I cannot sing. Wild and sad are the thoughts you bring. Well for you are the skies of spring, And to me all skies are one.

In the beautiful woods of Carmel an iris bends to the wind. O thou far-off and sorrowful flower! Rose that I found in a tragic hour! Rose that I shall not find! Petals that fell so soft and slowly, Fragrant snows on the grasses lowly, Gathered now would I call you holy Ever to eyes once blind.

In the pine-sweet valley of Carmel the cream-cups scatter in foam. Azures of early lupin there! Now the wild lilac floods the air Like a broken honey-comb. So could the flowers of Paradise Pour their souls to the morning skies; So like a ghost your fragrance lies On the path that once led home.

On the emerald hills of Carmel the spring and winter have met. Here I find in a gentled spot The frost of the wild forget-me-not, And -- I cannot forget. Heart once light as the floating feather Borne aloft in the sunny weather, Spring and winter have come together -- Shall you and she meet yet?

On the rocks and beaches of Carmel the surf is mighty to-day. Breaker and lifting billow call To the high, blue Silence over all With the word no heart can say. Time-to-be, shall I hear it ever? Time-that-is, with the hands that sever, Cry all words but the dreadful "Never"! And name of her far away.

Music I heard. [Conrad Aiken]

Music I heard with you was more than music, And bread I broke with you was more than bread; Now that I am without you, all is desolate; All that was once so beautiful is dead.

Your hands once touched this table and this silver, And I have seen your fingers hold this glass. These things do not remember you, beloved, -- And yet your touch upon them will not pass.

For it was in my heart you moved among them, And blessed them with your hands and with your eyes; And in my heart they will remember always, -- They knew you once, O beautiful and wise.

Dusk at Sea. [Thomas S. Jones, Jr.]

To-night eternity alone is near: The sea, the sunset, and the darkening blue; Within their shelter is no space for fear, Only the wonder that such things are true.

The thought of you is like the dusk at sea -- Space and wide freedom and old shores left far, The shelter of a lone immensity Sealed by the sunset and the evening star.

Old Ships. [David Morton]

There is a memory stays upon old ships, A weightless cargo in the musty hold, -- Of bright lagoons and prow-caressing lips, Of stormy midnights, -- and a tale untold. They have remembered islands in the dawn, And windy capes that tried their slender spars, And tortuous channels where their keels have gone, And calm blue nights of stillness and the stars.

Ah, never think that ships forget a shore, Or bitter seas, or winds that made them wise; There is a dream upon them, evermore; -- And there be some who say that sunk ships rise To seek familiar harbors in the night, Blowing in mists, their spectral sails like light.

The Wanderer. [Zoe Akins]

The ships are lying in the bay, The gulls are swinging round their spars; My soul as eagerly as they Desires the margin of the stars.

So much do I love wandering, So much I love the sea and sky, That it will be a piteous thing In one small grave to lie.

Harbury. [Louise Driscoll]

All the men of Harbury go down to the sea in ships, The wind upon their faces, the salt upon their lips.

The little boys of Harbury when they are laid to sleep, Dream of masts and cabins and the wonders of the deep.

The women-folk of Harbury have eyes like the sea, Wide with watching wonder, deep with mystery.

I met a woman: "Beyond the bar," she said, "Beyond the shallow water where the green lines spread,

"Out beyond the sand-bar and the white spray, My three sons wait for the Judgment Day."

I saw an old man who goes to sea no more, Watch from morn till evening down on the shore.

"The sea's a hard mistress," the old man said; "The sea is always hungry and never full fed.

"The sea had my father and took my son from me -- Sometimes I think I see them, walking on the sea!

"I'd like to be in Harbury on the Judgment Day, When the word is spoken and the sea is wiped away,

"And all the drowned fisher boys, with sea-weed in their hair, Rise and walk to Harbury to greet the women there.

"I'd like to be in Harbury to see the souls arise, Son and mother hand in hand, lovers with glad eyes.

"I think there would be many who would turn and look with me, Hoping for another glimpse of the cruel sea!

"They tell me that in Paradise the fields are green and still, With pleasant flowers everywhere that all may take who will,

"And four great rivers flowing from out the Throne of God That no one ever drowns in and souls may cross dry-shod.

"I think among those wonders there will be men like me, Who miss the old salt danger of the singing sea.

"For in my heart, like some old shell, inland, safe and dry, Any one who harks will still hear the sea cry."

A Lynmouth Widow. [Amelia Josephine Burr]

He was straight and strong, and his eyes were blue As the summer meeting of sky and sea, And the ruddy cliffs had a colder hue Than flushed his cheek when he married me.

We passed the porch where the swallows breed, We left the little brown church behind, And I leaned on his arm, though I had no need, Only to feel him so strong and kind.

One thing I never can quite forget; It grips my throat when I try to pray -- The keen salt smell of a drying net That hung on the churchyard wall that day.

He would have taken a long, long grave -- A long, long grave, for he stood so tall . . . Oh, God, the crash of a breaking wave, And the smell of the nets on the churchyard wall!

City Roofs. [Charles Hanson Towne]

Roof-tops, roof-tops, what do you cover? Sad folk, bad folk, and many a glowing lover; Wise people, simple people, children of despair -- Roof-tops, roof-tops, hiding pain and care.

Roof-tops, roof-tops, O what sin you're knowing, While above you in the sky the white clouds are blowing; While beneath you, agony and dolor and grim strife Fight the olden battle, the olden war of Life.

Roof-tops, roof-tops, cover up their shame -- Wretched souls, prisoned souls too piteous to name; Man himself hath built you all to hide away the stars -- Roof-tops, roof-tops, you hide ten million scars.

Roof-tops, roof-tops, well I know you cover Many solemn tragedies and many a lonely lover; But ah, you hide the good that lives in the throbbing city -- Patient wives, and tenderness, forgiveness, faith, and pity.

Roof-tops, roof-tops, this is what I wonder: You are thick as poisonous plants, thick the people under; Yet roofless, and homeless, and shelterless they roam, The driftwood of the town who have no roof-top and no home!

Eye-Witness. [Ridgely Torrence]

Down by the railroad in a green valley By dancing water, there he stayed awhile Singing, and three men with him, listeners, All tramps, all homeless reapers of the wind, Motionless now and while the song went on Transfigured into mages thronged with visions; There with the late light of the sunset on them And on clear water spinning from a spring Through little cones of sand dancing and fading, Close beside pine woods where a hermit thrush Cast, when love dazzled him, shadows of music That lengthened, fluting, through the singer's pauses While the sure earth rolled eastward bringing stars Over the singer and the men that listened There by the roadside, understanding all.

A train went by but nothing seemed to be changed. Some eye at a car window must have flashed From the plush world inside the glassy Pullman, Carelessly bearing off the scene forever, With idle wonder what the men were doing, Seeing they were so strangely fixed and seeing Torn papers from their smeary dreary meal Spread on the ground with old tomato cans Muddy with dregs of lukewarm chicory, Neglected while they listened to the song. And while he sang the singer's face was lifted, And the sky shook down a soft light upon him Out of its branches where like fruits there were Many beautiful stars and planets moving, With lands upon them, rising from their seas, Glorious lands with glittering sands upon them, With soils of gold and magic mould for seeding, The shining loam of lands afoam with gardens On mightier stars with giant rains and suns There in the heavens; but on none of all Was there ground better than he stood upon: There was no world there in the sky above him Deeper in promise than the earth beneath him Whose dust had flowered up in him the singer And three men understanding every word.

The Tramp Sings:

I will sing, I will go, and never ask me "Why?" I was born a rover and a passer-by.

I seem to myself like water and sky, A river and a rover and a passer-by.

But in the winter three years back We lit us a night fire by the track,

And the snow came up and the fire it flew And we couldn't find the warming room for two.

One had to suffer, so I left him the fire And I went to the weather from my heart's desire.

It was night on the line, it was no more fire, But the zero whistle through the icy wire.

As I went suffering through the snow Something like a shadow came moving slow.

I went up to it and I said a word; Something flew above it like a kind of bird.

I leaned in closer and I saw a face; A light went round me but I kept my place.

My heart went open like an apple sliced; I saw my Saviour and I saw my Christ.

Well, you may not read it in a book, But it takes a gentle Saviour to give a gentle look.

I looked in his eyes and I read the news; His heart was having the railroad blues.

Oh, the railroad blues will cost you dear, Keeps you moving on for something that you don't see here.

We stood and whispered in a kind of moon; The line was looking like May and June.

I found he was a roamer and a journey man Looking for a lodging since the night began.

He went to the doors but he didn't have the pay. He went to the windows, then he went away.

Says, "We'll walk together and we'll both be fed." Says, "I will give you the `other' bread."

Oh, the bread he gave and without money! O drink, O fire, O burning honey!

It went all through me like a shining storm: I saw inside me, it was light and warm.

I saw deep under and I saw above, I saw the stars weighed down with love.

They sang that love to burning birth, They poured that music to the earth.

I heard the stars sing low like mothers. He said: "Now look, and help feed others."

I looked around, and as close as touch Was everybody that suffered much.

They reached out, there was darkness only; They could not see us, they were lonely.

I saw the hearts that deaths took hold of, With the wounds bare that were not told of;

Hearts with things in them making gashes; Hearts that were choked with their dreams' ashes;

Women in front of the rolled-back air, Looking at their breasts and nothing there;

Good men wasting and trapped in hells; Hurt lads shivering with the fare-thee-wells.

I saw them as if something bound them; I stood there but my heart went round them.

I begged him not to let me see them wasted. Says, "Tell them then what you have tasted."

Told him I was weak as a rained-on bee; Told him I was lost. -- Says: "Lean on me."

Something happened then I could not tell, But I knew I had the water for every hell.

Any other thing it was no use bringing; They needed what the stars were singing,

What the whole sky sang like waves of light, The tune that it danced to, day and night.

Oh, I listened to the sky for the tune to come; The song seemed easy, but I stood there dumb.

The stars could feel me reaching through them They let down light and drew me to them.

I stood in the sky in a light like day, Drinking in the word that all things say

Where the worlds hang growing in clustered shapes Dripping the music like wine from grapes.

With "Love, Love, Love," above the pain, -- The vine-like song with its wine-like rain.

Through heaven under heaven the song takes root Of the turning, burning, deathless fruit.

I came to the earth and the pain so near me, I tried that song but they couldn't hear me.

I went down into the ground to grow, A seed for a song that would make men know.

Into the ground from my roamer's light I went; he watched me sink to night.

Deep in the ground from my human grieving, His pain ploughed in me to believing.

Oh, he took earth's pain to be his bride, While the heart of life sang in his side.

For I felt that pain, I took its kiss, My heart broke into dust with his.

Then sudden through the earth I found life springing; The dust men trampled on was singing.

Deep in my dust I felt its tones; The roots of beauty went round my bones.

I stirred, I rose like a flame, like a river, I stood on the line, I could sing forever.

Love had pierced into my human sheathing, Song came out of me simple as breathing.

A freight came by, the line grew colder, He laid his hand upon my shoulder.

Says, "Don't stay on the line such nights," And led me by the hand to the station lights.

I asked him in front of the station-house wall If he had lodging. Says, "None at all."

I pointed to my heart and looked in his face. -- "Here, -- if you haven't got a better place."

He looked and he said: "Oh, we still must roam But if you'll keep it open, well, I'll call it `home'."

The thrush now slept whose pillow was his wing. So the song ended and the four remained Still in the faint starshine that silvered them, While the low sound went on of broken water Out of the spring and through the darkness flowing Over a stone that held it from the sea. Whether the men spoke after could not be told, A mist from the ground so veiled them, but they waited A little longer till the moon came up; Then on the gilded track leading to the mountains, Against the moon they faded in common gold And earth bore East with all toward the new morning.

God's Acre. [Witter Bynner]

Because we felt there could not be A mowing in reality So white and feathery-blown and gay With blossoms of wild caraway, I said to Celia, "Let us trace The secret of this pleasant place!"

We knew some deeper beauty lay Below the bloom of caraway, And when we bent the white aside We came to paupers who had died: Rough wooden shingles row on row, And God's name written there -- `John Doe'.

General William Booth Enters into Heaven. [Vachel Lindsay]

(To be sung to the tune of `The Blood of the Lamb' with indicated instrument)

I

(Bass drum beaten loudly)

Booth led boldly with his big bass drum -- (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?) The Saints smiled gravely and they said: "He's come." (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?) Walking lepers followed, rank on rank, Lurching bravoes from the ditches dank, Drabs from the alleyways and drug fiends pale -- Minds still passion-ridden, soul-powers frail: -- Vermin-eaten saints with mouldy breath, Unwashed legions with the ways of Death -- (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)

(Banjos)

Every slum had sent its half-a-score The round world over. (Booth had groaned for more.) Every banner that the wide world flies Bloomed with glory and transcendent dyes. Big-voiced lasses made their banjos bang, Tranced, fanatical, they shrieked and sang: -- "Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?" Hallelujah! It was queer to see Bull-necked convicts with that land make free. Loons with trumpets blowed a blare, blare, blare, On, on upward thro' the golden air! (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)

II

(Bass drum slower and softer)

Booth died blind and still by Faith he trod, Eyes still dazzled by the ways of God. Booth led boldly, and he looked the chief, Eagle countenance in sharp relief, Beard a-flying, air of high command Unabated in that holy land.

(Sweet flute music)

Jesus came from out the court-house door, Stretched his hands above the passing poor. Booth saw not, but led his queer ones there Round and round the mighty court-house square. Yet in an instant all that blear review Marched on spotless, clad in raiment new. The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled And blind eyes opened on a new, sweet world.

(Bass drum louder)

Drabs and vixens in a flash made whole! Gone was the weasel-head, the snout, the jowl! Sages and sibyls now, and athletes clean, Rulers of empires and of forests green!

(Grand chorus of all instruments. Tambourines to the foreground)

The hosts were sandalled, and their wings were fire! (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?) But their noise played havoc with the angel-choir (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?) O, shout Salvation! It was good to see Kings and Princes by the Lamb set free. The banjos rattled and the tambourines Jing-jing-jingled in the hands of Queens.

(Reverently sung, no instruments)

And when Booth halted by the curb for prayer He saw his Master thro' the flag-filled air. Christ came gently with a robe and crown For Booth the soldier, while the throng knelt down. He saw King Jesus. They were face to face, And he knelt a-weeping in that holy place. Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Compensation. [William Ellery Leonard]