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  As Hermes with his lyre in sleep profound

The hundred wakeful eyes of Argus bound;

  For I am weary; and am overwrought

  With too much toil; with too much care distraught;

  And with the iron crown of anguish crowned。

Lay thy soft hand upon my brow and cheek;

  O peaceful Sleep! until from pain released

  I breathe again uninterrupted breath!

Ah; with what subtile meaning did the Greek

  Call thee the lesser mystery at the feast

  Whereof the greater mystery is death!







THE OLD BRIDGE AT FLORENCE



Taddeo Gaddi built me。  I am old;

  Five centuries old。  I plant my foot of stone

  Upon the Arno; as St。 Michael's own

  Was planted on the dragon。  Fold by fold

Beneath me as it struggles。  I behold

  Its glistening scales。  Twice hath it overthrown

  My kindred and companions。  Me alone

  It moveth not; but is by me controlled;

I can remember when the Medici

  Were driven from Florence; longer still ago

  The final wars of Ghibelline and Guelf。

Florence adorns me with her jewelry;

  And when I think that Michael Angelo

  Hath leaned on me; I glory in myself。







IL PONTE VECCHIO DI FIRENZE



Gaddi mi fece; il Ponte Vecchio sono;

  Cinquecent' anni gia sull' Arno pianto

  Il piede; come il suo Michele Santo

  Pianto sul draco。  Mentre ch' io ragiono

Lo vedo torcere con flebil suono

  Le rilucenti scaglie。  Ha questi affranto

  Due volte i miei maggior。  Me solo intanto

  Neppure muove; ed io non l' abbandono。

Io mi rammento quando fur cacciati

  I Medici; pur quando Ghibellino

  E Guelfo fecer pace mi rammento。

Fiorenza i suoi giojelli m' ha prestati;

  E quando penso ch' Agnolo il divino

  Su me posava; insuperbir mi sento。







NATURE



As a fond mother; when the day is o'er;

  Leads by the hand her little child to bed;

  Half willing; half reluctant to be led;

  And leave his broken playthings on the floor;

Still gazing at them through the open door;

  Nor wholly reassured and comforted

  By promises of others in their stead;

  Which; though more splendid; may not please him more;

So Nature deals with us; and takes away

  Our playthings one by one; and by the hand

  Leads us to rest so gently; that we go

Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay;

  Being too full of sleep to understand

  How far the unknown transcends the what we know。







IN THE CHURCHYARD AT TARRYTOWN



Here lies the gentle humorist; who died

  In the bright Indian Summer of his fame!

  A simple stone; with but a date and name;

  Marks his secluded resting…place beside

The river that he loved and glorified。

  Here in the autumn of his days he came;

  But the dry leaves of life were all aflame

  With tints that brightened and were multiplied。

How sweet a life was his; how sweet a  death!

  Living; to wing with mirth the weary hours;

  Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer;

Dying; to leave a memory like the breath

  Of summers full of sunshine and of showers;

  A grief and gladness in the atmosphere。







ELIOT'S OAK



Thou ancient oak! whose myriad leaves are loud

  With sounds of unintelligible speech;

  Sounds as of surges on a shingly beach;

  Or multitudinous murmurs of a crowd;

With some mysterious gift of tongues endowed;

  Thou speakest a different dialect to each;

  To me a language that no man can teach;

  Of a lost race; long vanished like a cloud。

For underneath thy shade; in days remote;

  Seated like Abraham at eventide

  Beneath the oaks of Mamre; the unknown

Apostle of the Indians; Eliot; wrote

  His Bible in a language that hath died

  And is forgotten; save by thee alone。







THE DESCENT OF THE MUSES



Nine sisters; beautiful in form and face;

  Came from their convent on the shining heights

  Of Pierus; the mountain of delights;

  To dwell among the people at its base。

Then seemed the world to change。  All time and space;

  Splendor of cloudless days and starry nights;

  And men and manners; and all sounds and sights;

  Had a new meaning; a diviner grace。

Proud were these sisters; but were not too proud

  To teach in schools of little country towns

  Science and song; and all the arts that please;

So that while housewives span; and farmers ploughed;

  Their comely daughters; clad in homespun gowns;

  Learned the sweet songs of the Pierides。







VENICE



White swan of cities; slumbering in thy nest

  So wonderfully built among the reeds

  Of the lagoon; that fences thee and feeds;

  As sayeth thy old historian and thy guest!

White water…lily; cradled and caressed

  By ocean streams; and from the silt and weeds

  Lifting thy golden filaments and seeds;

  Thy sun…illumined spires; thy crown and crest!

White phantom city; whose untrodden streets

  Are rivers; and whose pavements are the shifting

  Shadows of palaces and strips of sky;

I wait to see thee vanish like the fleets

  Seen in mirage; or towers of cloud uplifting

  In air their unsubstantial masonry。







THE POETS



O ye dead Poets; who are living still

  Immortal in your verse; though life be fled;

  And ye; O living Poets; who are dead

  Though ye are living; if neglect can kill;

Tell me if in the darkest hours of ill;

  With drops of anguish falling fast and red

  From the sharp crown of thorns upon your head;

  Ye were not glad your errand to fulfil?

Yes; for the gift and ministry of Song

  Have something in them so divinely sweet;

  It can assuage the bitterness of wrong;

Not in the clamor of the crowded street;

  Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng;

  But in ourselves; are triumph and defeat。







PARKER CLEAVELAND



WRITTEN ON REVISITING BRUNSWICK IN THE SUMMER OF 1875



Among the many lives that I have known;

  None I remember more serene and sweet;

  More rounded in itself and more complete;

  Than his; who lies beneath this funeral stone。

These pines; that murmur in low monotone;

  These walks frequented by scholastic feet;

  Were all his world; but in this calm retreat

  For him the Teacher's chair became a throne。

With fond affection memory loves to dwell

  On the old days; when his example made

  A pastime of the toil of tongue and pen;

And now; amid the groves he loved so well

 That naught could lure him from their grateful shade;

 He sleeps; but wakes elsewhere; for God hath said; Amen!







THE HARVEST MOON



It is the Harvest Moon!  On gilded vanes

  And roofs of villages; on woodland crests

  And their aerial neighborhoods of nests

  Deserted; on the curtained window…panes

Of rooms where children sleep; on country lanes

  And harvest…fields; its mystic splendor rests!

  Gone are the birds that were our summer guests;

  With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!

All things are symbols: the external shows

  Of Nature have their image in the mind;

  As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;

The song…birds leave us at the summer's close;

  Only the empty nests are left behind;

  And pipings of the quail among the sheaves。







TO THE RIVER RHONE



Thou Royal River; born of sun and shower

  In chambers purple with the Alpine glow;

  Wrapped in the spotless ermine of the snow

  And rocked by tempests!at the appointed hour

Forth; like a steel…clad horseman from a tower;

  With clang and clink of harness dost thou go

  To meet thy vassal torrents; that below

  Rush to receive thee and obey thy power。

And now thou movest in triumphal march;

  A king among the rivers!  On thy way

  A hundred towns await and welcome thee;

Bridges uplift for thee the stately arch;

  Vineyards encircle thee with garlands gay;

  And fleets attend thy progress to the sea!







THE THREE SILENCES OF MOLINOS



TO JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER



Three Silences there are: the first of speech;

  The second of desire; the third of thought;

  This is the lore a Spanish monk; distraught

  With dreams and visions; was the first to teach。

These Silences; commingling each with each;

  Made up the perfect Silence; that he sought

  And prayed for; and wherein at times he caught

  Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach。

O thou; whose daily life anticipates

  The life to come; and in whose thought and word

  The spiritual world preponderates。

Hermit of Amesbury! thou too hast heard

  Voices and melodies from beyond the gates;

  And speakest only when thy soul is stirred!







THE TWO RIVERS



I



Slowly the hour…hand of the clock moves round;

  So slowly that no human eye hath power

  To see it move!  Slowly in shine or shower

  The painted ship above it; homeward bound;

Sails; but seems motionless; as if aground;

  Yet both arrive at last; and in his tower

   The slumberous watchman wakes and strikes the hour;

   A mellow; measured; melancholy sound。

Midnight! the outpos

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