THE WIFE-BLESSeD

In youth he wrought, with eyes ablur Lorn-faced and long of hair-- In youth--in youth he painted her A sister of the air-- Could clasp her not, but felt the stir Of pinions everywhere.

II

She lured his gaze, in braver days, And tranced him sirenwise; And he did paint her, through a haze Of sullen paradise, With scars of kisses on her face And embers in her eyes.

III

And now--nor dream nor wild conceit-- Though faltering, as before-- Through tears he paints her, as is meet, Tracing the dear face o'er With lilied patience meek and sweet As Mother Mary wore.

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MY MARY

My Mary, O my Mary!

The simmer-skies are blue; The dawnin' brings the dazzle, An' the gloamin' brings the dew?-- The mirk o' nicht the glory O' the moon, an' kindles, too, The stars that shift aboon the lift.--- But nae thing brings me you!

Where is it, O my Mary, Ye are biding a' the while?

I ha' wended by your window-- I ha' waited by the stile, An' up an' down the river I ha' won for mony a mile, Yet never found, adrift or drown'd, Your lang-belated smile.

Is it forgot, my Mary, How glad we used to be?-- The simmer-time when bonny bloomed The auld trysting-tree,-- How there I carved the name for you, An' you the name for me; An' the gloamin' kenned it only When we kissed sae tenderly.

Speek ance to me, my Mary!--- But whisper in my ear As light as ony sleeper's breath, An' a' my soul will hear; My heart shall stap its beating An' the soughing atmosphere Be hushed the while I leaning smile An' listen to you, dear!

My Mary, O my Mary!

The blossoms bring the bees; The sunshine brings the blossoms, An' the leaves on a' the trees; The simmer brings the sunshine An' the fragrance o' the breeze,-- But O wi'out you, Mary, I care nae thing for these!

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We were sae happy, Mary!

O think how ance we said-- Wad ane o' us gae fickle, Or are o' us lie dead,-- To feel anither's kisses We wad feign the auld instead, And ken the ither's footsteps In the green gra.s.s owerhead.

My Mary, O my Mary!

Are ye daughter o' the air, That ye vanish aye before me As I follow everywhere?-- Or is it ye are only But a mortal, wan wi' care?-- Syne I search through a' the kirkyird An' I dinna find ye there!

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HOME AT NIGHT

When chirping crickets fainter cry, And pale stars blossom in the sky, And twilight's gloom has dimmed the bloom And blurred the b.u.t.terfly:

When locust-blossoms fleck the walk, And up the tiger-lily stalk The glow-worm crawls and clings and falls And glimmers down the garden-walls:

When buzzing things, with double wings Of crisp and raspish flutterings, Go whizzing by so very nigh One thinks of fangs and stings:--

O then, within, is stilled the din Of crib she rocks the baby in, And heart and gate and latch's weight Are lifted--- and the lips of Kate,

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WHEN LIDE MARRIED _HIM_

When Lide married _him_--w'y, she had to jes dee-fy The whole poppilation!--But she never bat' an eye!

Her parents begged, and _threatened_--she must give him up--that _he_ Wuz jes "a common drunkard!"--And he _wuz_, appearantly.-- Swore they'd chase him off the place Ef he ever showed his face-- Long after she'd _eloped_ with him and _married_ him fer sh.o.r.e!-- When Lide married _him_, it wuz _"Katy, bar the door!"_

When Lide married _him_--Well! she had to go and be A _hired girl_ in town somewheres--while he tromped round to see What _he_ could git that _he_ could do,--you might say, jes sawed wood From door to door!--that's what he done--'cause that wuz best he could!

And the strangest thing, i jing!

Wuz, he didn't _drink_ a thing,-- But jes got down to bizness, like he someway _wanted_ to, When Lide married _him_, like they warned her _not_ to do!

When Lide married _him_--er, ruther, _had_ ben married A little up'ards of a year--some feller come and carried That _hired girl_ away with him--a ruther _stylish_ feller In a bran-new green spring-wagon, with the wheels striped red and yeller: And he whispered, as they driv Tords the country, _"Now we'll live!"_-- And _somepin' else_ she _laughed_ to hear, though both her eyes wuz dim, 'Bout _"trustin' Love and Heav'n above_, sence Lide married _him!"_

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HER HAIR

The beauty of her hair bewilders me-- Pouring adown the brow, its cloven tide Swirling about the ears on either side And storming around the neck tumultuously: Or like the lights of old antiquity Through mullioned windows, in cathedrals wide, Spilled moltenly o'er figures deified In chastest marble, nude of drapery.

And so I love it.--Either unconfined; Or plaited in close braidings manifold; Or smoothly drawn; or indolently twined In careless knots whose coilings come unrolled At any lightest kiss; or by the wind Whipped out in flossy ravelings of gold.

LAST NIGHT--AND THIS

Last night--how deep the darkness was!

And well I knew its depths, because I waded it from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e, Thinking to reach the light no more.