A Voice on the Wind, and Other Poems

ALLUREMENT

Across the world she sends me word,From gardens fair as Falerina's,Now by a blossom, now a bird,To come to her, who long has luredWith magic sweeter than Alcina's.I know not what her word may mean,I know not what may mean the voicesShe sends as messengers serene,That through the silvery silence lean,To tell me where her heart rejoices.But I must go! I must away!Must take the path that is appointed!God grant I find her realm some day!Where, by her love, as by a ray,My soul shall be anointed.

BLACK VESPER'S PAGEANTS

The day, all fierce with carmine, turnsAn Indian face towards Earth and dies;The west, like some gaunt vase, inurnsIts ashes under smouldering skies,Athwart whose bowl one red cloud streams,Strange as a shape some Aztec dreams.Now shadows mass above the world,And night comes on with wind and rain;The mulberry-colored leaves are hurledLike frantic hands against the pane.And through the forests, bending low,Night stalks like some gigantic woe.In hollows where the thistle shakesA hoar bloom like a witch's-light,From weed and flower the rain-wind rakesDead sweetness – as a wildman might,From out the leaves, the woods among,Dig some dead woman, fair and young.Now let me walk the woodland ways,Alone! except for thoughts, that areAkin to such wild nights and days;A portion of the storm that farFills Heaven and Earth tumultuously,And my own soul with ecstasy.