Collected Poems.

by Alfred Noyes.

VOL 1.

THE LOOM OF YEARS

In the light of the silent stars that shine on the struggling sea, In the weary cry of the wind and the whisper of flower and tree, Under the breath of laughter, deep in the tide of tears, I hear the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.

The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mould To colour the flowers of April with purple and white and gold: Light and scent and music die and are born again In the heart of a grey-haired woman who wakes in a world of pain.

The hound, the fawn and the hawk, and the doves that croon and coo, We are all one woof of the weaving and the one warp threads us through, One flying cloud on the shuttle that carries our hopes and fears As it goes thro' the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.

The crosiers of the fern, and the crown, the crown of the rose, Pa.s.s with our hearts to the Silence where the wings of music close, Pa.s.s and pa.s.s to the Timeless that never a moment mars, Pa.s.s and pa.s.s to the Darkness that made the suns and stars.

Has the soul gone out in the Darkness? Is the dust sealed from sight?

Ah, hush, for the woof of the ages returns thro' the warp of the night!

Never that shuttle loses one thread of our hopes and fears, As It comes thro' the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.

O, woven in one wide Loom thro' the throbbing weft of the whole, One in spirit and flesh, one in body and soul, The leaf on the winds of autumn, the bird in its hour to die, The heart in its m.u.f.fled anguish, the sea in its mournful cry,

One with the flower of a day, one with the withered moon, One with the granite mountains that melt into the noon, One with the dream that triumphs beyond the light of the spheres, We come from the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.

IN THE HEART OF THE WOODS

I

The Heart of the woods, I hear it, beating, beating afar, In the glamour and gloom of the night, in the light of the rosy star, In the cold sweet voice of the bird, in the throb of the flower-soft sea!...

For the Heart of the woods is the Heart of the world and the Heart of Eternity, Ay, and the burning pa.s.sionate Heart of the heart in you and me.

Love of my heart, love of the world, linking the golden moon With the flowery moths that flutter thro' the scented leaves of June, And the mind of man with beauty, and youth with the dreaming night Of stars and flowers and waters and b.r.e.a.s.t.s of glimmering white, And streaming hair of fragrant dusk and flying limbs of lovely light;

Life of me, life of me, shining in sun and cloud and wind, In the dark eyes of the fawn and the eyes of the hound behind, In the leaves that lie in the seed unsown, and the dream of the babe unborn, O, flaming tides of my blood, as you flow thro' flower and root and thorn, I feel you burning the boughs of night to kindle the fires of morn.

Soul of me, soul of me, yearning wherever a lavrock sings, Or the crimson gloom is winnowed by the whirr of wood-doves' wings, Or the spray of the foam-bow rustles in the white dawn of the moon, And mournful billows moan aloud, _Come soon, soon, soon, Come soon, O Death with the Heart of love and the secret of the rune._

Heart of me, heart of me, heart of me, beating, beating afar, In the green gloom of the night, in the light of the rosy star, In the cold sweet voice of the bird, in the throb of the flower-soft sea!...

O, the Heart of the woods is the Heart of the world and the Heart of Eternity, Ay, and the burning pa.s.sionate Heart of the heart in you and me.

II

O, Death will never find us in the heart of the wood, The song is in my blood, night and day: We will pluck a scented petal from the Rose upon the Rood Where Love lies bleeding on the way.

We will listen to the linnet and watch the waters leap, When the clouds go dreaming by, And under the wild roses and the stars we will sleep, And wander on together, you and I.

We shall understand the mystery that none has understood, We shall know why the leafy gloom is green.

O, Death will never find us in the heart of the wood When we see what the stars have seen!

We have heard the hidden song of the soft dews falling At the end of the last dark sky, Where all the sorrows of the world are calling, We must wander on together, you and I.

They are calling, calling, _Away, come away!_ And we know not whence they call; For the song is in our hearts, we hear it night and day, As the deep tides rise and fall: _O, Death will never find us in the heart of the wood, While the hours and the years roll by!_ We have heard it, we have heard it, but we have not understood, We must wander on together, you and I.

The wind may beat upon us, the rain may blind our eyes, The leaves may fall beneath the winter's wing; But we shall hear the music of the dream that never dies, And we shall know the secret of the Spring.

We shall know how all the blossoms of evil and of good Are mingled in the meadows of the sky; And then--if Death can find us in the heart of the wood-- We shall wander on together, you and I.

ART

(IMITATED FROM DE BANVILLE AND GAUTIER)

I

Yes! Beauty still rebels!

Our dreams like clouds disperse: She dwells In agate, marble, verse.

No false constraint be thine!

But, for right walking, choose The fine, The strict cothurnus, Muse.

Vainly ye seek to escape The toil! The yielding phrase Ye shape Is clay, not chrysoprase.

And all in vain ye scorn That seeming ease which ne'er Was born Of aught but love and care.

Take up the sculptor's tool!

Recall the G.o.ds that die To rule In Parian o'er the sky.

For Beauty still rebels!

Our dreams like clouds disperse: She dwells In agate, marble, verse.

II

When Beauty from the sea, With b.r.e.a.s.t.s of whiter rose Than we Behold on earth, arose.

Naked thro' Time returned The Bliss of Heaven that day, And burned The dross of earth away.

Kings at her splendour quailed.

For all his triple steel She haled War at her chariot-wheel.

The rose and lily bowed To cast, of odour sweet A cloud Before her wandering feet.

And from her radiant eyes There shone on soul and sense The skies'

Divine indifference.