My eyes are mute on the white edge of the dawn, My feet fall swift and bare upon the way.... The long soft hills grow black against the sky, The great wood moves, unfolds; the high trees sway. The worn road stretches thin, and the low hedge stirs, And a strong old bridge looms frail o’er a ghostly stream; And a white flower turns and breathes, and turns again.... Does it live, as I live? Does it wake, as I waked, from a dream? (How merciless is the dawn! how poignant the hush in my soul! How changeless the changing sky! how fearful that wild bird’s call! I hear the quick suck of his wing, the push of his breast--he is gone! How swift is an æon of time! how endless, beginningless, all!) I tread on the golden grass of my bright field; The sun’s on a hundred hills; the night has fled; I tread on the golden grass of my bright field In the glow of the early day; and the east is red. _The Forum_ _Laura Campbell_ BALLAD OF TWO SEAS “Wherefore, thy woe these many years, O hermit by the sea? What is the grief the winds awake, And the waters cry to thee?” “It was in piracy we sailed, Great galleons to strip. On a far day, on a far sea, We took her father’s ship. “Red-sided rocked the Rey del Sur Whenas its deck we won. I slew before her eyes divine Her father and his son. “There was no sin I had not sinned, On deep sea and ashore; But when I looked in those great eyes Villain was I no more. “I, captain, claimed her as my prize, Though maids in common were. Alone ’mid that fell company I cast my lot with her. “They put us in an open boat With four days’ food and drink; Then slipped those traitor topsails down Beyond the ocean’s brink. “Night came, and morn, but rose no sail On that horizon verge; I took the oars and set our prow Against the lessening surge. “It was scant provender we had, Though she was unaware; Right soon I feared, and by deceit I gave her all my share. “She would not speak; she scarce would look; Her pain was past my cure. Red-scuppered in our hells of dream Wallowed the Rey del Sur. “On a far day, on a far sea, Our shallop southward crept; With weary arms and splitten lips I labored--and she wept. “Dawn upon dawn, dark upon dark, Nor ever land nor wind! The nights were chill, the stars were keen, The sun swung hot and blind. “Our drink and food were long since gone.... We laid us down to die.... Then came a booming of the surf, And palm trees met mine eye. “I steered us through the broken reef; Fainting, I won to shore; I gazed upon her changèd face, But she on mine no more.