American poetry -- 19th century; American poetry -- 20th century
O yesterday of unknown lack,
To-day of unknown bliss!
I left my fool in red and black;
The last I saw was this,—
The creature madly climbing back
Into his chrysalis.
_Louise Imogen Guiney_
Louise Imogen Guiney was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1861.
Although she attended Elmhurst Academy in Providence, most of her
studying was with private tutors. In 1901 she went to England, where
she lived until her death.
Traditional in form and feeling, Miss Guiney’s work has a distinctly
personal vigor; even her earliest collection, _The White Sail and
Other Poems_ (1887), is not without individuality. Her two most
characteristic volumes are _A Roadside Harp_ (1893) and _Patrins_
(1897). A more recent publication, _Happy Ending_, appeared in 1909.
Miss Guiney died at Chirping-Camden, England, November 3, 1920.
THE WILD RIDE
_I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses,
All day, on the road, the hoofs of invisible horses,
All night, from their stalls, the importunate pawing and neighing._
Let cowards and laggards fall back! But alert to the saddle
Weatherworn and abreast, go men of our galloping legion,
With a stirrup-cup each to the lily of women that loves him.
The trail is through dolor and dread, over crags and morasses;
There are shapes by the way, there are things that appal or entice us:
What odds? We are Knights of the Grail, we are vowed to the riding.
Thought’s self is a vanishing wing, and joy is a cobweb,
And friendship a flower in the dust, and glory a sunbeam:
Not here is our prize, nor, alas! after these our pursuing.
A dipping of plumes, a tear, a shake of the bridle,
A passing salute to this world and her pitiful beauty;
We hurry with never a word in the track of our fathers.
_I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses,
All day, on the road, the hoofs of invisible horses,
All night, from their stalls, the importunate pawing and neighing._
We spur to a land of no name, outracing the storm-wind;
We leap to the infinite dark like sparks from the anvil.
Thou leadest, O God! All’s well with Thy troopers that follow.
_Bliss Carman_
(William) Bliss Carman was born at Fredericton, New Brunswick,
Canada, April 15, 1861, of a long line of United Empire Loyalists
who withdrew from Connecticut at the time of the Revolutionary War.
Carman was educated at the University of New Brunswick (1879–81), at
Edinburgh (1882–3) and Harvard (1886–8). He took up his residence in
the United States about 1889 and, with the exception of short
sojourns in the Maritime Provinces, has lived there ever since.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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