Amid some of these you might think yourself in a mansion serving as hospital, And many others have the air of tents, lilies of war, on the little lawn of the convent! And many others have the air of wounded men tended in a hot-house! Or Sisters of Charity on an ocean devoid of patients! Oh, to have encountered all these glances, To have admitted them all, And to have exhausted mine thereby! And henceforth to be unable to close mine eyes! VIGIL My soul her unused hands to pray Folds, that hide the world away: Lord, my broken dreams complete, That Thine angels' lips repeat. While beneath my wearied eyes She breathes the prayers that in her rise-- Prayers that find my lids a tomb, And whose lilies may not bloom: While in dreams her barren breast Hushes 'neath my gaze to rest-- Still her eyes from perils cower, Such as wake by falsehood's power. AFTERNOON Mine eyes have snared my soul. But O, Grant me, O Lord, my one desire: Let fall Thy leaves upon the snow, Let fall Thy rain upon the fire. The sun upon my pillow plays, The self-same hours they sound again, And always falls my questing gaze On dying men that harvest grain. My hands they pluck the withered grass, Mine eyes with sleep are all undone, Are sick folk in a springless pass, Or flowers of darkness in the sun. When will my dreams unchanging know The rain, and when the meadows brown Along the far horizon, lo, The lambs are herded toward the town. THE SOUL Dreams within mine eyes remain, And beneath its crystal dome Lights my soul it somewhile home, Taps upon the azure pane. Houses of the listless soul! Up the panes the lilies creep; Reeds unfold in waters deep, Longings nought shall e'er make whole Closing eyes it all but seems Past oblivion I could hold All the rosy flowers of old Of my half-remembered dreams. Their leaves are dead and scattered far. Shall I not see them verdant soon When with her azure hands the moon In silence sets the gates ajar? INTENTIONS Have pity on the eyes morose Wherein the soul its hope reveals On fated things that ne'er unclose, And all that wait what night conceals. Ripples that rock the spirit's lake! Lilies that sway beneath the tide To threads the eternal rhythms shake! O powers that close to vision hide! Behold, O Lord, unwonted flowers Among the water-lilies' white! Dim hands of Thine angelic powers Trouble the waters of my sight: At mystic signs the buds unroll, Shed on the waters from the skies, And as the swans take flight my soul Spreads the white pinions of its eyes. CONTACTS