He never knew upon his brow The secret that he bore,-- And laughs away the mystery now The dark's at his door. V _Onus Probandi_ No more from out the sunset, No more across the foam, No more across the windy hills Will Sandy Star come home. He went away to search it With a curse upon his tongue: And in his hand the staff of life, Made music as it swung. I wonder if he found it, And knows the mystery now-- Our Sandy Star who went away, With the secret on his brow. DEL CASCAR Del Cascar, Del Cascar, Stood upon a flaming star, Stood, and let his feet hang down Till in China the toes turned brown. And he reached his fingers over The rim of the sea, like sails from Dover, And caught a Mandarin at prayer, And tickled his nose in Orion's hair. The sun went down through crimson bars, And left his blind face battered with stars-- But the brown toes in China kept Hot the tears Del Cascar wept. TURN ME TO MY YELLOW LEAVES Turn me to my yellow leaves, I am better satisfied; There is something in me grieves-- That was never born, and died. Let me be a scarlet flame On a windy autumn morn, I who never had a name, Nor from breathing image born. From the margin let me fall Where the farthest stars sink down, And the void consumes me,--all In nothingness to drown. Let me dream my dream entire, Withered as an autumn leaf-- Let me have my vain desire, Vain--as it is brief. IRONIC: LL.D. There are no hollows any more Between the mountains; the prairie floor Is like a curtain with the drape Of the winds' invisible shape; And nowhere seen and nowhere heard The sea's quiet as a sleeping bird. Now we're traveling, what holds back Arrival, in the very track Where the urge put forth; so we stay And move a thousand miles a day. Time's a Fancy ringing bells Whose meaning, charlatan history, tells! SCINTILLA I kissed a kiss in youth Upon a dead man's brow; And that was long ago,-- And I'm a grown man now. It's lain there in the dust, Thirty years and more;-- My lips that set a light At a dead man's door. SIC VITA Heart free, hand free, Blue above, brown under, All the world to me Is a place of wonder. Sun shine, moon shine, Stars, and winds a-blowing, All into this heart of mine Flowing, flowing, flowing! Mind free, step free, Days to follow after, Joys of life sold to me For the price of laughter. Girl's love, man's love, Love of work and duty, Just a will of God's to prove Beauty, beauty, beauty! RHAPSODY I am glad daylong for the gift of song, For time and change and sorrow; For the sunset wings and the world-end things Which hang on the edge of to-morrow. I am glad for my heart whose gates apart Are the entrance-place of wonders, Where dreams come in from the rush and din Like sheep from the rains and thunders. George Reginald Margetson STANZAS FROM THE FLEDGLING BARD AND THE POETRY SOCIETY _Part I_