____ Macon, Georgia, 1867. Night. Fair is the wedded reign of Night and Day. Each rules a half of earth with different sway, Exchanging kingdoms, East and West, alway. Like the round pearl that Egypt drunk in wine, The sun half sinks i' the brimming, rosy brine: The wild Night drinks all up: how her eyes shine! Now the swift sail of straining life is furled, And through the stillness of my soul is whirled The throbbing of the hearts of half the world. I hear the cries that follow Birth and Death. I hear huge Pestilence draw his vaporous breath: "Beware, prepare, or else ye die," he saith. I hear a haggard student turn and sigh: I hear men begging Heaven to let them die: And, drowning all, a wild-eyed woman's cry. So Night takes toll of Wisdom as of Sin. The student's and the drunkard's cheek is thin: But flesh is not the prize we strive to win. Now airy swarms of fluttering dreams descend On souls, like birds on trees, and have no end. O God, from vulture-dreams my soul defend! Let fall on Her a rose-leaf rain of dreams, All passionate-sweet, as are the loving beams Of starlight on the glimmering woods and streams. ____ Montgomery, Alabama, April, 1866. June Dreams, in January. "So pulse, and pulse, thou rhythmic-hearted Noon That liest, large-limbed, curved along the hills, In languid palpitation, half a-swoon With ardors and sun-loves and subtle thrills; "Throb, Beautiful! while the fervent hours exhale As kisses faint-blown from thy finger-tips Up to the sun, that turn him passion-pale And then as red as any virgin's lips. "O tender Darkness, when June-day hath ceased, -- Faint Odor from the day-flower's crushing born, -- Dim, visible Sigh out of the mournful East That cannot see her lord again till morn: "And many leaves, broad-palmed towards the sky To catch the sacred raining of star-light: And pallid petals, fain, all fain to die, Soul-stung by too keen passion of the night: "And short-breath'd winds, under yon gracious moon Doing mild errands for mild violets, Or carrying sighs from the red lips of June What aimless way the odor-current sets: "And stars, ringed glittering in whorls and bells, Or bent along the sky in looped star-sprays, Or vine-wound, with bright grapes in panicles, Or bramble-tangled in a sweetest maze, "Or lying like young lilies in a lake About the great white Lotus of the moon, Or blown and drifted, as if winds should shake Star blossoms down from silver stems too soon, "Or budding thick about full open stars, Or clambering shyly up cloud-lattices, Or trampled pale in the red path of Mars, Or trim-set in quaint gardener's fantasies: "And long June night-sounds crooned among the leaves, And whispered confidence of dark and green, And murmurs in old moss about old eaves, And tinklings floating over water-sheen!"