Tangled in thought am I, Stumble in speech do I? Do I blunder and blush for the reason why? Wander aloof do I, Lean over gates and sigh, Making friends with the bee and the butterfly? If thus and thus I do, Dazed by the thought of you, Walking my sorrowful way in the early dew, My heart cut through and through In this despair for you, Starved for a word or a look will my hope renew; Give then a thought for me Walking so miserably, Wanting relief in the friendship of flower or tree; Do but remember, we Once could in love agree, Swallow your pride, let us be as we used to be. SONG OF CONTRARIETY Far away is close at hand, Close joined is far away, Love might come at your command Yet will not stay. At summons of your dream-despair She could not disobey, But slid close down beside you there And complaisant lay. Yet now her flesh and blood consent In waking hours of day, Joy and passion both are spent, Fading clean away. Is the presence empty air, Is the spectre clay, That Love, lent substance by despair, Wanes, and leaves you lonely there On the bridal day? THE RIDGE-TOP Below the ridge a raven flew And we heard the lost curlew Mourning out of sight below; Mountain tops were touched with snow; Even the long dividing plain Showed no wealth of sheep or grain, But fields of boulders lay like corn And raven’s croak was shepherd’s horn To slow cloud shadow strayed across A pasture of thin heath and moss. The North Wind rose; I saw him press With lusty force against your dress, Moulding your body’s inward grace, And streaming off from your set face; So now no longer flesh and blood, But poised in marble thought you stood, O wingless Victory, loved of men, Who could withstand your triumph then? SONG IN WINTER The broken spray left hanging Can hold his dead leaf longer Into your glum November Than this live twig tossed shivering By your East Wind anger. Unrepentant, hoping Spring, Flowery hoods of glory hoping, Carelessly I sing, With envy none for the broken spray When the Spring comes, fallen away. UNICORN AND THE WHITE DOE “Alone Through forests evergreen, By legend known, By no eye seen, Unmated, Unbaited, Untrembling between The shifting shadows, The sudden echoes, Deathless I go Unheard, unseen,” Says the White Doe. Unicorn with bursting heart Breath of love hath drawn On his desolate crags apart At rumour of dawn; Has volleyed forth his pride Twenty thousand years mute, Tossed his horn from side to side, Lunged with his foot.