The Collected Poems of Eric Count Stenbo

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THE COLLECTED POEMS
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OF
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ERIC, COUNT STENBOCK
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THE COLLECTED POEMS
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OF
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ERIC, COUNT STENBOCK
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LOVE, SLEEP & DREAMS
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MYRTLE, RUE AND CYPRESS

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THE SHADOW OF DEATH

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EDITED BY DAVID TIBET

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DURTRO
MMI
THIS VOLUME IS OFFERED IN TRIBUTE TO THE
SOUL OF STANISLAUS ERIC, COUNT STENBOCK.
MAY HE ENJOY IN HEAVEN THAT HAPPINESS
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WHICH ELUDED HIM ON EARTH.
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This edition is limited to 400 copies. It is published by

Durtro: The Silence, The Twilight, The Shadow.
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Introduction and Notes copyright David Tibet 2001.

Designed by David Tibet and Miss Kat. KatSet at
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The House of Puss. Front cover adapted from the original

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cover of The Shadow of Death. Extra calligraphy on

cover and spine by Steven Stapleton.
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Durtro, BM Wound, London, WC1N 3XX, England.

www.durtro.com
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ISBN 0 9523497 5 2
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Printed by Antony Rowe, Bumpers Farm,

Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6QA
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INTRODUCTION
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T HIS volume brings together for the first time all
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the poetry that Count Stenbock published during
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his brief life. All three of his collections of poems are
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now extremely rare. Researches shows the existence of
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five copies of his first book, Love, Sleep & Dreams; four
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are in private collections, and the other seems to have
disappeared in the last half-century. Of his second
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work, Myrtle, Rue and Cypress, I am aware of six copies,
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of which two are in public collections, with the other

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four, again, being in private collections. Of The Shadow

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of Death, one copy is to be found in the British

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Library—the only volume of Stenbock's poetry there

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deposited—and one in the Bodleian; and I know of six

other copies, of which five are in private collections,
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and one in a European institution. I have reproduced

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the original covers and title pages of each volume at

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the beginning of each relevant section; it will be

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observed that the cover and title page of Love, Sleep &
Dreams differ only in their respective ornamental
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designs.
As I have been unable to refer to manuscript
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copies of the poems, I have used Stenbock’s published

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books as the definitive text, as well as the original

typescript, with the author’s holograph corrections, of
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The Shadow of Death. My aim has been to correct
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throughout those errors—-in all languages—which I
considered to be purely typographical, as opposed to
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anything which might be due to an idiosyncratic style,
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archaisms, or a faulty remembrance of the quoted
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texts on the part of the author. Various problems arise
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with the Latin epithets used in several poems. Almost
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all of these are taken from the Bible. Stenbock’s
quotations, however, are sometimes slightly different
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from the text of the various versions of the Vulgate,
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the most commonly used Latin rendition of the Bible.

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Ayse Tuzlak was unable to identify a Latin translation

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of the Bible which corresponded exactly with

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Stenbock’s texts, so I have assumed that he is quoting

from memory, rather than from an edition which we
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have been unable to trace. Consequently, I have kept

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his renditions; the Biblical texts as printed in the

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Vulgate are to be found in the Appendix if they differ

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from those used in the poems, along with translations

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of those passages in French, German, Greek, Latin and

Russian. Notes on the references made by the author
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in his poems are also to be found in the Appendix.

Claus Laufenburg has checked and translated the
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German texts; Ayse Tuzlak, the Latin and Greek texts;

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Joseph Ghosn, Thomas Olson, and myself the French

texts; and Nick Hobbs, the transliterated Russian texts
in the ‘Slavic Songs’ section of The Shadow of Death.
vi
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Mr Hobbs wrote to me that Stenbock’s Russian
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transcriptions “appear to have been made by a German
rather than an English-speaker,” but I have retained
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what he advised me were the author’s eminently
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adequate renditions. To all of the above I owe many
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thanks, as well as to Jeremy Reed, and to Ray Russell
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of the Tartarus Press, for their support and
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suggestions. Martin Stone, Geoffrey Palmer, the late
Noel Roden, Cecil Woolf, Jean Moorcroft Wilson,
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Edwin Pouncey, Charles Peltz and John Hart were all
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invaluable in enabling me to build my Stenbock

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collection, and I here offer them my gratitude once

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again. My thanks are also due to Fiorella Superbi and

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Giovanni Pagliarulo at I Tatti, who graciously checked

the typescript of The Shadow of Death for me at short
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notice. Henning von Wistinghausen generously

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allowed me to use the photograph that appears as the

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frontispiece from family archives in his possession; I

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am most grateful to him. Anne Kurepalu and Jarl von

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Stenbock have also been consistently kind and helpful

on my visits to Estonia to see places connected with
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Stenbock during his time of residence there.

The rest of the autograph material and other
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images come from my own collection. I wish to

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acknowledge especially the matchless generosity of the

late Barbara Strachey Halpern, who presented me,
through the angelic advocacy and patient forbearance
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of Corinne Richards, with the inscribed copies, whose
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inscriptions are herein reproduced, of Love, Sleep &
Dreams and Myrtle, Rue and Cypress. Corinne Richards
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also gave me rare photographs of Count Stenbock and
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his friends. I must also mention the assistance of
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Timothy d’Arch Smith, whose help with, and
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enthusiasm for, this volume have been endless, and
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whose advice, especially as to the editing, saved me
much fruitless internal argument. And to Andria
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Degens I owe everything.
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This volume was typeset and designed, with

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myself, by Miss Kat at The House of Puss—my debt

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to her is profound, as are my thanks to Steven

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Stapleton, who created the lettering on the front board

and spine. Any mistakes not the Count’s are, alas, my
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own.
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The best available account of Stenbock’s life is to

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be found in the late John Adlard’s Stenbock, Yeats and the

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Nineties, which is indispensable for anyone with an

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interest in the Count. I must also recommend

Timothy d’Arch Smith’s Love in Earnest, which
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admirably sets the fascinating and eccentric figure of

Stanislaus Eric, Count Stenbock amongst his equally
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fascinating, though perhaps less eccentric,

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contemporaries.
David Michael St. Francis Tibet, London, May 2001
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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PRIMARY SOURCES
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(The author, as will be noticed below, changed the
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form in which his name appeared on his last two
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books.)
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Stenbock, Stanislaus Eric: Love, Sleep & Dreams (A.
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Thomas Shrimpton & Son, Oxford/Simpkin, Marshall
& Co., London, 1881?)
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Stenbock, Stanislaus Eric: Myrtle, Rue and Cypress
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(Hatchards, London, 1883)

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Stenbock, Count Stanislaus Eric: The Shadow of Death

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(The Leadenhall Press, London, 1893)

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Stenbock, Count Eric: Studies of Death (David Nutt,

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London, 1894)
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SECONDARY SOURCES
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Adlard, John (editor): Christmas with Count Stenbock

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(Enitharmon, London, 1970)

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Adlard, John: Stenbock, Yeats and the Nineties (Cecil

Woolf, London, 1969)
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D’Arch Smith, Timothy: Love in Earnest: Some Notes on

the Lives and Writings of English ‘Uranian’ Poets from 1889
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to 1930 (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1970)

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Reade, Brian (editor): Sexual Heretics: Male

Homosexuality in English Literature from 1850 to 1900
(Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1970)
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Love, Sleep & Dreams
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OR,
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A DECADE OF SIGHS ON A LOST LOVE
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PRELUDE
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HAD a vision of Love crucified—

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Love crucified in feet, in hands, and heart;

I lookèd on the piercèd side of Love,
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I saw a wound upon the heart of Love,

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From which flowed blood and roses:—

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Wounded hast thou mine heart, my love, mine own;

Seest thou my life-blood trickling drop by drop,
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Till the last vital drop hath flowed therefrom?—

But with my blood there are commingled roses—
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For are not these my songs? as roses

Let them be planted on my grave.
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I TRY to sing of other things,
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But I only sing of thee;
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For I only think of thee, my love:—
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Wert thou not all to me?
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What shall this broken lyre play,
But the same old melody?—
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That melody of thee, my love;
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For what have I in heaven above,

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Or on the earth but thee?

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And what is life itself, my love,

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6
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II
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C OULD’ST thou not watch with me
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One single hour?
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Could’st thou not give to me
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One single flower?
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Others have other loves,
Can’st thou love me?
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Out of a thousand loves
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Have I chosen thee.

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Mine own, my one ewe lamb

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Will they take from me?

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Have they not many sheep?

I have but thee.
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III
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IT is for thee too slight for tears,
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That same, that bitter grief;
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Which is for me too deep for tears,
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For respite, or relief.
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For thee ’tis very light to bear,
That same, that galling pain,
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Which wastes mine inmost soul away,
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And sears my heart in twain.

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N O! I will not complain,
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Though my heart be rent in twain;
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Though my spirit be stricken sore,
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Yet I will not complain.
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Thy wondrous smile, thy voice,
Thy least step on the stair;
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Each movement of thy graceful form,
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The perfume of thine hair—

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These are to me so dear, so dear,

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And give me so much pain,

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I find it difficult to say

That I will not complain.
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E ACH tear is as an arrow,
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It penetrates so deep
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Into my heart; how dreadful
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It is to see thee weep!
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Thy tears are shed so lightly,
Thy tears are not for me,
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Yet when I see thee weeping,
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I almost weep for thee.

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I am to thee as nothing,
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I am so little dear,
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I am not worth the priceless

Price of a single tear.
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I CANNOT look upon that face,
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From which beams a light divine;
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I am distracted by the grace
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Of those slender limbs of thine.
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By the strange music of thy laugh
My spirit to the depths is shattered;
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I long the passing breath to quaff
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From every word thy lips have uttered.

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Thy tears are poison, and thy laugh

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Is fiendish, infinite derision;

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Thy words are knives that cut in half

The remnant of our souls’ division.
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I cast my pearls before the swine,

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I have no weapon to defend me;

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My heart, my life, my soul were thine,

And can’st thou turn again and rend me?
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VII
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T HAT pain—that galling pain,
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That rends the heart in twain;
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Oh, that intolerable pain!
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That pain which is above
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All pains, that pain of broken love;
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That pain of love self-slain;
To love and not be loved again!
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Deserted—forsaken—alone,
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My love, my all, mine own,

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For me the world is made desolate;

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Ever wailing I wait,

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At the threshold of the gate.

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There are many fairer by far than you,

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There are fairer women, and youths more fair,

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With bright, soft eyes, and curious hair,

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But I found them all less fair than you:—

And you—what do you care?
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AY
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The bitter cup you gave to me,
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Unto the dregs I quaff,
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And you stand by and laugh:
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And all men laugh too, seeing me;
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You laugh, all laugh, I laugh,
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Whilst from my heart a secret flood
Flows on for ever, of tears, of blood.
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VIII
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D ARLING, I know you never understood
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That vain, that blind, that passionate desire:
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Ah! I was mad to think you ever could,
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Yet is my soul burnt up with torturing fire.
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Live on, love on, enjoy and see the light,
Think not on me, nor on my love; but I
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Am weary of the life you once made bright,
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So very weary, that I fain would die.

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IX
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A H, then! when my heart was breaking,
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The look of mine eyes was sad:
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But now that my heart is broken,
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My aspect is almost glad.
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Yet my heart is broken, broken,
Our love is for ever fled;
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Each tie that bound us is severed,
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Life of my life is dead.

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AY
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I BEGGED at thy door for bread,
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And thou gavest me a stone;
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Thou turnedst away thine head,
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And did’st leave me standing alone.
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I begged at thy door for meat,
And thou gavest me a snake;
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Thou gavest me poison to eat,
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And gall my thirst to slake.

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FINALE
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T HE fallen petals of the rose,
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The fallen feathers of the dove,
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And the time of swiftly-falling snows,
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Are strewn on the tomb of Love.
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A shroud of soft and silent snows
Covers his body—he is dead:
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The fallen petals of the rose,
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Are strewn about his head.

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And yet Love died before the rose,

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Long ere the snows began to fall;

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And now, the soft white silent snows

Become his funeral pall.
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THE BALLAD OF
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THE DEAD SEA FRUIT
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W HERE lie buried the ruins of Sodom,
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In the depths of the dead salt sea,
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On the banks of the Dead Sea waters,
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There groweth a wondrous tree;
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Well waxen with leaves and branches,
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But canker lies at the root,
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And thereon are strange fair apples,

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And this is the “Dead Sea fruit.”

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Whoso shall eat of these apples,

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Which appear so fair and sweet,

In his mouth they shall turn to ashes;
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Ah! woe to him that shall eat.

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Yea, woe to him that touches

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E’en this forbidden fruit,

Of the tree so fair and goodly,
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But with canker at the root.

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Ask not, if thou know’st not already,

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What manner of tree this be

Which grows on the ruins of Sodom,
On the banks of the dead salt sea.
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SONG
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“Quoniam dederit delectis suis somnum.”
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H E giveth sleep to His belovèd,
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Sweetest of all things, sleep;
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But I am not of His belovèd,
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Therefore I cannot sleep.SH
He giveth tears to His belovèd,
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And His belovèd weep;

But I am not of His belovèd,
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Therefore I cannot weep.

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SONG
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ISEE thee toil long weary hours,
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Wandering and searching through the snow:
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What seekest thou? I seek for flowers,
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But I find none—ah! woe.
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In my father’s garden are many roses,
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All sorts of roses, red and white;
The honeysuckle climbs and closes,
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Straining to reach the light.

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THE SONG OF THE UNWEPT TEAR
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I DREAMED a dreadful dream, almost
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Too terrible to tell;
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I dreamed that you and I, my love,
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Together were in Hell.
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I dreamed in all eternity SH
We two together were;
Condemned each other’s face and limbs
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In hate and rage to tear.

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I dreamed your kisses keen, my love,

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Bit my flesh through and through;

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I tasted the salt taste of blood,

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My love, as I kissed you.

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I dreamed your soft warm limbs, my love,

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Burnt with Hell’s furious fire;

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And demons laughed, and said, This is

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The end of your desire.

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That laugh—you never saw that laugh,

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You never heard its tone:

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Thy very presence maddens me,

Yet leave me not alone.
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Think’st thou they weep with many tears,
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Deem’st thou their brows are knit with pain?
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Ah no! far worse than that, they laugh—
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Their laugh is hollow and insane.
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Almost too horrible to hear,
Too terrible to tell,
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The song about the unwept tear,
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And the laughter heard in Hell.

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ODE TO THE EAST SEA
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M Y heart is pierced, my spirit breaketh,
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My tears are salter than thy brine,
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My soul with broken passion acheth,
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Take me to thee, O Mother mine.
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“Poor stricken soul, what dost thou weeping?
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Are thou then weary of thy life?
Would’st thou be as the dead that, sleeping,
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Have passed from passion, pain and strife?”

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Would that I could dissolve in tears,

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If tears were given me to weep.

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Have I not lived these many years—

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And all that I long for now is sleep?

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My life is blank, and dark, and dreary,

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Undone is all that I desired,

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Kiss me, for I am very weary,

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Lay me to sleep, for I am tired.

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’Tis a soft bed, a feathery pillow,

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Oh, let me rest upon thy wave;

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Lull me to sleep upon thy billow,

And let thy waters be my grave.
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CRADLE SONG
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S LEEP on, my poor child, sleep;
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Why must thou wake again?
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Thou are but born into a world of woe,
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Of agony unending, deep,
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Of long-protracted pain.
AD
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A faint light is thrown on thine eyes,
Alas! thy right to joy is plain:
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I see thou dream’st of Paradise,

And thou wilt only wake to pain.
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Why must thou wake again?

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Wert thou not born with tears and travail?

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Thy first cry was a wail;

Life is a mystery, strange and sad,
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A wondrous riddle to unravel,

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But who shall lift the vail?

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Sleep on, my poor child, sleep,

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Naught is so sweet as sleep;

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Not all the joys of love,

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The tears that lovers weep;

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Amber and coral from the deep,

Are not so sweet as sleep.
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“Sleep on, my poor child, sleep;
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Sleep on,” the mother said,
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“I will sit here and weep.”
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She looked on her child, asleep,
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And saw the child was dead:
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“’Tis well,” the mother said.
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CHILD GRIEF
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W OULD you ask of weeping children
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A reason why they cry?
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They weep, they cannot help it,
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They cannot tell you why.
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Perhaps they have some forecast
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Of strange unknown desire,
That burns their dawning spirits
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With dim, uncertain fire.

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Perhaps they have felt some echo,

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Of the world’s unending woes,

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The everlasting struggle,

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Of tyrants and of foes.

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Perhaps they have some remembrance

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Of brighter, bygone things,

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The music of angels’ voices,

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The rustling of angels’ wings—

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Some faint and weird remembrance

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Of faces bright and fair,

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And see but the spirit of evil,

Who reigneth everywhere.
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AY
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Ye dwellers in the valley,
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Where is that mystic hill,
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That the dying see already,
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And the child rememb’reth still?
O W
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THE TWO SLEEPERS
AW
AND ONE THAT WATCHETH
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Question.
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T WO that sleep, and one that waketh,
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Biding the coming of the day,
O
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Till the glorious morning breaketh,
And the shadows flee away.
SH
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When the glorious morn be broken,

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And the shadows fled away,

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Shall then the other twain be woken,

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To greet the dawning of the day?

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Answer.
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Perhaps the day will never break,

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Nor the dark shadows flee away,

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’Tis hardly worth our while to wake,

Biding the coming of the day.
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To sleep is better than to wake,

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To die is better than to sleep;

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Perhaps the day will never break,

’Tis not worth while our watch to keep.
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O H, Ganymede, give me the goblet
EE
Of golden, sparkling wine,
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Yea, even if poison be in it,
I will take from those hands of thine.
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I drink of the light of thine eyes,
In long-drawn sensual sips,
AD
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Of thy bosom’s infinite warmth,
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Of the panting breath of thy lips.

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I am wholly intoxicated
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As I gaze on that sweet, soft face,

Thy cheeks are pomegranates cleaving,
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Thy lips are as scarlet lace.

EA
BR
Thou art fairer than woman, and warmer,

As the sun is more warm than the moon;
Y
DA
Thou art fairer than woman, and softer,

As the dawn is more soft than the noon.
E
TH
Oh, give me to drink, for nothing

L
TI
My thirst can satiate;

UN
I drink, I have drunk and am drunken,

I am wholly inebriate.
29
AY
AW
O NCE we were bound with one another,
EE
Bound by an everlasting band,
FL
Thou wert to me far more than brother,
S
And infinitely more than friend.
O W
AD
The world may think that bond is broken,
SH
The world may think so, it is well;
I have one lock of hair, as token
E
TH
That it will be renewed in Hell

D
AN
I am guilty before thee, I ask not for pardon,

KS
For my sin is endlessly great;

EA
I am punished enough, for the love once between us

Is slowly corroding to hate.
BR
Y
With Cain I will say, the deserved retribution

DA
Is harder than I can bear;

E
Unshriven I live, I die unrepenting,

TH
In terrible, utter despair.

L
TI
UN
30
AY
AW
Remember me in after years,
EE
Who loved thee long ago;
FL
Thou wilt find none more fond, I think,
S
In this bitter world of woe.
O W
AD
And if some maiden beautiful
Become thy love and joy,
SH
Think on that passionate male heart
E
That loved thee when a boy.

TH
D
AN
A thousand arrows pierce my heart,

To see another sit beside thee;
KS
A keener and a fiercer dart

EA
Pierces my soul when others chide thee.

BR
Y
I think I could not have the heart

DA
To speak thee harshly or reprove thee;

Heartless and worthless as thou art,
E
TH
I cannot otherwise than love thee.

L
TI
UN
31
AY
ALL SOULS’ DAY
AW
C OME, let us bring some flowers for the dead
EE
Not many tears on their cold tombs are shed;
FL
Now, in this last sad season of the year,
S
Let us remember those we once held dear.
O W
Now that the leaves are scattered from the trees,
AD
And the wild wind sighs round the tombs of these;
SH
If they are sensible to love or hate
The dead must think the living so ingrate.
E
TH
D
Unto the sun I say,

AN
I am weary of the light,

KS
I am weary of the day,

EA
When shall it pass away?

Would God that it were night.
BR
Y
I cry, in the dead of night,

DA
Would God that it were day,

E
I cannot sleep, I wake,

TH
When shall the daylight break,

L
And the shadows flee away?

TI
Give me, oh, give me light!

UN
32
AY
SAPPHICS
AW
T HE silver stars quiver no more in the liquid
EE
heaven;
FL
The waste white moon is covered with the tresses of
S
midnight;
O W
The hour of love is passed and over,
AD
I lie alone here. SH
As the hart panteth for the brooks at mid-day,
E
TH
So my soul panteth for thy soft embraces;

Lying alone at the desolate hour of midnight,
D
Sleepless and weary.

AN
KS
EA
Give me water for my head,

And a fountain of tears for mine eyes,
BR
A fountain of tears to shed,

Y
To soften the hot, dry sighs

DA
Of my stricken spirit that weeps

E
For the life of my life that is dead,

TH
Or is not dead but sleeps—

L
“’Tis a weary thing,” she said.

TI
UN
33
AY
AW
Entwinèd in thy limbs I lie, my love,
EE
Abide with me but for a little space;
FL
How happy should I be to die, my love,
S
Under thy saving kiss, in thy embrace.
O W
Would that my life’s short span were passed, my love;
AD
If the gods granted prayers then I would
SH
pray—
E
One long full kiss, the very last, my love,

TH
And then to sleep, for ever and for aye.

D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
34
AY
TRANSLATIONS
AW
FROM HEINE.
EE
FL
T HOU hast both diamonds and pearls,
S
Hast all to what man can aspire,
W
Thou hast the most beautiful eyes—
O
AD
My love, what more can’st thou desire?
SH
I have written immortal songs,
E
To sing them I never shall tire,

TH
On thy most beautiful eyes—

D

AN
KS
With thy most beautiful eyes

Thou has burnt me through as with fire,
EA
Thou hast wasted my soul away,

BR

Y
DA
I T is an old, old story,

E
TH
So often told again,

And whom it lightly touches,
L
TI
His heart it rends in twain.

UN
35
AY
I DREAMED of you, my love,
AW
I dreamed that you were dead;
A sad but not bitter tear,
EE
As I waked from my dream, I shed.
FL
S
I dreamed of you, my love,
O W
That you had deserted me;
AD
As I waked from my dream I weptSH
Long, and very bitterly.
E
TH

That you were still good and true;
D
I hardly ceased to weep,

AN
My love, as I thought of you.

KS
EA
BR
Y
S ILENTLY, swiftly the rider rode

DA
By the echoing mountain cave:

E
“Do I go to the arms of my beloved,

TH
Or to the cold, dark grave?”

L
And the echo answer gave:

TI
“To the cold, dark grave.”

UN
36
AY
Further, further the rider rode
AW
“What! shall I die so young, so young?
EE
Ah well! there is rest in the grave.”
FL
S
“Rest in the grave.”
O W
AD
The rider almost wept as he passed
SH
“If in the grave there is rest for me,
E
I deem ’tis well in the grave.”

TH

D
“Well in the grave.”

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
37
AY
“GANYMEDE”
AW
FROM GOETHE.
EE
FL
A S in the light of the morning
S
Thou shinest round about me,
W
Spring beloved—
O
AD
The intense feeling
Of thy endless warmth
SH
Presses me even unto the heart
E
With thousandfold delights of love,

TH
Infinite beauty.
D
AN
Ah! that I might embrace thee

KS
In this arm.
EA
I lie on thy bosom and languish,

BR
And thy flowers, thy grass,

Y
Press on my heart—
DA
Thou coolest the burning

Thirst of my bosom,
E
TH
Lovely wind of the morning;

The nightingale calls,
L
TI
Loving unto me;

UN
38
AY
AW
EE
FL
From the valley of the shadow
S
I come—I come,
W
Where? Ah where?
O
Upwards—upwards
AD
SH
The clouds part, and float
E
Downwards, the clouds

TH
Yield before love’s desire

D
To me—to me,
AN
In thy bosom,
Upwards
KS
Embracing, embraced
EA
Upwards to thy bosom

BR
All-loving Father.
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
39
AY
DEDICATION
AW
TO MY UNKNOWN IDEAL
EE
FL
T HESE wild effusions of a stricken soul,
S
Life of my life, I dedicate to thee.
O W
AD
I think I saw thee bodily but once,
Yet in my spirit ever, and sometimes
SH
Embodied in the vision of a dream:—
E
TH
Strange sounds of strange and moving melody,

D
The passion of the viol’s quivering string,

AN
The high sublimity of organ tones,

KS
Remind me of thee strangely.

EA
I almost think I knew thee long ago,

BR
When present was not present, past not past,

Y
And in a multitude of earthly forms

DA
I sought to see thy beauty visible.

E
TH
All that is beautiful upon the earth

Is but an image, though so faint, of thee.
L
TI
Lo, I have sought thee—I have not found thee.

UN
40
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
Myrtle, Rue and Cypress
AY
POEMS, SONGS, AND SONNETS
AW

EE
SONG I
FL
S
Preludium.
O W
I AD
DECKED mine altar with faded flowers,
Because I was sad at heart, you see,
SH
And cared no more, what the passing hours
E
In going and coming might bring to me—

TH
I said, “Alas, for the lingering hours

D
Shall not bring ought of delight to me.”

AN
KS
And yet I sighed for the faded flowers,

Because my flowers were dead, you see,
EA
Sighed for the flowers and the passing hours

BR
Because I was sick unto death, you see—

Y
Sick unto death of the desolate hours

DA
Which came and went so wearily—

E
And then I looked on my faded flowers

TH
And sat down and wept for memory.

L
TI
UN
45
AY
SONG II
AW
T HEY have long ceased to weep, dear,
EE
The fleeting hours that fled,
FL
They have cried themselves to sleep, dear—
S
Are they asleep or dead?
O W
AD
Is then their sleep so deep, dear,
SH
They may not wake again—
What—shall we laugh or weep, dear,
E
TH
Remembering all our pain?

D
Love, is thine heart so hardened

AN
When one tear from thine eyes

KS
Might pour on sin unpardoned

EA
A rainbow from Paradise?

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
46
AY
SONG III
AW
“Then Death bethought him of his beautiful garden where the
EE
red and white roses bloom.”
FL
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.
S
W
I
O
HAVE longed for thy beautiful garden,
AD
The mansion of twilight rooms,
SH
The region of placid faces,
And flowers, that grow from tombs.
E
TH
I have longed for thy beautiful garden,

D
With the longing of great desire—

AN
Who have walked in barren places,

KS
Till my feet are shod with fire.

EA

BR
Whose raiment is woven with sighs,

Y
And a veil of great lamentation

DA
Is shed as a mist on thine eyes.

E
TH

L
And thy nuptial winding-sheet,

TI
For thy face, ah! tender lover,

UN
Is gentle and wellnigh sweet.
47
AY
MEMORIA
AW
H ER name is written in the snow,
EE
In the skies above, in the seas below,
FL
On the cold grey sand that all may know
S
Her name is even Memory.
O W
She looks with introverted eyes
AD
On the ravening sea and the riven skies,
SH
And the voice of the shell in her hand replies
With the old-world stories of the sea.
E
TH
She hearkeneth to the wild sea’s roar,

D
To the splashing spray on the sad sea-shore,

AN
Pondering on all things gone before,

KS
Listening unto the lyre of love

EA
Who sings the songs of the old dead days

Of the form once fair and the once loved face,
BR
And the song resounds from the barren ways

Y
Of the echoing rocks above.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
48
AY
AW
Soul-rending sorrow and piercing pain,
EE
The sickle hath passed through the golden grain—
FL
And wilt thou strive to look yet again
S
On the old shed smiles and the old wept tears?
W
Sheeted shadows of the past,
O
AD
Seen through the mist veil, pale, aghast
With the white light on their faces cast
SH
Of the snows of bygone years.
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
49
AY
SONNET I
AW
COMPOSED IN ST. ISAAC’S CATHEDRAL,
EE
ST. PETERSBURG.
FL
S
O N waves of music borne it seems to float
O W
So tender sweet, so fraught with inner pain,
AD
And far too exquisite to hear again
SH
Above the quivering chords that single note,—
The tremulous fires of the lamp-light gloat
E
TH
On the exceeding sweetness of that strain—

Thou mightest spend a lifetime all in vain
D
In striving to recall it, yet recall it not.

AN
KS
Therein are mingled mercy, pity, peace,

EA
Tears wiped away and sorrow comforted,

Bearing sweet solace and a short relief
BR
To those, that are acquainted well with grief,

Y
Reviving for a time joys long since dead,

DA
And granting to the fettered soul release.

E
TH
L
TI
UN
50
AY
KOITO AND AEMMERIK,
AW
OR THE LOVES OF THE SUNRISE
AND THE SUNSET
EE
FL
ESTHONIAN LEGEND
S
W
L OVE, love, I have sought thee, sorrowing,
O
AD
Through the shuddering hours of the holy
night-time,
SH
I inquired of the silver-footed moonbeams
E
Silently treading on the passionate sea-waves,

TH
And of the bright-eyed watchers at the gate of heaven;

D
—And seeking thee I could not find thee,

AN
And my tears fell on the green grass and the variegated

KS
flowers.
EA
Love, love, I have sought thee, sorrowing,

BR
Through the weary hours of the desolate day-time,

Y
I inquired of the golden smiling sunbeams,

DA
Of the wild winds and the ravening rains,

And of the shadowy fair-faced spirit of the snow;
E
TH
—And seeking thee I could not find thee,

And my tears fell on the green grass and the variegated
L
TI
flowers.
UN
51
AY
AW
Alas, alas! we shall again be rent in sunder,
EE
And the late found joy shall be taken from us;
FL
See, the flame of Love illumines the heavens,
S
One kiss and one embrace a little lingering.
W
Let our commingled tears fall on the green grass
O
AD
And the variegated flowers.
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
Note.—Although every work of art should explain itself, we

L
TI
fear we must add here one word of explanation—the legend,

namely, on which this poem is founded arises from the fact
UN
that in Esthonia on one day in the year (viz. 24 June) the

sunrise and sunset take place at the same time.—S.E.S.
52
AY
SONG IV
AW
A ND so I stand alone
EE
And hear the wild waves moan,
FL
Half litten with the melancholy wan star-light;
S
I go not any way,
O W
For all ways wind astray,
AD
And far around falls the unfathomable night.
SH
Oh you are so unkind—
E
TH
And I am grown so blind

That I can scarcely see the pale sad stars above,
D
And all in vain I crave,

AN
Crave what you never gave,

KS
A little light, a little life, a little love.

EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
53
AY
VALSE DES BACCHANTES
AW
W ITH tremulous feet advancing,
EE
That hardly touch the ground,
FL
Fair forms embracing, dancing,
S
And lightly whirling round,
O W
With the sounds of joy and gladness,
AD
As a cloud that the moonlight sears
SH
Is mingled a tone of sadness
From a far-off region of tears.
E
TH
They tread the mystic measure

D
In garments of beauty clad,

AN
Yet even in their pleasure

KS
There is something passing sad;

EA
None knows what woes come after,

And none can say where he steers,
BR
And the echo of their laughter

Y
Is wet with the dew of tears.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
54
AY
AW
Ah, look upon their faces,
EE
Seen passion-pale through the glare,
FL
Their close and wild embraces,
S
Hot lips and flaming hair—
W
One would say some bitter madness
O
AD
Were shed on their tender years,
Unsoftened into sadness
SH
At the welcome well-spring of tears.
E
TH
Deliriously turning
D
As a flame in the fretful fire,

AN
With the blood in their faces burning

With the greatness of their desire—
KS
Who knows what woes come after,

EA
In a twilight of hopes and fears?

BR
“For the roots of the tree of laughter

Y
Are close to the well of tears.”

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
55
AY
DRINKING SONG
AW
D RINK of this wine, my dear,
EE
The joys of youth are sweet;
FL
Stretch forth thine hand, nor fear
S
Of its glowing fruits to eat.
O W
AD
Soon age shall cast its blight
On youth and youth’s delight;
SH
Let us enjoy tonight,
E
The years are over fleet.

TH
D
And, darling, let thy voice

AN
Sing thy sweet songs again,

KS
That my spirit may rejoice

Before the time of pain.
EA
BR
Till age come, withering, scorning,

Y
With withered wreaths adorning

DA
The bitter house of mourning,

And make thy singing vain.
E
TH
And kiss me once, my love,

L
TI
With thy mouth of wine and fire,

UN
Low murmuring, like the dove,

And fill thine heart’s desire.
56
AY
AW
Ere age thy soft skin hardens,
EE
Blind age, that no fault pardons,
FL
Cold age, whose withered gardens
S
Are hedged with thorn and briar.
O W
AD
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
57
AY
THE NIGHTINGALE
AW
A NIGHTINGALE sat at my window casement,
EE
And sang and sang to me all night long,
FL
And my soul soared over mine heart’s abasement,
S
And swam through the night on the waves of
O W
song—
AD
By the wings of music my spirit aided
SH
Flew forth and pierced thro’ the heart of the
night,
E
TH
Till sunlight, moonlight, and starlight faded

In the mystical glow of a purer light.
D
AN
What passion of music that moves to madness,

KS
What secret thing doth thy song express,

EA
What excess of joy, that is wellnigh sadness,

What agony bitter beyond redress?—
BR
What lights of love and what pangs of passion

Y
Through the thrilling throbs of thy wild notes

DA
well,
E
What words too wondrous for tongue to fashion

TH
Would suit to thy sweet song, tell, ah tell!

L
TI
UN
58
AY
AW
Yet then methought that I caught some meaning,
EE
Some half suggestion too strange to say,
FL
Some single sheaf, that fell from the gleaning
S
Of a heavenly harvest far away—
W
And my soul was loosed from the bonds that bound
O
AD
me,
And my heart for a moment forgot its pain;
SH
But daylight hath woven a shadow around me,
E
And the veil half lifted has fallen again.

TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
59
AY
SONG V
AW
TO AN AIR OF E. MASSENET
EE
FL
Y EA even though the spring return, my love,
S
I can but sigh a little wearily,
O W
When fair and bright
AD
The flowering fields with blossoms burn, my love,
SH
Because I know that thou art gone from me,
And all delight.
E
TH
And when the last left leaves fall drearily,

D
And melancholy mists rise from the rain

AN
On the dank grass,

KS
I shall still sigh a little wearily,

EA
Knowing my love shall not come back again,

Alas, alas!
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
60
AY
A DREAM
AW
T HE rain fell fast, the wind was wild,
EE
I saw the image of my child
FL
As in a vision of the night,
S
At the first grey streak of the morning light.
O W
AD
“Thy face is somewhat pale,” I said,
SH
“And thine hair is tangled about thine head;”
“The wind is wild; no wonder then
E
TH
My hair is tangled,” he said again.

D
“But from thine head unto thy feet

AN
Thy form is wrapped in a long white sheet;”

KS
“My clothes were wet through with the rain,

EA
I put on this sheet till they dry again.”

BR
“Come hither, darling, and I will fold

Y
Thee to mine heart, for thy hands are cold;”

DA
“No wonder my hands are cold,” he said,

E
“For very cold are the hands of the dead.”

TH
L
TI
UN
61
AY
THE SEA-GULL
AW
A H whither sailing?
EE
Far over the sea,
FL
So wildly wailing,
S
As in agony,
O W
Oh sea-gull, slowly swooping, westwardly, wearily!
AD
SH
Whither, ah, whither,
Tends thy far floating flight?
E
TH
Thither, thither,
Where at fall of night,
D
The waves gleam glorious, and golden with rolling and

AN
refluent light.
KS
EA
For there, even there,

Have I builded my nest,
BR
In the bright islands, where

Y
In the waning west

DA
I seek ere the fall of the sunset, at length to lay me to

E
rest.
TH
L
TI
UN
62
AY
THE SONG OF LOVE
AW
(TO A MELODY OF ADOLF HENSELT)
EE
FL
“Multae aquae non potuerunt extinguere charitatem.”
S
W
L
O
OVE is enough, though the days be all declining,
AD
And the world be worn out on her weary,
SH
weary way,
Though we sit in the shadow of death in vain repining
E
TH
Till the breaking of the day.

D
We tire of speech, of thought, and frequent moving,

AN
Our memories are embittered with the

KS
shatterings of faith;
EA
Love conquers all we can never tire of loving,

For love is as strong as Death.
BR
Y
—Love long ago in the far-off silent years

DA
Sprang forth from the chaos of things,

E
And there fell a bright light and a gentle dew of tears

TH
From his eyes, and the winnowing of his

L
wings.
TI
UN
63
AY
AW
A dew-fall of tears of sweetness, not of sadness,
EE
From the darkness of night sprang the radiance
FL
of day;
S
The stars in their courses sang forth a hymn of
W
gladness,
O
AD
And the shadows fled away.
SH
Through the low fogs of earth ’tis but in fitful gleams
E
That His halo can shed forth His rays;

TH
Thro’ the lifted veil of sleep and the nebulous woof of

D
dreams
AN
We alone can behold His face—

KS
Ye have wounded His Heart, ye have mocked Him,

EA
ye have bound Him

BR
With wings torn and shattered, to a barren

Y
leafless tree,
DA
But the waters could not quench Him, and the flood-
streams have not drowned Him,
E
TH
Nor the waves of the bitterer sea.

L
TI
UN
64
AY
THE ÆOLIAN HARP
AW
“Wail for the world’s wrongs.”
EE
SHELLEY.
FL
S
T HOU art the wind’s lyre
O W
That the wind plays upon
AD
With vibrating tone, SH
Like the flickering of fire,—
With wild wailing moan,
E
TH
Wild as the heart’s desire.

D
I love thy sad song

AN
And that vibrating tone,

KS
That is most like a moan,

EA
That the winds bear along,

As they shudder and groan
BR
And wail for the world’s wrong.

Y
DA
Light breezes, that blow,

E
That bear with you along

TH
The soft current of song

L
With sound sweet and low,

TI
Wail for the world’s wrong,

UN
Weep for the world’s woe.
65
AY
AW
Ah, languishing lyre,
EE
With rhythmical flow
FL
Of sound sweet and low
S
Like the flickering of fire,
W
Weep for the world’s woe,
O
AD
Wail for the heart’s desire.
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
66
AY
THE WHITE ROSE
AW
I T is so sad because it is so sweet, you see,
EE
The white rose is so pale, almost too pale,
FL
So light and slight, fleetingly fair and frail,
S
That one would surely say its sweet shall fail
O W
When the wild withering winds shall rive it
AD
ruthlessly— SH
So we must needs weep hearing that moving melody.
E
TH
It is so sweet, because it is so sad, you see,

As the grey grave-stone, where the green grass
D
grows,
AN
Or the sad seashore where the full flood flows,

KS
Or the winds withering the wild white rose,

EA
With every painful petal dropping droopingly—

Why doth the white rose wreath itself around that
BR
melody?
Y
DA
All sweet things have some sad in them, you see,

E
And all sad things some sweet, and this is so

TH
Because Love liveth in a world of woe

L
Made miserable by his most mighty foe,

TI
Who dwells in the dark depths, laughing exultingly—

UN
And this is the mad meaning of that moving melody.
67
AY
ON A MELODY BY A. RUBINSTEIN
AW
I T yearns, and burns, and turns,
EE
And yearns and turns again
FL
With the measure of the pleasure
S
Of the slain vain strain of pain—
O W
AD
And wanders weirdly on,SH
Till it touches at that tone
Which wrings the last drop from the height of all
E
TH
delight,
And the heart’s dull ache it slakes,
D
Till the heart for love’s sake breaks,

AN
In one wild instant, when the world sinks out of sight.

KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
68
AY
SONG VI
AW
“Vulnerasti cor meum.”
EE
FL
A S the wings of a dove on a hard stone wall
S
Are torn, and shattered and frayed,
O W
As the relics of spring at the first frost fall,
AD
When stricken, wither and fade;
SH
So the wings of Love and the heart of Love
E
TH
Are wounded and pierced and torn,

And shattered and frayed as the wings of a dove,
D
By the cold world’s bitter scorn.

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
69
AY
A SONG OF SPRING AND AUTUMN
AW
“Vox turturis audita est in terra nostra.”
EE
FL
A RISE, my belovèd,
S
The winter is past,
O W
The might of the snow-storm,
AD
The rage of the blast. SH
The leaves of the myrtle
By light wings are fanned,
E
TH
And the voice of the turtle

Is heard in our land.
D
AN
Arise, my belovèd,
KS
Come let us go
EA
To our beautiful garden,

Where sweet spices flow—
BR
To gather the roses,

Y
And fruit of the vine,

DA
Where the wild fawn reposes,

E
My vineyard is mine.
TH
L
TI
UN
70
AY
AW
EE
FL
Lie down, my belovèd,
S
The swallows are flown,
W
And the songs of the spring-time
O
AD
Are over and gone.
The stars of the myrtle
SH
Are fallen away,
E
And the voice of the turtle

TH
Is heard not all day.

D
AN
Lie down, my belovèd,

The vine-fruit is shed,
KS
And our beautiful garden

EA
Is withered and dead.

BR
All torn are the roses

Y
With the wild ravening rains;

DA
When the wearied eye closes

Love only remains.
E
TH
L
TI
UN
71
AY
SONNET II
AW
“Osculet me osculis oris sui.”
EE
FL
A H, kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth,
S
Thy love is sweeter to my heart than wine,
O W
Sweeter than sleep from some strange anodyne,
AD
Sweeter than spices, gathered in the South,
SH
Or hidden well-water in time of drouth;
And let thine arms about mine head entwine,
E
TH
Mine own belovèd, seeing thou art mine,

And kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth.
D
AN
Ah sweet, mine heart is ravished utterly

KS
By thy fair body fashioned without fleck,

EA
By one long look that limmereth from thine eye,

By one long look that leaneth down thy neck.
BR
Kiss me with kisses, love, I faint, I pine,

Y
Thy love is sweeter to mine heart than wine.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
72
AY
SONG VII
AW
EE
FL
S
U NTIL the daylight breaketh
W
And the shadows flee away,
O
AD
I sleep, mine heart yet waketh,
I heard thy voice as I lay.
SH
E
At the time when the night was waning,

TH
And the light of the stars grew pale,

D
I heard thy sad complaining,

AN
Thy soft and dovelike wail.

KS
’Tis the voice of my belovèd

EA
Who calleth unto me;

BR
Shall not my heart be movèd,

Y
Shall I not ope to thee?

DA
Love, guide me to the mountain

E
TH
Of frankincense and myrrh,

To the sweet and silver fountain
L
TI
That my footsteps may not err!

UN
73
AY
AW
Stir not my love till he waketh,
EE
I charge thee, my love, to stay
FL
Until the daylight breaketh
S
And the shadows flee away.
O W
AD
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
74
AY
SONNET III
AW
ON THE NEMEWESKI WATERFALL
EE
FL
O H rapid, rushing, rhythmically rippling river,
S
And crash of mighty waters wonderful,
O W
So terrible, and yet withal so beautiful,
AD
That one were wellnigh fain to while for ever
SH
Watching the silver-footed moonbeams quiver
With silent tread, and movement mystical,
E
TH
Hearing the cadence of the waterfall,

Feeling the calm night air with ecstasy shiver.
D
AN
An holy hymn unspeakably sublime,

KS
Sung by a god unto some greater god,

EA
The greeting of eternity and time

Wells up from every rhythmic period
BR
Of that flood’s singing, like to the world’s tears

Y
Responding to the music of the spheres.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
75
AY
SONNET IV
AW
M ETHOUGHT I heard the music of the spheres,
EE
A sound of awful music ringing loud
FL
From each pulsation of the heart of God,
S
Along the ways of many thousand years,
O W
And through the night a falling as of tears,
AD
Of bitter tears of blood, that cried aloud
SH
For mercy and for justice unto God,
Who turned from their strong crying his deaf ears.
E
TH
A flood of tears of blood the night sky sears

D
The bitterness of congregated woe,

AN
The gathered lamentation of long years,

KS
The tears of Love; who mid a world of tears

EA
Lives overcome by his most mighty foe,

Who ruleth the revolving of the spheres.
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
76
AY
SONNET V
AW
ON A DREAM
EE
FL
C OVER thy face, for there are fearful things
S
That flicker through the visions of the night,
O W
Causing the soul to shiver with affright,
AD
The dreadful images the Dream-god brings;—
SH
I saw a dark form flying without wings,
Through falling darkness severed with strange
E
TH
light,
Fleeing away in wild and fearful flight,
D
And yet for ever running round in rings.

AN
KS
And as I wondered why that form fled so,

EA
I saw another form with visage dread

Following fast upon the form that fled,
BR
A dagger in his hand, a bitter foe—

Y
Alas, my love, the flying form was thine,

DA
The face of the pursuer, that was mine!

E
TH
L
TI
UN
77
AY
GOLDEN DREAMS
AW
A H gloom devoid of gladness! ah the sadness!
EE
ah the madness!
FL
Ah vision-rending dusk, dream-scorning
S
morning light!—
O W
Ye have woken, ye have broken that fleeting dream of
AD
gladness, SH
They are vanished, they are banished,
the sweet visions of the night.
E
TH
I dreamed of you, my darling, that I again had found

D
you
AN
(I had dreamed it twice already, so I knew it

KS
was not true)—

EA
That I again had found you, and wound mine arms

around you,
BR
And your eyes looked up so sweetly, just as

Y
they used to do.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
78
AY
AW
And you told me that you loved me, and you said that
EE
you had missed me,
FL
And that we, though rent in sunder, should be
S
brought together again,
W
And so warmly you embraced me, and so tenderly you
O
AD
kissed me,
That my heart was glad within me as the
SH
sunshine after rain.
E
TH
And you told me, ah so sweetly, you would stay with

D
me for ever,
AN
And I had so much to tell you that I scarce

knew what to say,
KS
When a single streak of sunlight this golden dream did

EA
sever,
BR
And the fabric of the vision like a vapour rolled

Y
away.
DA
Is so very little pleasure worth such bitter disappointment,

E
TH
And is a joy so fleeting worth so long an after

pain?
L
TI
Are the wounds, that were so galling, cured by the

UN
costly ointment?—
For I knew, dear, ’t was not true, dear, that you
would come back again.
79
AY
SONG VIII
AW
(COMPOSED IN A DREAM)
EE
FL
T HERE shall be no more crying
S
But mute eternal grief,
O W
Beyond all sound of sighing,
AD
Because beyond relief. SH
Thy tears are all collected
E
TH
In a deep clear crystal well,

Thy passions are all planted
D
In meadows of asphodel.
AN
KS
There shall be no more crying,

EA
No change of night and day,

No sound of sobbing or sighing,
BR
For the old things are passed away.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
80
AY
SONG IX
AW
A H play to me
EE
That melody
FL
For I am sick of love.
S
I think all day
O W
Of one far away
AD
Whom that tune reminds me of. SH
Day is as night,
E
TH
Without the light

That flows from his love-lit eyes.
D
Night waste as day

AN
I pine away,
KS
My spirit within me dies.

EA
I cannot sleep,
BR
I only weep,
Y
Bereft of his soft embrace;

DA
And through the day

E
I think alway
TH
On that sweet familiar face.

L
TI
UN
81
AY
THE LUNATIC LOVER
AW
A H, love, I dreamed of thee last night,
EE
Of strange lips kissing me,
FL
With subtle penetrating pain—
S
A moon veil shrouded thee
O W
(I shudder, when I think of this,
AD
That a moon veil shrouded thee);
SH
Thine eyes had in them all the light
Of the moonlight on the sea.
E
TH
Thine eyes are beautiful and soft,

D
As the eyes of Seraphim,—

AN
Ah, limpid liquid lustrous eyes,

KS
Sad eyes half bright, half dim,

EA
Half without light, half brighter bright,

Than the eyes of Seraphim.
BR
Y
That strange magnetic glance, that gleams

DA
From those mystic eyes of vair,

E
That face so brilliantly pale,

TH
And yet withal so fair,—

L
Love-pale and passion-pale, and yet,

TI
So marvellously fair,—
UN
That countenance corpse-like refined,

And subtle coloured hair.
82
AY
Thy slender limbs that seem to burn
AW
Thy vesture through with fire,
That serpentine electric form
EE
Half quivering with desire,
FL
Thy movements full of grace divine
S
As the music of the lyre—
W
(Alas! for whoso looks on thee
O
AD
Feels new and strange desire,
The serpent winds around his heart,
SH
His soul is turned to fire,
E
As though within his veins there ran

TH
A current of Hell fire.)

D
AN
I know, I know that long ago

The moon with silver feet
KS
Crept to thy bed, close to thine head,

EA
And kissed thy forehead, sweet,

BR
Giving thy lips strange wine to drink,

Y
And alien flesh to eat,

DA
And apples culled from the Dead Sea,

Which are the serpent’s meat,
E
TH
Fruit from the tree by the Dead Sea

Whose fruit is death to eat.
L
TI
UN
Note.— we have deemed it more judicious to represent the

rest of this poem by * * * * * * *.—S.E.S.
83
AY
SONNET VI
AW
(ON THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF
EE
BEETHOVEN’S ‘MOONLIGHT SONATA’)
FL
S
I N a strange land full of strange creeping things
O W
West of the waning sunset—where?—who
AD
knows? SH
A silent shadow-land, whence no wind
blows,—
E
TH
There sits a solitary bird and sings

A mournful melody, and waves his wings,
D
Unto a solitary rose, that grows

AN
By a strange solitary stream, that flows

KS
With mystical melodious murmurings.

EA
And much I marvelled in that lonesome land,

BR
To hear that strange bird’s solitary song;

Y
So I stood silently and listened long

DA
By a wind not of this world faintly fanned—

E
And the song pained me with a wild delight,

TH
The rose looked white bathed in the weird moonlight.

L
TI
UN
84
AY
THE STORM
AW
L OVE, hold me fast,
EE
Hold closely and bind me.
FL
In thine arms closely wind me,
S
That Death may find us together at last.
O W
AD
Ah God, ah God! SH
Wilt thou now smite us,
’Twill but delight us,
E
TH
Thy scorpions are milder than a rod.

D
We count it bliss,
AN
For, love, what bliss is

KS
More sweet than thy kiss is,

EA
And even God hath not robbed me of this.

BR
Let tempests rave

Y
Beyond all morrow,

DA
All joy, all sorrow,

E
We lie entwined in our deep sea grave.

TH
L
I, love, with thee

TI
Will lie together

UN
Through wind and weather

Where the waves hardly waver, or storms shake
the sea.
85
AY
SONNET VII
AW
S OME strange and thrilling chord struck carelessly
EE
Long lingering on lute or viol string,
FL
Snatches from songs thy voice was wont to
S
sing,
O W
Stray strains of wild and wandering melody
AD
Ring from the soul its utmost agony;
SH
Such tear-laden remembrances they bring
Of thee whose foot-fall was as lute-playing,
E
TH
Whose face was even as melody to me.

D
Though like leaves autumn-scattered from the trees

AN
Thy life be shed, thy spirit did not die,

KS
But liveth alway in the sound of these;

EA
That chord was as the glancing of thine eye!

And as I touched that tone I felt thy face
BR
Looking on me with weary wistful gaze.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
86
AY
SONNET VIII
AW
S OFTLY and swiftly falling flakes of snow
EE
Cover and kiss the fallen autumn leaves,
FL
Where the wild wind is as a voice, that grieves,
S
Wearily, wildly, wailing words of woe.
O W
Cover me with thy kisses like the snow,
AD
Burying bitter memories like dead leaves,
SH
Within mine heart, where a sad voice yet
grieves
E
TH
For a lost lingering love, lost long ago.

D
Softly and swiftly let thy kisses rain,

AN
Completely covering me with all delight,

KS
And as the snow-fall over hill and plain,

EA
Clothe me with fair apparel pure and white.

Then is the old wound wholly healed again,
BR
The barren field made beautiful and bright.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
87
AY
RECONCILIATION
AW
D ARLING, what shall we say
EE
Today of yesterday?
FL
Those things are passed away,
S
Alas!—shall nothing stay?—
O W
Shall a year’s love be as waste day’s play?
AD
SH
Yet surely it were vain,
To strive to revive again
E
TH
The old love, the old pain;

Let all slain things lie slain
D
In the short spell of sunshine after rain.

AN
KS
And let no flame aspire,

EA
From the ashes of desire,

And flare with flickering fire
BR
Upon Love’s funeral pyre;

Y
Let no sad wind wail chords on the riven lyre.

DA
E
So, darling, let us say,

TH
It were the better way,

L
To leave last year’s decay,

TI
The fallen flowers of May,

UN
Let the snow cover all with white array.
88
AY
SONG X
AW
TO A RUSSIAN AIR
EE
FL
A H sweet, those eyes, that used to be so tender,
S
Are grown so cold, as bitter cold as death;
O W
The burnt-out ashes fall into the fender,
AD
None shall revive the flame that perisheth.
SH
So leave me, love, just kiss me once, then turning,
E
TH
Go forth from me before the fall of day;

’Twere better, love, to leave the ashes burning
D
Than wait too late till they are burnt away.

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
89
AY
SONG XI
AW
E NTWINE thy limbs around me, love, and let
EE
Thy sweet soft face lean closer kissing me,
FL
Ah sweet! thy beauty stings and burns me, yet
S
Alas, my love, my heart is far from thee!
O W
AD
Cast forth upon the waves and rent in twain,
SH
A riven relic, severed of the sea,
I fear ’t will hardly learn to love again,—
E
TH
Alas, my love, my heart is far from thee.

D
Sweet, be not angered with me, kiss me yet,

AN
And throw thine arms around me lovingly—

KS
Thou art so beautiful, shall I forget?

EA
Alas, my love, my heart is far from thee.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
90
AY
INSOMNIA
AW
A SERPENT is bound about her head,
EE
Her eyes are closed, but she is not dead;
FL
She is not dead, and she doth not sleep,
S
Too weary to wake and too worn to weep
O W
Although her agony is deep,
AD
She hath not wherewithal to slake
SH
The pressing pain of her eyes, that ache,
Her mouth is writhen with the pain
E
TH
Of one that shall not smile again.

D
O thou, whose life is thy delight,

AN
Whose eyes are brilliantly bright,

KS
Who sleepest sweetly every night,

EA
With the light of youth upon thee shed

As an aureole round thy glad head
BR
With benedictions garlanded;

Y
Whose feet flash flame and whose lips drop myrrh;

DA
With thou turn from thy way to pity her?

E
TH
If thou shouldst touch her tired eyes

L
Perchance she would soften her stifled sighs,

TI
And thine healing hand work a miracle,

UN
And a torrent of tears from her worn eyes well,

And in the glad stream her sad soul should steep,
And the touch of thy lips should send her sleep.
91
AY
THE VAMPYRE
AW
“Ich lieb’ dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt
EE
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch’ ich Gewalt.”
FL
S
I WOULD seek thee in secret places
O W
In the darkest hour of night,
AD
Embrace thee with serpent embraces,
SH
Delight thee with strange delight.
E
TH
In a serpent’s coils entwine

Thy supple and exquisite form,
D
And drink from thy veins like wine

AN
Thy blood delicious and warm.

KS
EA
With slow soft sensual sips

Draw the life from the tender spray,
BR
And brush from thy soft lithe lips

Y
The bloom of thy boyhood away.

DA
E
I would breathe with the breath of thy mouth

TH
And pang thee with perfect pain;

L
And the vital flame of thy youth

TI
Should live in my limbs again.

UN
92
AY
AW
EE
FL
S
Till thy vital elastical form
W
Should gradually fade and fail,
O
AD
And thy blood in my veins flow warm,
And glow in my face, that was pale.
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
93
AY
THE SINGING SISTERS
AW
O H the three singing sisters, they sat and span,
EE
While the red thread through their faint fingers
FL
rightly ran.
S
O W
Oh their faces were fearful, their forms were tall,
AD
Their garments fell like a funeral pall,
SH
And they sang a song as they span their thread,
And they that dwelt among the dead
E
TH
Came and sat at the feet of those sisters three,

And heard their soul-thrilling threnody.
D
Some sat and listened, some stood aloof

AN
Watching them weaving their weird woof.

KS
EA
And the three singing sisters sat and span,

And the red thread through their faint fingers rightly
BR
ran.
Y
DA
And this was the song that those sisters sung,

E
“Go take thy lot the wide world among,

TH
And on thy forehead I write my curse

L
From thy cradle unto thine hearse;

TI
Be miserable among happiness,

UN
Be filled with good things in thy distress

Visible for thine eyes shall be
94
AY
Such shameful sights, as none may see;
AW
Such sounds thine ears shall hear,
As shall cause thy soul to quake with fear;
EE
My bitter draught thy tongue shall taste
FL
And drain the dregs to the very last,
S
Thy soul shall seek and thine heart shall crave
W
Such things, as thou mayest not have;
O
AD
If thou love any among men,
Then shall the living all be slain,
SH
But the dead shall rise again,
E
Rise again with a purple stain

TH
That all may know them to be such

D
As have felt the contagion of thy touch.”

AN
And the three singing sisters sat and span,

KS

EA
ran.
BR
Y
And then methought in that same place,

DA
In the depths of the darkness, a fearfuller face

Laughed with a mad malignity,
E
TH
And laughed and laughed eternally.

L
TI
While the three singing sisters sat and span,

UN

ran.
95
AY
SONNET IX
AW
V ISIT me sometimes in the dreams of night,
EE
Until the daybreak and the shadows flee
FL
Away, and let my soul commune with thee;
S
Grant me at least this brief and cold delight—
O W
Canst thou not cross the veil—ah, that I might
AD
Lie but one night in dreams embracing thee,
SH
And feel thee near me, hear thy voice, and see
Thy face once more, and gladden in the sight.
E
TH
My love is dead, and comes not back again,

D
Yet once in the still watches of one night

AN
I felt the silence cleft with a low moan

KS
From a loved voice, that sighed as if in pain,

EA
A spirit’s lips were pressed upon mine own,—

—Then I arose to curse the wan daylight.
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
96
AY
SONG XII
AW
T HEY told me my love had left me,
EE
So I wept, and wept, and wept,
FL
Till I could weep no longer,
S
Then I laid me down and slept.
O W
AD
But my true love had not left me,
SH
And stood by my grave in pain,
And his tears fell softly on me,
E
TH
But I shall not wake again.

D
And this is the story, darling,

AN
That I read in the depths of thine eyes,

KS
Those eyes that are yet as virgin

EA
To tears, as thy lips to sighs.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
97
AY
SONG XIII
AW
TO A BOY
EE
FL
’T IS even a delight, dear,
S
To gaze upon thy face,
O W
To love the life within thee,
AD
Fair fashioned, full of grace.
SH
But in the ark of thy body
The soul hath no resting-place.
E
TH
And so there is that about thee

D
Which left me not content,

AN
As the sighing strings of the wind-harp,

KS
Where the wind’s weird wailings went,

EA
Or the poor pressed petals that still keep

A thought of the rose’s scent.
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
98
AY
ETERNAL SILENCE
AW
S TRIVE not to lift the veil,
EE
Lest lifting it thou die, but lightly look
FL
Upon the open pages of the book,
S
But do not try to read therein the tale,
O W
Lest thine heart utterly should faint and fail.
AD
SH
And do not pause to think
Upon that mystery of misery;
E
TH
Look down into the depths of the deep sea,

But do not linger long upon the brink,
D
Lest fascinated, thou fall therein and sink.

AN
KS
For silence holds a rose

EA
Eternally upon his lips, lest he,

Whose eyes have looked upon the mystery
BR
Should tell to others of the things he knows,

Y
And fill the woe-worn world with woefuller woes.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
99
AY
SONNET X
AW
THE SLEEPING WATERS
EE
FL
I STOOD in a strange city in a dream,
S
Luridly lighted, lifeless, lorn and lone,
O W
Horror without moan or groan, frozen into
AD
stone. SH
Mid this weird woe there did not flow a stream,
Nor fast, nor slow, it did not flow, that stream,
E
TH
Its drear dark dismal depths told forth no tone,

And in the stately streets on grey-grown stone
D
Was writ in characters of silver gleam:

AN
KS
“The sleeping waters—ah, they are deadly chill,

EA
And strangely still, and who is there that will

Wade through the waveless waters wide and deep,
BR
Which do not weep, but sleep, and sleep, and sleep?”

Y
The sleeping waters—ah! I stood upon the brink,

DA
And my soul shivering seemed to shrink and sink.

E
TH
L
TI
UN
100
AY
SONNET XI
AW
I T might have been, but ah, it was too late—
EE
Doomed to be disappointed—and how long
FL
Shall I sit and sing that soul-sick song
S
Of which my soul is sadly satiate?
O W
Which curious counterchange of fitful fate
AD
Led thee to me, for whom I had longed so
SH
long,
Of many days and hours, choosing the wrong,
E
TH
Even that heart-sick hour called “too late”?

D
And thine eyes looked on me so piteously,

AN
Beautiful eyes, that thrilled and filled with tears,

KS
Tears, even for one of which I had yearned for

EA
years,
And thine hand lingered a little lovingly;—
BR
Even for this little, love, long did I wait,

Y
And when it came it was too late—too late.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
101
AY
SONNET XII
AW
A LL of no use, ’twas all of no avail,
EE
I lived my life, I loved my love in vain;
FL
Yea, of all pains this is the bitterest pain,
S
In sooth ’twere hard to tell a sadder tale.
O W
The long hours come and go, and weep and wail,
AD
All wound thee, and the last shall leave thee
SH
slain,
The joy missed once shall not come back again,
E
TH
And all thy tears shall be of no avail.

D
Is thy youth fled,—and are thy dreams all dead?

AN
Is thy one flower trodden under foot

KS
In bye-ways, where the way-worn wanderers tread,

EA
Or hath it bloomed and perished without fruit?

Or is the fruit thereof all plucked and shed?
BR
Or hath thine own hand killed it at the root?

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
102
AY
SONNET XIII
AW
“Om mani padme hum”
EE
FL
A H, the jewel is in the lotus, and one rose
S
Blooms, though all fainter flowers fade away,
O W
Though all be dark, yet there is somewhere day;
AD
Though all the sea be salt, one pure stream flows,
SH
Though all are full of cursing, one bestows
A blessing that shall not be torn away.
E
TH
There is one way, though all ways wind astray,

One path of peace from fire-footed foes.
D
AN
Oh living love, from whose wide wounded heart

KS
Red streams of blood flow through the

EA
firmament,
Though all forsake thee, yet will I not depart,
BR
But in thy worship will I rest content,

Y
Though there be left none else to worship thee,

DA
And all bow down before thine enemy.

E
TH
L
TI
UN
103
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
UN
TI
L
TH
E
DA
Y
BR
EA
KS
AN
D
TH
E
SH
AD
OW
S
FL
EE
AW
AY
The Shadow of Death
AY
POEMS, SONGS AND SONNETS
AW

EE
FL
EPILOGUE TO MYRTLE,
RUE AND CYPRESS
S
O W
“Leaves, little leaves! Thy children, thy flatterers,
thine enemies.”—
AD
SH
Speech of Marcus Aurelius in
E
Marius, the Epicurean

TH
D
L EAVES, little leaves, strown on sad Autumn ways,

AN
Rent relics of the tender trees in Spring.

Songs, little songs, sad songs of by-gone days,
KS
Alas, if the singer have no more heart to sing.

EA
BR
This year, this life; the tree shall not bloom again,
Y
What time the leaves are sere and swift to fall;

DA
Yea, and though love be long protracted pain,

How should they live who do not love at all?
E
TH
How shall they live, who have loved, and love not, and
L
TI
long to love?
UN
How shall they sing, who have sung, and have

nought to sing?
109
The Shadow of Death
AY
Hath not their life lost all fruit and flower thereof,
AW
And fell frosts sever their short and sterile spring?
EE
Leaves, little leaves, waste waifs and stricken strays,
FL
Farewell, till, like death, the shroud-like snow
S
shall fall;
W
Lives, long-lost loves, and songs of the spent spring
O
AD
days,
Farewell, till snow-like death be the end of all.
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
110
The Shadow of Death
AY
VARIATIONS ON THE SAME THEME
AW
I
EE
FL
S EEK for flowers in the snow, nay, for thou shall find
S
none,
W
But phantom fern forms fashioned of the frost;
O
AD
Weep not for all these things, they are past and gone
With the leaves laid low, and the lives and the
SH
loves that are lost.
E
Is it not consolation that in the snow

TH
The trees seem well-nigh beautiful and full of

D
peace,
AN
When the leaves are all laid low,

KS
The bitterer blasts have ceased to blow,

When the sun smiles silently, shall not then
EA
sorrow cease?
BR
Y
Leaves, fallen leaves; ah, my children; ah, my belovèd!

DA
Wind that wailest no more, worn out with

excess of woe,
E
TH
Is it worth the while to cherish

Hopes that shall surely perish,
L
TI
And to dig for flowers beneath the snow?

UN
111
The Shadow of Death
AY
II
AW
Ah, the love, the little love, that you would not give,
EE
The light of life, that the soul ceaseth not to
FL
crave—
S
The little love, without which one cannot live,
W
And the dead soul drags the live corpse down
O
AD
to the grave.
Ah, the soft, the swift, the silent, the shroud-like snow.
SH
Nay, shall I not lay me down and be at peace,
E
When the winds are all laid low,

TH

D
When the shroud is shed around us, shall not

AN
then sorrow cease?

KS
EA
Leaves, little leaves; ah, my children; ah, my belovèd!

BR
excess of woe,
Y

DA

E

TH
L
TI
UN
112
The Shadow of Death
AY
III
AW
Alas, for is not Death shed around us in all the air?
EE
Doth not Death rise and resound in the
FL
rhythm and roar of the sea?
S
Look where thou wilt, thou shalt see Death
W
everywhere
O
AD
With sad eyes set on the shadow of eternity.
Is not Death’s name also written upon the snow?
SH
Shall we not find in his arms everlasting peace?
E

TH

D
When Death kisses our lingering lips, shall not

AN
then sorrow cease?

KS
EA
Leaves, leaves, leaves; ah, my children; ah, my belovèd!

BR
excess of woe,
Y

DA

E

TH
L
TI
UN
113
The Shadow of Death
AY
IV
AW
Hath God not condemned me then to live wholly
EE
in vain?
FL
Ah, the spring was too short, the summer too
S
sad, and the autumn had no joy at all.
W
Shall not one ray of light shine yet ere the ceasing of all
O
AD
pain?
Shall all flowers fall without fruit ere the first
SH
frost fall?
E
But I said, looking ever forth on the cold, cold snow,

TH
Joy hath not been at all though the end be peace.

D

AN

KS
When joy hath ceased to be shall not then

EA
sorrow cease?
BR
Leaves, little leaves; ah, my children; ah, my belovèd!

Y
Ye are all of you long since dead and gone, but I

DA
Am still left here to cherish

E

TH
I have plucked the flower of Death and now I

L
am loth to die.
TI
UN
114
The Shadow of Death
AY
SLAVIC SONGS*
AW
EE
I
FL
S
NJE GOVORÍ
O W
N AD
AY, say no word, I am too nigh to weeping,
Nor have I heart to look upon thy face,
SH
Speak not at all, but turn thou from me, keeping
E
No thought of me, yet grant me this one

TH
grace—
D
But a little while, ’neath the earth I shall be sleeping

AN
Then lay one flower upon my resting place.

KS
Then shall I feel thy divine touch thrilling through me,

EA
Feel the frailest flowers falling, and feel the light

BR
Thro’ my ashes, of thy sweet eyes turning to me,

Y
Who, living, were less than ashes in thy sight—

DA
Nay, say no word, tho’ in life thou didst undo me

Canst thou deny to the dead this one delight?
E
TH
L
TI
UN
* These songs are no more Slavic than Mrs. Browning’s

sonnets are Portugese. They are only set to Slavic melodies.
—S.E.S.
115
The Shadow of Death
AY
II
AW
ZATSJELÚI MENJÁ DO SMJÉRTJI
EE
FL
S AY, shall I bid the moment bide for ever?
S
That is so beautiful, or rather say:
O W
“Thou art so beautiful, therefore thine hand sever
AD
The slender thread and let my life ebb away.”
SH
Let my life ebb away, yet kiss me, darling,
Since the moment cannot stay, and must needs
E
TH
pass by,
Kiss me to death, yea, even to death; ah my belovèd!
D
Ah love! ah life! so long I have longed to die!

AN
KS
I had longed to die, yet said I, “God, in giving

EA
The gift of life, would surely also give

Some joy to make the life-time worth the living.”
BR
Ah love, even now I had liefest cease to live,

Y
I would cease to live, yet do thou slay me, darling,

DA
Since the moment cannot stay, and must needs

E
pass by,
TH
Kiss me to death, yea, even to death; ah my belovèd!

L

TI
UN
116
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
EE
FL
If I were dead and thou wert to kiss me, darling,
S
Oh, from the dead I should surely rise again,
W
Yet living I were liefer, thou slay me, darling,
O
AD
Seeing after this, life were but void and vain,
Say to the moment, “e’en tho’ thou be the fairest,
SH
Thou canst not stay, but also must needs pass by.”
E
Kiss me to death, yea, even unto death; ah my belovèd!

TH

D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
117
The Shadow of Death
AY
III
AW
VTSHERÁ OZHEDÁLA JA DRÚGA
EE
FL
I WAITED for thee, my belovèd!
S
Waited all through one sweet night of spring,
O W
Till tears fell from the wings of the morning,
AD
And the voices of night ceased to sing.
SH
But I had no joy, my belovèd!
In the life all around me so fair,
E
TH
Tho’ all Heaven lay open before me,

What care I, if my love be not there!
D
AN
How sweet it had been, my belovèd!

KS
In the music and moonlight of May,

EA
When the nights, wherein dwelleth no darkness,

Thrill still with delight of the day.
BR
To have wandered, and wandered, and wandered,

Y
And how sweet to have rested—ah where?

DA
Shall I wander or rest now, belovèd?

E
What rest if my love be not there?

TH
L
TI
UN
118
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
EE
FL
S
I have waited so long, my belovèd!
W
Thro’ long days and long nights and long years,
O
AD
In the changing of morning and evening
Shines no sun thro’ the dew-fall of tears—
SH
I have waited too long, I am weary
E
And chilled and afraid in the gloom,

TH
I shall not live to see my belovèd,

D
But may-be feel his tears on my tomb.

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
119
The Shadow of Death
AY
IV
AW
JA VAS LJUBÍL.
EE
FL
A H sweet! those eyes, that used to be so tender,
S
Are grown so cold, as bitter cold as death,
O W
The burnt out ashes fall into the fender,
AD
None shall revive the flame that perisheth.
SH
So leave me “love”, just kiss me once, then turning
E
TH
Go forth from me before the fall of day,

It were better “love” to leave the ashes burning,
D
Than wait, too late, till they are burnt away.

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
120
The Shadow of Death
AY
AMOR MYSTICUS
AW
I
EE
FL
F ROM the east window of my pleasure-house,
S
There is a forest of trees blossoming,
W
That stir a little when a Seraph’s wing,
O
AD
In passing over them, makes melody
Faint fluttering o’er vibrant viol string—
SH
But from western window steep and sheer,
E
The wailing waters of an infinite sea,

TH
In refluent response of a litany,

D
Against the casement ever splash and souse.

AN
Even there I dreamed I dwelt with you, my dear,

KS
*I dreamed of you, but you did not dream of me.

EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
* “ J’ai rêvé d’elle mais elle n’a pas rêvé de moi.”

PAUL VERLAINE.
121
The Shadow of Death
AY
II
AW
But when I looked on those mysterious eyes,
EE
Then spirit choristers began to sing
FL
Of wailing waters and trees blossoming—
S
Because those eyes are like the melody
W
That flutters o’er a vibrant viol string,
O
AD
Earth seen thro’ water, suffused with the shadow of fire,
But mostly like mute moonlight on calm sea—
SH
Oh then! I thought of my dream litany
E
And offered up my soul in sacrifice,

TH
That in your soul One thought I might inspire

D
For I loved you, but you did not care for me.
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
122
The Shadow of Death
AY
III
AW
And so I prayed that never any word
EE
My love might hear of my soul’s travailing—
FL
Nathless I cannot help remembering
S
How very sad was that long stretch of sea,
W
And yet how glad were those trees blossoming,
O
AD
So at that hour when the day was done,
And you, too, knelt in that dim sanctuary,
SH
I, through the wave-beats of that litany,
E
Prayed—“Though my soul be given to the sword,

TH
Oh spare my darling, spare mine only one.”

D
I prayed for you, but you did not pray for me.
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
123
The Shadow of Death
AY
“GABRIEL”
AW
“Le bercement vague d’une incantation magique entendue
EE
à demi dans un rêve.”
FL
S
M INE head upon thy lap, love, let me lie,
O W
I am wounded, and without thee I shall die,
AD
Lull me and love me, love! till I am well,
SH
Gabriel.
E
TH
Turn on me sweetly till my soul have ease,

Thine evening eyes, that seem to breath forth peace,
D
Wherefrom the tender tears are quick to quell,

AN
Gabriel.
KS
EA
Ah! for an everlasting afternoon—

Lift not thine eyes, lest sunset come too soon,
BR
With the long tolling of the vesper bell,

Y
Gabriel.
DA
E
The sweet, slow, sleepy, solemn sounds that seem

TH
Like incantations half heard in a dream,

L
Or sad-eyed Siren singing some strange sea spell,

TI
Gabriel.
UN
124
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
Sing me to sleep while the long shadows wane,
EE
Sing to me the songs of childhood—come again
FL
With thy sweet eyes, that all ill thoughts repel,
S
Gabriel.
O W
AD
In blessing lay thine hands upon my head,
Ah! would that with the sunset I were dead!
SH
Having lived for one sweet hour, too sweet to tell,
E
Gabriel.
TH
D
Living no longer than the lingering light,

AN
Seeing thy sweet eyes slowly sink from sight,

While the slant shadows sound my dying knell,
KS
Gabriel.
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
125
The Shadow of Death
AY
VIOL D’AMOR
AW
“I T is only the wind, Anastasia!
EE
Only the wind and the rain,
FL
And the blooming branch of the blackthorn
S
That for me shall not bloom again—
O W
AD
“Sing me a song, my sister! SH
For I love not the wild wind’s moan,
To the Viol d’Amor, Anastasia!
E
TH
That is so sweet of tone,

Let me hear thee near, Anastasia!
D
I shall soon be quite alone.”

AN
KS
“Nay, but close thine eyes, my brother!

EA
Close thine eyes with thy lashes long,

May be thou wilt sleep, my darling,
BR
If I sing thee an old world song,

Y
Of the old times since forgotten,

DA
Not worth remembering long.”

E
TH
L
TI
UN
126
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
“It is only the wind, Anastasia!
EE
For now it has ceased to rain,
FL
And a cold moon ray thro’ the blackthorn
S
Slides right through the window pane.
W
Her sad song slid on the moonbeam,
O
AD
And the viol strings throbbed again.”
SH
Rain pearls on the blooming blackthorn,
E
The pale moon with silver tips,

TH
To the Viol d’Amor’s sad cadence

D
The roof-shed rain-fall drips—

AN
A shadow crept thro’ the doorway

And kissed the pale boy on the lips.
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
127
The Shadow of Death
AY
THE RED HAWTHORN
AW
(SONG TO STRINGED INSTRUMENT)
EE
FL
M Y love is gone away,
S
I have no heart to sing,
O W
I have but this to say,
AD
May is no longer May, SH
Spring is no longer Spring,
Nor shall I find delight in—anything.
E
TH
I used to love the May,

D
Red Hawthorn blossoming,

AN
The fire-frost, flame-rod spray,

KS
Because I used to say

EA
Of all the flowers of Spring

This is most like my love—to my imagining.
BR
Y
My love has gone away,

DA
I have no heart to sing.

E
Oh sad scent of sweet May,

TH
Saddest at fall of day,

L
Death-scent thro’ living Spring;

TI
May is no longer May,

UN
Spring is no longer Spring.
128
The Shadow of Death
AY
THE DEATH-WATCH
AW
D ARLING, would you be sorry
EE
If you knew that I were dead?
FL
Who loved you above all things,
S
Though never word I said.
O W
AD
Did you know dear, that I loved you?
SH
One day your look was kind,
And one day—oh, so sad, love!
E
TH
Were I dead, dear, would you mind?

D
Eyes! that I dared not look to,

AN
Lips! that I dared not touch—

KS
Would you pray for me a little,

EA
Who prayed for you so much?

BR
If passing to my grave, dear,

Y
On some sad All Souls day—

DA
Oh! where your tears had fallen,

E
Violets would bloom alway.

TH
L
TI
UN
129
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONG
AW
I BUILT a house of cards,
EE
It was far too fain to fall down,
FL
I said as I picked up each one,
S
Through my cross there shall shine no crown.
O W
AD
I built a house for friends, SH
I said what could be more dear,
For I knew not that friendship ends,
E
TH
And I knew not that you were near.

D
I built a palace of love,

AN
But my heart has grown over weak,

KS
Being torn with the pain thereof,

EA
I am silent and shall not speak.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
130
The Shadow of Death
AY
THE TURN-STILE
AW
W HY dost thou mourn? The days are very few,
EE
Frail flowers are watered from thine eyelids
FL
wet—
S
Thy tears are far too salt—not like the dew,
O W
Nor shall thy love return for thy regret—
AD
O thou that livest on memory! sleep and
SH
forget.
E
TH
The days are few—’tis not worth while to weep,

Yet do I doubt that aught might make thee
D
smile—
AN
’Tis weariness to wake—better to sleep,

KS
Yet even to sleep were hardly worth our while,

EA
Come! let us go!—’tis not far—to life’s turn-stile.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
131
The Shadow of Death
AY
PERHAPS
AW
P ERHAPS in the long sweet living days of spring,
EE
When the tree-blossoms fall softer than the
FL
snow,
S
And fields, and floods, and flowers unite to sing,
O W
Thou wilt wander in the ways we used to go.
AD
Perhaps thou wilt sadden a little, remembering
SH
Some word, some jest, some slight and trivial thing,
Or reach of flowers, that we used to know,
E
TH
And thou wilt remember me who loved you so.

D
Perhaps thou wilt linger a little, loth to part—

AN
In the long sweet spring-days it is often so,

KS
That sudden tears will to the eyelids start,

EA
Thinking of things far off, and long ago—

Then I shall bless thee, seeing how sweet thou art,
BR
But a sevenfold sword shall pierce me thro’ the heart,

Y
And there shall be no ending to my woe,

DA
If thou remember me not who loved thee so.

E
TH
L
TI
UN
132
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
Perhaps thou wilt weep a little for my sake,
EE
Ah love! I would no sadness thou mightest know,
FL
How could I have the cruelty to make,
S
Even for one moment, thy priceless tears to
W
flow—
O
AD
Oh, my soul longeth in thy tears her thirst to slake,
Nay, if thou weep not, surely my heart shall break—
SH
I cannot bear that thou should’st forget me—no,
E
Thou shalt remember me who loved thee so.

TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
133
The Shadow of Death
AY
FRAGMENT
AW
W EEP for what was not, and what might have been,
EE
What might have been and has not been at
FL
all—
S
Ah, the snow fell before the grass grew green,
O W
Ah, sad sweet eyes, that the tears fill and do
AD
not fall. SH
Oh thou wert as soft sunset thro’ my days,
E
TH
And thro’ my nights as sundawn lingering.

I looked on thee and blessed thy words and ways,
D
Sad eyes fore-saddened with unseen sorrowing.

AN
KS
I dare not look on thee to say farewell,

EA
Oh, shall we say that it were better so?

The measure of missed misery, who shall tell,
BR
Sad eyes that sing long litanies of woe.

Y
DA
Thou wilt remember me when far away,

E
Thou wilt remember, since thou canst not forget,

TH
Thro’ my long night and thro’ my dreamless day,

L
Ah, sad sweet eyes, reflecting all regret.

TI
UN
134
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
SAPPHO
EE
D OST thou remember—was it long ago?
FL
How once we wandered hand in hand
S
Along the sadness of the sand
W
And the sea sobbed and the wind wailed with woe.
O
AD
Dost thou remember—the sea-swallows’ cry?
SH
As though nought might assuage their grief
E
Or bring them respite or relief—

TH
I held thine hand the closer—thou didst sigh.

D
AN
Dost thou remember—dost thou wander now

Along the same untrodden ways
KS
And think in these sad Autumn days

EA
How once we went together, I and thou?

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
135
The Shadow of Death
AY
“An Marie Geburt
AW
Ziehen die Schwalben furt.”
EE
H OW shall I sing—what shall I say
FL
If all my swallows be flown away?
S
I have little heart to sing today.
O W
AD
Swallows that fly to the end of the earth,
Swallows that sway o’er the sea’s great girth,
SH
Swallows that fly on Mary’s birth.
E
TH
Loves of the past—songs of to-day,

D
All with the swallows are flown away,

AN
Nothing on earth may endure or stay.

KS
Oh let thy mourning be turned to mirth

EA
With the swallows fly away from the earth,

BR
Rejoice and be glad in Mary’s birth.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
136
The Shadow of Death
AY
COMPLIES DE LA SAINTE VIERGE
AW
O h! la Vierge Marie
EE
Donne le sommeil
FL
Espère! chacun qui prie,
S
Voit le réveil,
OW
Chacun par toute la nuit
AD
Voit le vermeil— SH
Vermeil qui vêtit
L’aube de soleil.
E
TH
Espère! par toute la nuit

Pour le réveil
D
Car la Vierge Marie

AN
Donne le sommeil.
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
137
The Shadow of Death
AY
TO SAINT TERESA
AW
Y ES, we have heard of thee long before now,
EE
Pallas Athene with her shield and sword,
FL
And crested helmet on her virgin brow,
S
But her words were not as thy word.
O W
AD
Yes, we have heard of thee long time agone,
SH
Diotima speaking unto Socrates
Words of great wisdom, but of thine, but one
E
TH
Word were more worth than hundred-fold of

these.
D
AN
How sweet it is to say the word “Carmél”!

KS
Sancta Teresa, how my spirit faints

EA
To think of those who dwelt and those who dwell,

Thy progeny the prophets and the saints.
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
138
The Shadow of Death
AY
CHANSON SOLAIRE
AW
S UNLIGHT, sacred light, and lovely wind of the
EE
morning,
FL
There is no delight in the night but only
S
delight in thee,
O W
Who, all the sadness of the night and terror of dread
AD
dreams scorning, SH
Vesteth the mountains with gold, and
shimmereth along the sea.
E
TH
Oh! when the sun has arisen—then all the Angels in

D
glory
AN
Say: “Glory to God in the highest and unto

KS
mankind be peace.”
EA
And who is he that shall dare to re-tell the same old

false story,
BR
That seekers may seek in vain, and of suffering

Y
that may not cease.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
139
The Shadow of Death
AY
AUTUMN SONG
AW
(NOCTURNE)
EE
FL
I
S
W
W
O
HEN the nights are so cold—belovèd,
AD
And thy grave not with my tears wet,
SH
Then will I visit thee most—oh, my belovèd,
In the rapture of regret.
E
TH
When the days are all haze and mist, belovèd—

D
In the lingering leaf-falling sunset,

AN
I will twine flowers round thy tomb—oh my belovèd,

KS
In the luxury of regret.

EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
140
The Shadow of Death
AY
AUTUMN SONG
AW
(VESPERTINE)
EE
FL
II
S
W
S
O
WEET! how sweet it were to die
AD
On this placid afternoon
SH
Before the rising of the moon,
Love! together you and I.
E
TH
It is not very much too soon—

Leaves fall—I and you
D
Must die too.

AN
KS
So as not to hear the rushing rain,

EA
So as not to feel the falling snow,

And winter, wild and waste with woe,
BR
At least we shall not see again.

Y
Come, my belovèd, it is time to go—

DA
Leaves fall—I and you

E
Must die too.

TH
L
TI
UN
141
The Shadow of Death
AY
REQUIEM
AW
B RETHREN! I pray you of your charity
EE
To pray for one who is not dead, but lives.
FL
That God among the many gifts He gives,
S
May give some little gift to such as he—
O W
AD
Who is not dead, nor sleeping, but awake—
SH
That He might give some slight surcease of pain
To one who cannot render you again
E
TH
Your spiritual alms for Jesus’ sake.

D
One drop of water just to cool his tongue—

AN
Ye that are old and seem too full of woe,

KS
Because ’tis nearly time for you to go,

EA
Oh pray for one who is not old but young.

BR
But children mostly, ye that have the light

Y
Of heaven still upon your faces fair:

DA
Oh pray for one who most may need your prayer,

E
Because your angels stand within God’s sight.

TH
L
TI
UN
142
The Shadow of Death
AY
“ALL SOUL’S EVEN”
AW
B UT a few flowers, just a few
EE
Upon my grave, that I may see
FL
That you have sometime thought on me
S
Who never cease to think on you.
O W
AD
Oh, it is dark, and dank and drear,
Dismal and dreadful underground,
SH
Where the wind sighs unpityingly around,
E
And the rain falls not softly like a tear.

TH
D
But was there one that loved the dead?

AN
A faltering footstep went and came,

KS
Tall tapers flared with flickering flame,

And flowers were laid upon my head.
EA
BR
And so I blessed the gentle day

Y
When some will turn them from the strife,

DA
And war of words and lust of life,

To think on old friends passed away.
E
TH
And so this night I cry to you,

L
TI
And bless you that you came to me—

UN
Who did not ask inordinately—

But a few flowers, just a few.
143
The Shadow of Death
AY
REQUIEM
AW
“Requiem æternam dona eis Domine
EE
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.”
FL
S
T EACH us to pray for the belovëd dead,
W
Since we are blind and know not what is best.
O
AD
The still small voice of Silence answering said,
“Pray for rest.”
SH
E
Oh, my lost love, and shall I therefore pray

TH
That thou may’st sleep through an eternal night?

D
The still small voice of Silence answered, “Nay,

AN
Pray for light.”

KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
144
The Shadow of Death
AY
BIRTHDAY SONG
AW
October 24th, 1891
EE
T HOU wast born when the leaves all fall,
FL
And the tombs with tears are wet—
S
All fall, but amongst this all
O W
Blooms the first violet.
AD
SH
Roses are not yet dead,
Dahlias for glory shine—
E
TH
Twine the violets round thine head,

Their herald Spring-tide be thine!
D
AN
To have travelled for twenty years—

KS
Does the way seem somewhat long?

EA
Plenty of time for tears,

But the time is not over for song.
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
145
The Shadow of Death
AY
CHANT DE CYGNE
AW
I S it the hills that are not high,
EE
Or the scant verdure of the plain,
FL
I sorrow not to see again—
S
Or why
O W
Is it such pain
AD
To die?
SH
Limited and familiar sky!
E
TH
And earth that I have known so long!

Surely my hold on you is strong—
D
Else why
AN
Does it seem wrong

KS
To die?
EA
I have no loves to bid “good-bye,”

BR
No hands to thrill me at their touch,

Y
And none will miss me very much—

DA
So why
E
Is it sad that such

TH
As I
L
Should die?
TI
UN
146
The Shadow of Death
AY
NOCTURNE
AW
’T IS not the song that dies into a sigh,
EE
Or flower-twined tomb-stone with the singing
FL
dove—
S
For these are nowise meant for me—for I
W
Have sung out all my song, loved all my love—
O
AD
Leave me alone to be sick, leave me alone to die!
SH
’Tis not the desolation and the doom,
E
And wail of bitter tears—I want no poetry,

TH
For the dead dullness of the Spital room

D
Are more than I deserve, far more, for why

AN
Should I, whose shaft has withered without bloom,

KS
Seek fallen flowers and fruit?—leave me alone

to die!
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
147
The Shadow of Death
AY
EXPECTATIO PARTÛS B.V.M.
AW
T HE night was full of fever and unrest,
EE
The hours went drearily and wearily,
FL
But at the sunrise I arose and blest
S
The amber light that shimmered on the sea.
O W
AD
Before, the moon was growing over pale,
SH
A mystical white mist fell freezingly,
An Angel came and moved away the veil,
E
TH
Whose amber footsteps shimmered on the sea.

D
Gabriel, sent to Mary long ago,

AN
With flame-like feet bent down adoringly,

KS
Christ shall soon come to ease us of our woe,

EA
Because thy footsteps shimmer on the sea.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
148
The Shadow of Death
AY
DIE HINTERLASSENEN
AW
T HEY journeyed onward, shadowed by a star,
EE
But we were far too faint to follow them,
FL
We cried—“Oh, whither go ye? is it far?”
S
“Yes—to Bethlehem.”
O W
AD
Some spake of Angels singing in the night,
SH
Of glory and good will, and most of peace;
And how the darkness shone with a great light—
E
TH
—But our woe did not cease.

D
We are still sitting in the shade of Death,

AN
(The wise men and the shepherds are gone by)

KS
In our lone desolate land, which visiteth

EA
No day-spring from on high.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
149
The Shadow of Death
AY
NOEL
AW
H E held the world within His hand,
EE
The sky grew golden when He smiled,
FL
The sea stood still at His command,
S
A little child.
O W
AD
Mary and Joseph, only ye SH
Could e’er have seen Him when He smiled;
Men saw Him weeping bitterly,
E
TH
Your little child.

D
O love, that casteth out all fear,

AN
On thy straw couch in winter wild,

KS
Spare for me too one single tear,

EA
O Little Child.
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
150
The Shadow of Death
AY
SYLVESTERNACHT—
AW
TO THE OLD YEAR
EE
F AREWELL, thou hast had thy fill
FL
Of sin and sorrow,
S
Farewell, shall we fare less ill
O W
To-morrow.
AD
SH
Go—thou hast had thy share
Of vain regret,
E
TH
Shall sunrise seem more fair

Than sunset?
D
AN
Washed, thou art not made pure

KS
With floods of tears,

EA
Shall next year have less to endure

Than other years?
BR
Y
Left leaves and loves laid low!

DA
Faith, hope grown cold.

E
Will a wind less bitter blow

TH
The crocus gold?

L
TI
Kings are come from afar,

UN
Let us follow them—

They say they have seen a star
In Bethlehem.
151
The Shadow of Death
AY
MAY BLOSSOM (A VISION)
AW
I SPRINKLED on my bed to-day,
EE
Upon my bed of ceaseless pain,
FL
Some of the perfume of red May—
S
—I shall not see the spring again.
O W
AD
It seemed, some halo of the moon,
SH
Which lambent, carmine shadows threw;
The disc was wholly silver soon
E
TH
Encircled with a ring of blue.

D
And in that silvern heart of space,

AN
Slowly an image did arise,

KS
Thy strange dark hair, thy strange pale face,

EA
And thine unfathomable eyes.

BR
But oh! thy face was very pale,

Y
Thine eyes were wilder than of old—

DA
Thou triedst to speak, but speech did fail,

E
And darling! how thy lips were cold.

TH
L
It seemed there fell a red white snow

TI
Upon my bed of ceaseless pain,

UN
From where the far-off hawthorns grow,

I shall not see the spring again.
152
The Shadow of Death
AY
FRAGMENT
AW
O H child, my child, whose eyes are like the light
EE
Of sunset lessening yet lingering,
FL
Might I not gladden a little in their sight,
S
And my sad shadowy Autumn seem like Spring?
O W
AD
Alas! I may not enter Paradise,
SH
And Spring—ah Spring—was never Spring for
me—
E
TH
Pray but one prayer for me with thy sweet eyes

And let my soul of thine have charity!
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
153
The Shadow of Death
AY
NOCTURNE
AW
C HILD, if I say or said
EE
This litany,
FL
Wilt thou on thy white bed
S
Pray for me?
WO
AD
My soul with sin is red,
Oh pray for me.
SH
Angels stand around thy bed,
E
And wait on thee.

TH
D
Thy soul is white as snow,

AN
Pray thou for me.

KS
My soul is waste with woe,

Yet I pray for thee.
EA
BR
My prayers have no avail—

Y
If I pray for thee,

DA
God’s grace can never fail

If thou pray for me.
E
TH
L
TI
UN
154
The Shadow of Death
AY
MONDSEE
AW
(NOCTURNE)
EE
FL
S URELY it were a sweeter thing to have,
S
Instead of cold, hard, pitiless earth for grave,
W
Thy waters—Monsea! that thy moonlights lave,
O
AD
When the strange shadows sleep beneath thy
wave.
SH
E
When the swans wander thro’ the silvern sheen,

TH
Over the gray-blue place where dwells Undine,

D
Whose mystical sad eyes are such dark green

AN
As the moon shining on a Tourmaline.

KS
Lilies, and reeds, and trees, and mountains steep,

EA
Are all reflected there where I would sleep—

BR
And oh, thy waters seems so dark and deep,

Y
When guardian angel stars their vigils keep.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
155
The Shadow of Death
AY
THE PASSION OF SLEEP
AW
EE
BALLADE
FL
S
H OW sweet it is to fall—
W
Waters of grey, green, blue!
O
AD
Walled with a yielding wall
Your liquid crystal through—
SH
Here no foot may pursue,
E
Tho’ voices afar may call—

TH
—Voices afar are few—

D
Sleep is the best of all.

AN
KS
World of wormwood and gall,

Whose myrtle is only rue,
EA
Give me the cypress tall,

BR
And moon-thrown shadows of yew.

Y
Let weeping winters strew

DA
Snow on my bed for a pall—

—This thing alone is true—
E
TH

L
TI
UN
156
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
EE
ENVOI
FL
S
Sweet—how I dream of you!
W
Do you dream of me at all?—
O
AD
If you did, would you say too?
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
157
The Shadow of Death
AY
FRAGMENT
AW
M USIC and Sleep are one, and Love and Death
EE
Are even as their brethren—let us die—
FL
Or let me sleep where thou canst play to me,
S
Let thy violin-like voice flow over me,
O W
Like oil poured forth upon the savage waves
AD
That beat upon the prow of a dark ship
SH
Which bears a load of shadows of despair.
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
158
The Shadow of Death
AY
PRAYER
AW
“O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.”
EE
FL
O THOU of seven sorrows, list to me—
S
I, who have many sorrows, call to thee—
O W
Let me have some of thy sweet charity.
AD
SH
Thou, who art wise, forgive my foolishness;
Thou, who art sweet, forgive my bitterness;
E
TH
Thou, who art gentle, forgive mine ungentleness.

D
Thou, who art clement, thou who art good and sweet,
AN
Turn to the exile, crawling at thy feet,

KS
Thine eyes too full of mercy, and entreat,

EA
God to be merciful from the mercy seat.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
159
The Shadow of Death
AY
FRAGMENT
AW
“Ad vesperum demorabitur fletus et ad matutinum lætitia.”
EE
FL
G OD said, “I wait,” and “shall I longer wait,
S
There is one way, although the way be strait,
O W
That way winds straightly unto Heaven’s gate.”
AD
SH
I said, “My seed hath fallen among thorns,
And through sad evenings until joyless morns,
E
TH
I did not heed or hear the voice that warns.

D
“Too sad at eve, at morning to rejoice,

AN
Mine ears were deafened by the world’s great noise.

KS
Alas! I did not listen to Thy voice.”

EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
160
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET I
AW
NEW YEAR’S NIGHT
EE
FL
O H, the moon shines lugubriously, cold and drear,
S
A weird, white mist falls freezingly over all,
O W
Shadowy, like a shroud the old year’s funeral pall.
AD
SH
The weary, wicked, woeful, worn old year,
On his dim death-bed now grown almost drear,
E
TH
The old sad year, on whom we used to call

With curses on our lips—now the tears
D
fall,
AN
Why should we weep for what is not worth a tear?

KS
EA
A shrinking from the unfamiliar days,

The dreamer, who awakening from his dream,
BR
Is loth to look upon the lorn grey light,

Y
Or as the traveller, travelling on strange

DA
ways,
E
Is sick at heart, because the strange things seem

TH
To pain him rather, where he sought delight.

L
TI
UN
161
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET II
AW
T O travel is to die continually,
EE
To see things at their saddest—passing away—
FL
The horror of strange faces every day,
S
And the sad travail of still-born sympathy,
O W
Oh, what is death but this same agony—
AD
To look upon the sun-lit fields and say,
SH
“To-morrow shall not be as yesterday.”
Who knows to-morrow what mine eyes may see?
E
TH
A few wild flowers strewn within the street,

D
Is it with tears or with the rain-fall wet?

AN
The few familiar faces we used to greet,

KS
Small things whereon so little store we set,

EA
Are in this latter day grown strangely sweet

And sad with the association of regret.
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
162
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET III
AW
AD PATRIAM
EE
FL
L AND, whoso looks upon thee only sees
S
The woeful weariness of thy waste ways.
O W
Wastes that the horror of the horizon hardly
AD
stays. SH
Oh melancholy and manifold of maladies
Where the tears fall not, but are fain to freeze,
E
TH
In the tolerable darklessness of thy dim days,

In the intolerable tyranny that weaves and
D
weighs
AN
A shrivelled shroud to cover all thy skies.

KS
EA
Ah, the little thing, the swift, the sudden spring,

The bright, warm days, when life of life grew fair,
BR
And viol-strings vibrated in all the air.

Y
Oh, thrice-accursed land! Thou could’st not bear

DA
That we should have solace of our sorrowing,

E
So hast thou swathed our spring in thy snows again.

TH
L
TI
UN
163
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET IV
AW
ON THE FREEZING OF THE BALTIC SEA
EE
FL
W HO hath not lingered a little by the shore?
S
Seeking a symbol in the sighing of the sea,
O W
Floods of vain desire refluent eternally
AD
Ebbs of hopes, lost and again for evermore—
SH
Novelty of horror—thought not conceived before—
Livid and leaden-hued, lifeless, the solid sea,
E
TH
Silently stretching towards infinity,

Ice more fearful than storms, and the great waves roar.
D
AN
“If the sea sigh not, then shall I die,” I said,

KS
“I have loved the sea for its passion and its pain
EA
In the world-woe’s image seeking a solace

of woe,
BR
If the sea sigh not, then surely is all hope dead—”

Y
And as I cast mine eyes on the sea again,

DA
One walked upon the waters, sombre,

E
solemn, and slow.

TH
L
TI
UN
164
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET V
AW
(WRITTEN IN SICKNESS)
EE
FL
“Ego dixi in dimidio dierum meorum vadam ad portas
S
inferi.”
O W
I AD
SAID, “I will go down into the pit,
SH
Even before the ending of my day.”
So I am fallen weary on the way.
E
TH
Life shall not leave me loth to part from it.

D
For the long light outlives the little sweet

AN
In the sad sojourn of the desolate day,

KS
But night brings sleep and solace, so I say:

EA
“Give me the cleft pomegranate that I may eat.”

BR
But now death dims the light about mine head,

Y
O let me live, for I were loth to die.

DA
The old familiar earth and limited sky

E
Are dear to me, e’en tho’ my heart have bled—

TH
Oh let me live and let me love—a lie.

L
TI
UN
165
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET VI
AW
“O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte si est
EE
dolor similis sicut dolor meus.”
FL
S
A LL suffer, but thou shall suffer inordinately.
O W
All weep, but thy tears shall be tears of blood.
AD
I will destroy the blossom in the blood,
SH
Nathlesss, I will not slay thee utterly—
Nay, thou shalt live—I will implant in thee
E
TH
Strange lusts and dark desires, lest any should,

In passing, look on thee in piteous mood,
D
For from the first I have my mark on thee.

AN
KS
So shalt thou suffer without sympathy,

EA
And should’st thou stand within the street and say:

“Look on me, ye that wander by the way,
BR
If there be any sorrow like to mine.”

Y
They shall not bind thy wounds with oil and

DA
wine,
E
But with strange eyes downcast, shall turn from thee.

TH
L
TI
UN
166
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET VII
AW
L ET us go home—didst thou not hear a sound?
EE
A long, low, lispèd laugh—didst thou not hear?
FL
A wicked whisper echoing in mine ear,
S
And through the shuddering silence all around,
O W
A growling as of wild beasts underground.
AD
And so I know mine enemy is near,
SH
Who dwelleth in the darkness, fraught with fear,
Tracking me ever as a silent hound.
E
TH
Look down into the river, deep, deep, deep—

D
Betwixt our long, dark shadows hand in hand,

AN
Cast upward from the water—not down from

KS
the land.
EA
A shadow fainter than a shade—laugh not nor weep.

Was that the echo of a rock that fell?
BR
But also a louder laugh, hardly hushed in Hell.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
167
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET VIII
AW
O H—and the darkness grew intolerable,
EE
And as I looked down the long, low corridor
FL
I felt another horror, unfelt before.
S
There was no light there—but may-be the flames of Hell
O W
Cast shadows darker than darkness—palpable—
AD
It did not walk, yet crept not on the floor,
SH
And my soul froze within me to the core.
It touched me and It spake—how It spake I cannot tell.
E
TH
Yea, and It spake to me thus mockingly:

D
“Resist me not, with me there is no strife,

AN
Dids’t thou not call upon me, I am come

KS
To be the Guardian Angel of thine home,

EA
To be a light to lighten all thy life

Henceforth we will dwell together, thou and I.”
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
168
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET IX
AW
“The long hours come and go, and come and go.”
EE
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
FL
S
W HAT is the time? What of the time? alas!
W
The hours that go and come, and come and go,
O
AD
The long-short hours, so swift, so sad, so slow
The turning and returning of the glass
SH
For hours, that linger a little as they pass;
E
Or hours, that have not wept out all their woe,

TH
Or all their sad significance—also

D
The latter hours of flowers and green grass.

AN
KS
What of the night? The night is sure to come;

What of the day? We shall not see the day,
EA
We shall be very, very far away,

BR
In a lone land, where there is little light—

Y
—Let us await the advent of the night

DA
Here, hand-in-hand, and by ourselves at home.

E
TH
L
TI
UN
169
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET X
AW
A FTER the tireless night’s monotony
EE
No choristers salute the rising sun,
FL
One would not think the day were yet begun,
S
Save that the dull dead-driven carts go by,
O W
And sad, ignoble shades of poverty
AD
Creep through the lessening darkness one by
SH
one,
Their weary daily race once more to re-run,
E
TH
They do not think—so are not sad as I.

D
Thou dost best sleep—weak heart and weary eyes—

AN
This toil and turmoil have no part with thee,

KS
For thou shalt be made glad by no sunrise;

EA
And these look forth to sunrise yet to be—

But through the drear dusk dawn of this chill day
BR
A bell just rang—because some people pray.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
170
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET XI
AW
ON LES SEPT PRINCESSES, BY M. MAETERLINCK.
EE
FL
T HERE is a shiver from the very first—
S
Unto the cadence of the waves that weep
O W
Mystically clad in robes of white they sleep
AD
And sleep, and when they wake, they are athirst,
SH
Agony!—as tho’ the heart would burst.
One may not reach them, for the stairs are steep,
E
TH
Yet one can see the sombre shadow creep—

A Thing one may not know—a thing accurst.
D
AN
Alas O King! thine eyes are waxen dim,

KS
Alas O Queen! thy hearth is desolate,

EA
Alas Ursule! thy bridegroom comes too late,

And having waited such long hours for him,
BR
One hour yet more thou hadst not strength to

Y
wait—
DA
The cup of sorrow overflows the brim.

E
TH
L
TI
UN
171
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET XII
AW
G OD grant thee sleep—child! if thou didst but know
EE
The weary agony of those who wake,
FL
Then on thy bended knees for their sad sake,
S
So many prayers from thy sweet lips would flow,
O W
That God, who hears thy prayers, might ease their woe.
AD
Yea, God might even permit them to partake
SH
Of thy sweet innocent slumber without break—
Innocence lost, lost, long, long ago!
E
TH
Sleep of the sleepless, this is worst of all,

D
The swirling sand-wind driven by devilish

AN
dreams,
KS
Hot eyelids only closed from weariness—

EA
Oh! then, when sleep on thine eyes like dew doth fall,
And angels lead thee to the flower-girt streams—
BR
Perhaps thou wilt think of them in

Y
their distress.
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
172
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET XIII
AW
“Diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis
EE
propterea benedixit te Deus in æternum.”
FL
PSALM 44
S
W
E
O
VEN as the apple tree among the trees,
AD
So among all God’s sons my love is fair;
SH
The shadow of sleep is shed upon his hair,
And his eyes listen to unseen melodies.
E
TH
His face is like the morning light which sees

The flowers that open and worship without care;
D
All that the morning has of rich and rare

AN
Is poured upon those gracious lips of his.

KS
EA
Ah love, thy lips!—but I can only pray

That God may bless thee, seeing He made
BR
thee so,
Y
And let me bear the load of all thy woe.

DA
So that thine eyes may kindle, and thou may’st say

E
Unto the hill of spices I will go

TH
Till daybreak and the shadows flee away.

L
TI
UN
173
The Shadow of Death
AY
OCTAVE I
AW
M ANY are dreams that one should tell thereof,
EE
But I have only one dream—I and he,
FL
His arms wound all around me tenderly,
S
Treading on air, and flower-lit fields we rove.
O W
AD
Sucked down into the abyss of my great love;
SH
I think, beloved! thou mightest cease to be,
And we, being made as one eternally,
E
TH
Walk a twin star along the light above.

D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
174
The Shadow of Death
AY
OCTAVE II
AW
“Ne m’éveille pas
EE
De grâce parle bas.”
FL
S
L OVE! lest I wake, oh let thy voice be low,
O W
And very sweet and tender, lest I wake,
AD
Who fain would still be sleeping for thy sake.
SH
O my beloved—I, who love thee so.
E
TH
What worlds of weariness and worlds of woe

Have fallen on my head—oh! let me make
D
One moment of all moments—lest my heart

AN
break,
KS
Say that thou will not wake me, darling, no.

EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
175
The Shadow of Death
AY
SONNET XIV
AW
ST. STANISLAUS KOSTKA
EE
FL
O H! there are chosen lilies in God’s house;
S
Floods cleave before them, when with shining
O W
feet
AD
They walk upon their way serene and sweet.
SH
The light of Godhead bound about their brows,
They have not seen or known things riotous;
E
TH
No could their ears bear aught that was not sweet,

It was the same, the cloister or the street;
D
To them the serpent was not dangerous.

AN
KS
Oh Saint! my Saint! oh most divinely fair!

EA
How shall I dare to look on thy pure face?

’Tis said thy countenance had once such grace,
BR
That men who saw were moved unto deep prayer.

Y
Oh let us feel, who are faint, and filled with fears,

DA
The glory and the beauty of thy tears.

E
TH
L
TI
UN
176
The Shadow of Death
AY
TRANSLATIONS
AW
EE
PARAPHRASE FROM SAPPHO
FL
S
O W
L AD
IKE to the gods is that one who, my darling,
SH
Sits beside thee hearing thy lovely laughter,
Sits and hears thy whole voice’s chiming cadence.
E
TH
Oh but to hear it!

D
Love! thy laugh hath ever a silver cadence,

AN
Oh my love! my heart turneth faint within me,

KS
Oh my love! when I see thee but so little

EA
Love, how I love thee!

BR
O and my tongue will well nigh refrain from speaking,

Y
Love! fierce fire courses down my body;

DA
Mine eyes are sightless, sightless my love, mine ears too

E
Have lost all my hearing.

TH
L
O I am pale, paler than grass grown grey, love;

TI
Let my madness seem bitter indeed before thee,

UN
Since if thou leave me I were more sad than the dead be

Alas! oh! but what? love!
177
The Shadow of Death
AY
FROM MELEAGER
AW
EE
FL
I SAW Alexis wandering by the way
S
When summer cut the cornfields on that day—
W
Oh! from his eyes, there shot a sudden ray,
O
AD
His own love and the sunlight; his array.
SH
Torture of dreams, that night can not allay!
E
Soul of a shadow, let me only pray,

TH
That Sleep, sweet Sleep, who takes all cares away,

D
Will let awhile thy sweetness with me stay.

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
178
The Shadow of Death
AY
MIGNON
AW
FROM GOETHE
EE
FL
D OST thou know the land where the orange
S
blossoms bloom,
W
Whose fruit glows golden through the green leaves’
O
AD
gloom,
Where the winds are tempered through the softer air
SH
To lovelier laurels and myrtles, flowers more fair;
E
Nay, say dost thou know?

TH

D
With thee, oh my beloved, I were so fain to go.

AN
KS
Dost thou know the house, how stately are its halls,
With marvellous marble wrought upon the walls,
EA
Where statues, strange and still, smile silently;

BR
Alas, poor child, what have they done to thee?

Y
Nay, say does thou know?

DA

With thee, oh my saviour, I were fain to go.
E
TH
L
TI
UN
179
The Shadow of Death
AY
Dost thou know the way, the cloud-girt mountain way,
AW
Where shadowed through the mist the lost mules stray,
Where dwells the dragoness and her dark brood,
EE
And the rocks are rent with the everlasting flood,
FL
Nay, say dost thou know?
S
W
With thee, oh my Father, let us arise and go.
O
AD
SH
E
TH
D
AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
180
The Shadow of Death
AY
THE ERL-KING
AW
FROM GOETHE
EE
FL
W HO rides so late through the wind so wild?
S
It is the father holding his child;
W
He holds the fair boy with sheltering arm,
O
AD
He holds him closely, he holds him warm.
SH
“My child, ah tell me what frighteth thee!”
E
“Alas, my father, and dost thou not see

TH
The Erl-King crowned and clothed in white?”

D
“Nay child, ’tis the mist in the white moonlight.”

AN
KS
“Sweet child, and wilt thou not come with me?

I have beautiful gifts I would give to thee;
EA
Fair are the flowers that bloom on the wold

BR
Where my mother weaves garments of woven gold.”

Y
DA
“My father, my father, and did’st thou not hear

What the Erl-King softly said in mine ear?”
E
TH
“Tremble not, be not afraid, my child,

Shall the willows not weep when the wind is so wild?”
L
TI
UN
181
The Shadow of Death
AY
“Sweet boy, and wilt thou not come with me?
AW
My beautiful daughters shall play with thee;
They shall sing to thee songs, their voices are sweet,
EE
They shall dance with thee dances, their feet are fleet.”
FL
S
“Nay, but my father, I saw the pale face
W
Of the Erl-King’s daughter in a dark, strange place.”
O
AD
“Nay, fear not, my child, for I only see
The mute moon that shines through the willow-tree.”
SH
E
“I love thee, I long for they lithe, living form,

TH
Thy flower-like face, thy blood that is warm.”

D
“Alas, my father, for verily

AN
The Erl-King has done some strange thing to me.”

KS
The father shuddered, and yet more fast

EA
He spurred on his steed through the wavering blast;

BR
Onward and onward, nor turned his head,

Y
For he feared, nay, he knew, that the child was dead.

DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
182
The Shadow of Death
AY
THE FISHER
AW
FROM GOETHE
EE
FL
T HE waters welled, the waters swelled,
S
A fisher sat by the shore,
W
His angling rod in his hand he held,
O
AD
Saw this, and saw no more.
And as he was fain to cast again
SH
With wet hair and wondrous eyes,
E
He saw from the waters cleft in twain

TH
A Water-witch arise.
D
AN
She sang to him, she spake to him,

KS
“How can’st thou thus cruelly,

With tireful foils and fearful foils,
EA
Lure my children forth to die?

BR
Did’st thou know how sweet it were to swim

Y
In the full floods far and fair,

DA
Thou could’st dive in the deep sea, clear and dim,

And surely be happy there.
E
TH
L
TI
UN
183
The Shadow of Death
AY
Oh! the sweet sun his shining morning face
AW
In my waters loves to lave,
And the mystic moon tireth not to trace
EE
Her path on the wandering wave.
FL
Thou shalt see in the waters wonderful
S
Strange skies of softer blue,
W
And thine own fair face made more beautiful
O
AD
In the everlasting dew.”
SH
The waters welled, the waters swelled,
E
And covered his fair white teeth;

TH
A new desire his soul compelled

D
So sad, so strange, so sweet.

AN
She spake to him, she sang to him,

And his heart grew over-fain,
KS
He is drawn through the waters deep and dim

EA
None shall see his face again.

BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
184
The Shadow of Death
AY
FROM HEINRICH HEINE
AW
I
EE
FL
“Du bist wie eine Blume.”
S
W
T HOU art like unto a flower,
O
AD
So fair, so pure, my dear,
I look on thee, and my spirit
SH
Is sad and oppressed with fear.
E
TH
I think that in benediction

D
Mine hands on thine head I would lay,

AN
And pray that God might keep thee

So fair, so pure, alway.
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
185
The Shadow of Death
AY
II
AW
“Sie liebten sich beide doch keiner.”
EE
FL
T HEY loved one another, but neither
S
Would their love to the other confess;
W
They looked on each other so coldly,
O
AD
And pined in their sore distress.
SH
They were parted, yet saw one another
E
Sometimes in the visions of night;

TH
They died, and their life was wasted

D
Away without delight.

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
186
The Shadow of Death
AY
III
AW
“Konnt ich meine Schmerzen ergiessen.”
EE
FL
WOULD I could pour my sorrow
I
S
All into a single word,
W
And then that the word as I spake it
O
AD
Might by the winds be heard.
SH
They would bear thee to it, belovèd,
E
And by thee it would be heard;

TH
I think it would haunt thee alway,

D
That very bitter word.

AN
KS
E’en thro’ the veil of slumber

By thee it would still be heard,
EA
In the depths of thy nightly visions

BR
That very bitter word.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
187
The Shadow of Death
AY
IV
AW
“Am Kreuzweg wird begraben.”
EE
FL
B Y the side of the lonely crossway,
S
Just where the roads divide,
W
There grows a dark blue flower
O
AD
On the grave of the suicide.
SH
I stood alone by the crossway
E
In the desolate midnight hour

TH
It slowly moved in the moonlight,

D
’Tis called the “poor sinner’s flower.”

AN
KS
EA
BR
Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
188
The Shadow of Death
AY
V
AW
“Ich habe im Traume geweinet.”
EE
FL
I DREAMED of you, my love,
S
I dreamed that you were dead,
W
A sad, but not bitter tear,
O
AD
As I waked from my dream I shed.
SH
E
That you had deserted me,

TH
As I waked from my dream I wept

D
Loud and very bitterly.

AN
KS

That you were still good and true,
EA
I hardly ceased to weep

BR
My love, as I thought of you.

Y
DA
E
TH
L
TI
UN
189
The Shadow of Death
AY
FROM THEOPHILE GAUTIER
AW
“Connaissez-vous la blanche tombe?”
EE
FL
D O you know the cold white tomb,
S
Where the breezes wandering by
W
So sadly sigh?
O
AD
Where the sad white roses bloom,
And a dove with soft white wings
SH
Sits and sings?
E
TH
Sings a deadly melody,

D
Yet so sad, so tender, sweet,

AN
That in hearing it
You think that you hear a sigh
KS
From the heart of an angel in heaven

EA
Love riven.
BR
Y
And the dead soul seems to waken

DA
And weep with bitter tears

When it hears,
E
TH
At being so soon forsaken,

And calls to you tenderly,
L
TI
Plaintively.
UN
190
The Shadow of Death
AY
AW
EE
FL
On the wings of music borne,
S
Something floats faintly by,
W
Some memory,
O
AD
Some shadow-like angel form,
In the tremulous sunset ray,
SH
In white array.
E
TH
And the nightshade as it closes

D
Throws its sickly scent around,

AN
And a sound
Comes forth from the heart of the roses,
KS
Sighs softly, as if in pain,

EA
“Come again.”
BR
Y
Ah no! to that cold white tomb

DA
I will go when the long shadows come

Never again.
E
TH
Where the sad white roses bloom,

And the dove with the soft white wings
L
TI
Sits and sings.

UN
191
NOTES
The number at the beginning of the entry refers to the relevant
AY
page. All English quotations from the Bible are taken from the
AW
King James Version.
2: The inscription is to Benjamin Francis Conn Costelloe (1855—
EE
1899), a student with Stenbock at Balliol College, Oxford and
FL
subsequently his business manager. He was to marry Mary
Whittal Smith (1864—1945), sister of Alys Whittal Smith (see
S
W
note for page 42 below). The Greek inscription here, taken from
the Bible, was one of Stenbock’s favourite phrases, used
O
AD
frequently in his poems and letters, and is to be found in The
Song of Solomon, 4:6: “Until the day break, and the shadows flee
SH
away.”
E
5: Greek text: “To my beloved”; grammatically, the “beloved” here

TH
is masculine. The ‘Decade’ refers to the sequence of ten poems

set between the ‘Prelude’ and ‘Finale’ that follow.
D
AN
19: Latin text: “for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:2).
The Vulgate has “Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum.”
KS
29: Greek text: “Darling”. Though grammatically a word of the

EA
neuter gender, the word almost always refers to a young male.

Ganymede: In Greek legend, the son of the King of Troy.
BR
Also known as Catamitus in Roman mythology, he was carried off

by Jupiter to serve as the gods’ cup-bearer due to his exquisite
Y
beauty. It was considered from antiquity that Jupiter had a

DA
homosexual passion for Ganymede, hence the word “catamite”.

Ganymede, along with Antinous, was a popular figure in
E
homosexual literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth

TH
centuries.
L
30: Greek text: “Weeds”. In the parable in St Matthew 13:24-30,

TI
the word is translated by “tares”.

UN
33: Sappho (c.610—c.580 BC). Celebrated Greek lyric poetess,

from the island of Lesbos, author of some of the most beautiful
192
poems ever written, and considered since antiquity to have been a
lover of her own sex.
AY
38: For Ganymede, see note to page 29.
42: The inscription is to Alys Whittal Smith (1867—1951), who
AW
was the first wife of the English philosopher Bertrand Russell
(1872—1970). A photograph exists of Stenbock with Alys and
EE
other members of the English branch of the Idiot’s Club, which
FL
Stenbock had founded in Estonia whilst head of his family’s estate
at Kolk.
S
Russian inscription: “The old woman has fire, but no soul.”
O W
44: Simeon Solomon (1840—1905) was the noted pre-Raphaelite
AD
painter, whose career ended in disgrace and financial ruin after he
was found guilty for homosexual importuning in a public lavatory
SH
in 1873. He was a friend of the artists Edward Burne-Jones and
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Stenbock, a collector of his artworks,
E
helped him in his years of poverty. Solomon’s prose poem, A

TH
Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep (London, 1871) was an obvious

D
influence on Stenbock’s literary work. Arvid Stenbock (1868—

AN
1943) was Stenbock’s cousin, an officer in the Imperial Russian

Navy, who lived at the Stenbock’s family home in Kolk, Estonia.
KS
Charles Bertram Fowler was the son of a clergyman who died of

consumption near Oxford at the age of 16 in 1881. It is possible
EA
that Stenbock was in love with him, though no evidence remains

as to the actual nature of their relationship.
BR
50: Thomas Olson of New York has pointed out that the first line
Y
of the second verse of this poem refers directly to William Blake’s

DA
repeated use of the phrase “Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love” in his
poem ‘The Divine Image’, in Songs of Innocence and Experience
E
(London, 1789). Stenbock writes in a letter to the composer

TH
Norman O’Neill, “I tried to get for you to-day an original edition

L
of “Songs of Innocence” at a place where I heard there were some

TI
left—but—alas—this world is so wicked that the last trace of

UN
innocence is gone for ever—even of “Experience” I have only

managed to secure the last copy but one… however the “Songs of
Experience” are decidedly nice in their way and I trust you will
193
accept them…”
54: French text: “Waltz of the Revellers of [the Greco-Roman
AY
god] Bacchus [Lord of Wine, Dance and Ecstasy].” When under
the influence of the god in their orgiastic rites, the all-female
AW
Bacchantes were considered to have the gift of prophecy and
snake-handling, as well as an incredible strength that allowed
them to tear their sacrificial victims to pieces whilst still alive.
EE
FL
60: Jules-Emile-Frédéric Massenet (1842—1912). The leading
operatic composer of his generation in France before Debussy,
S
Massenet entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of eleven
W
and in 1863 won the Prix de Rome. His work, which revealed a
O
mixture of sensuality, lyricism, eroticism and religious feeling, was
AD
admired by Bizet. SH
63: Adolf von Henselt (1814—1889). German pianist and
composer. Considered to be one of the most brilliant performers
E
of his time, he gave up his concert career in 1838 to become court

TH
pianist and teacher in Saint Petersburg, where Stenbock may have

D
seen him play on his frequent visits there. He composed a

AN
concerto, several salon pieces, and studies for the piano.

Latin text: “Many waters cannot quench love.” The Vulgate
KS
has the first two words of the sentence reversed to “Aquae multae”
but the meaning remains unchanged.
EA
68: Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829—1894). A Russian

BR
pianist and composer, whose concert career covered his entire life
and made him famous on three continents. One of the greatest
Y
pianists of the nineteenth century, he was admired by both

DA
Chopin and Liszt, and instructed Tchaikovsky in composition.

E
69: Latin text: “You have wounded my heart.” (The Song of

TH
Solomon, 4:9)
L
70: Latin text: “The voice of the turtle[-dove] is heard in our

TI
land.” (The Song of Solomon, 2:12)

UN
72: Latin text: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.”
(The Song of Solomon, 1:2). The Vulgate has “Osculetur me osculo
194
oris sui.” The verb “osculor” is nearly always deponent, except for
rare instances in archaic Latin, but I have kept Stenbock’s odd
rendering of this verse.
AY
73: Greek text: “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.”
AW
(The Song of Solomon, 4:6). See note to page 2.
92: German text: “I love you; your beautiful form entices me, and
EE
if you are less than willing, I shall use force.”
FL
103: Sanskrit text: a Buddhist mantra to the Boddhisattva
Avalokitesvara, widely used in Tibet, and popularised in the late
S
W
nineteenth century by Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society.
O
106: The inscription is written in a presentation copy of Studies of
AD
Death to Eric’s first cousin Elsa Karg von Bebenburg, who was
SH
sister to Gabriele, who appears, in male guise and with her name
transformed to Gabriel, in ‘The True Story of a Vampire’. See
E
note to page 124.

TH
109: Walter Pater’s Marius the Epicurean (London, 1885) was one of
D
the seminal texts amongst the English fin de siècle writers, and a
AN
great influence on Oscar Wilde.
115: Transcribed Russian text: “Don’t speak.”

KS
Elizabeth Browning’s ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ are to be

EA
found in her Poems (London, 1850).

BR
116: Transcribed Russian text: “Kiss me to death.”
118: Transcribed Russian text: “Yesterday I waited for something

Y
DA
different”; the “I”, grammatically, refers to a woman.
120: Transcribed Russian text: “I loved you.”

E
TH
121: Latin text: “Mystical Love”

French footnote text by Verlaine: “I dreamed of her, but she
L
did not dream of me.”

TI
UN
124: French text: “The faint lulling of a magical spell half-heard in

a dream.”
Gabriel is the name of the young boy who dies as a result of a
195
vampire’s love for him in Stenbock’s tale ‘The True Story of a
Vampire,’ published in Studies of Death. See note to page 106.
AY
126: ‘Viol d’Amor’: Stenbock wrote a short story with this title in
his collection Studies of Death, published the year after The Shadow
AW
of Death, in which he describes the Viol d’Amor as “a peculiarly
sweet-toned violin, or rather, to be accurate, something between a
viola and a violoncello.”
EE
FL
128: Another reference to the story ‘Viol d’Amor’. Guido, one of
the characters in Stenbock’s tale, sees a hawthorn tree outside his
S
window and sees it as a presentiment of his imminent death.
O W
135: Greek text: “I loved you once, Atthis, long ago.” Sappho,
AD
fragment 49. SH
136: German text: “On Mary’s birth[day], the swallows flee away.”
137: French text: “Complines of the Holy Virgin.” A translation

E
TH
of the poem itself might be: “Oh! The Virgin Mary/Grants us

sleep/Hope! Each one who prays/Will arise /Each one through the
D
night/Will see the vermilion hue/The vermilion hue which arrays/

AN
The dawning sun/Hope! Throughout the night/For the dawn/

As the Virgin Mary/Grants us sleep.”
KS
138: Saint Teresa (1515—1582). Carmelite nun, was one of the

EA
greatest of all the Spanish contemplatives and reformers. Her

autobiographical Life and The Interior Castle are classic accounts of
BR
the mystical path in the Christian tradition.

Y
139: French text: “Song of the Sun.”

DA
141: Vespertine: archaism for “Evensong”, the sixth of the

Canonical hours of the breviary, celebrated towards evening.
E
TH
144: Latin text: “Grant them eternal rest, O Lord/And let

perpetual light shine upon them.” The opening line of the Introit
L
TI
of the Office of the Dead.

UN
146: French text: “The Song of the Swan.” Popular legend has it
that, before it dies, the swan sings a song of exquisite beauty,
hence the word “swansong”.
196
148: Latin text: “The expectation of the birth of the
B[lessed]V[irgin]M[ary].” The liturgical date for this feast day is
December 18.
AY
149: German text: “Those left behind.”
AW
151: German text: “New Year’s Eve.”
EE
158: See the opening line of verse 43 of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s ‘In
Memoriam’ (1850): “If Sleep and Death be truly one…”
FL
159: Latin text: “O merciful, O holy, O sweet Virgin Mary.”
S
W
160: Latin text: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh
O
in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5). The text in both the typescript and
AD
the book has “vesperam”, a misprint for “vesperum”.
SH
163: Latin text: “To the Fatherland.”
165: Latin text: “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to

E
TH
the gates of the grave.” (Isaiah 38:10).
166: Latin text: “All ye that pass, behold and see if there be any
D
sorrow like unto my sorrow.” (Lamentations 1:12). The Vulgate

AN
leaves out Stenbock’s “simile”.

KS
171: Maurice Maeterlinck: the byname of Comte Polydore-Marie-

Bernard Maeterlinck (1862—1949), Belgian Symbolist poet and
EA
playwright. Les Sept Princesses (1891), an early play by Maeterlinck,

BR
was an influence on Oscar Wilde’s play Salome, and was especially

renown for its splendidly decadent stage scenery and the bizarre
Y
nature of its plot.

DA
173: Latin text: “Grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath
E
blessed thee forever.” (Psalm 45:2).

TH
175: French text: “Do not awaken me; for mercy’s sake, I beg you
L
to speak low.”
TI
176: St Stanislaus Kostka (1550—1568). He was admitted into the

UN
Society of Jesus at the age of seventeen after arduously

petitioning them. He was noted for his great humility, and
experienced ecstasy and visions before dying in Rome after only
197
nine months as a Jesuit. Stenbock was doubtless moved by his
reputed beauty, as well as by his sudden death at a satisfyingly
tragic early age. Stenbock’s name-saint, he was canonized by Pope
AY
Benedict XIII in 1726. His feast is celebrated on November 13.
AW
177: Greek text: “That man seems to me like the Gods.” The
opening line of Sappho’s fragment 31.
EE
178: Meleager of Gadara (fl.60 BC). A Greek poet of exquisite
FL
ability, who lived in Syria. He wrote short poems, often erotic, on
love and death, and was the compiler of an early anthology of
S
epigrams, entitled Garland.
W
Greek text: “The image of that beauty burned greatly.”
O
AD
179: French text: “Sweetest one”, where the person described is
male.
SH
185: German text: “You are like a flower.”
E
TH
186: German text: “They loved each other but no-one.” The
poem’s text in the original edition of The Shadow of Death begins
D
“See liebteen,” and the typescript has “See liebten”. Stenbock, who
AN
spoke fluent German, wrote in a letter from London, probably

dating from early 1887, “…I have completely forgotten the
KS
German language.” I have, however, assumed that the

misspellings here are the errors by the typist or typesetter, rather
EA
than misspellings by Stenbock.

BR
187: German text: “Could I but pour my pain.”

Y
188: German text: “At the crossroads a burial will take place.”
DA
189: German text: “I cried in my dream.” “Traume” and “geweinet”

are poetic forms, respectively, of “Traum” and “geweint.”
E
TH
190: French text: “Do you know the white tomb?”

L
TI
FINIS
UN
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The Collected Poems of Eric Count Stenbo

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MYRTLE, RUE AND CYPRESS

THE SHADOW OF DEATH

EDITED BY DAVID TIBET

This edition is limited to 400 copies. It is published by

Introduction and Notes copyright David Tibet 2001.

The House of Puss. Front cover adapted from the original

cover of The Shadow of Death. Extra calligraphy on

Durtro, BM Wound, London, WC1N 3XX, England.

Printed by Antony Rowe, Bumpers Farm,

of which two are in public collections, with the other

four, again, being in private collections. Of The Shadow

of Death, one copy is to be found in the British

Library—the only volume of Stenbock's poetry there

deposited—and one in the Bodleian; and I know of six

and one in a European institution. I have reproduced

the original covers and title pages of each volume at

the beginning of each relevant section; it will be

copies of the poems, I have used Stenbock’s published

books as the definitive text, as well as the original

the most commonly used Latin rendition of the Bible.

Ayse Tuzlak was unable to identify a Latin translation

of the Bible which corresponded exactly with

Stenbock’s texts, so I have assumed that he is quoting

have been unable to trace. Consequently, I have kept

his renditions; the Biblical texts as printed in the

Vulgate are to be found in the Appendix if they differ

from those used in the poems, along with translations

of those passages in French, German, Greek, Latin and

in his poems are also to be found in the Appendix.

German texts; Ayse Tuzlak, the Latin and Greek texts;

Joseph Ghosn, Thomas Olson, and myself the French

invaluable in enabling me to build my Stenbock

collection, and I here offer them my gratitude once

again. My thanks are also due to Fiorella Superbi and

Giovanni Pagliarulo at I Tatti, who graciously checked

notice. Henning von Wistinghausen generously

allowed me to use the photograph that appears as the

frontispiece from family archives in his possession; I

am most grateful to him. Anne Kurepalu and Jarl von

Stenbock have also been consistently kind and helpful

Stenbock during his time of residence there.

images come from my own collection. I wish to

acknowledge especially the matchless generosity of the

This volume was typeset and designed, with

myself, by Miss Kat at The House of Puss—my debt

to her is profound, as are my thanks to Steven

Stapleton, who created the lettering on the front board

The best available account of Stenbock’s life is to

be found in the late John Adlard’s Stenbock, Yeats and the

Nineties, which is indispensable for anyone with an

interest in the Count. I must also recommend

admirably sets the fascinating and eccentric figure of

fascinating, though perhaps less eccentric,

David Michael St. Francis Tibet, London, May 2001

(Hatchards, London, 1883)

Stenbock, Count Stanislaus Eric: The Shadow of Death

(The Leadenhall Press, London, 1893)

Stenbock, Count Eric: Studies of Death (David Nutt,

Adlard, John (editor): Christmas with Count Stenbock

(Enitharmon, London, 1970)

Adlard, John: Stenbock, Yeats and the Nineties (Cecil

D’Arch Smith, Timothy: Love in Earnest: Some Notes on