I had my birth where stars were born,
In the dim æons of the past:
My cradle cosmic forces rocked,
And to my first was linked my last.
Through boundless space the shuttle flew,
To weave the warp and woof of fate:
In my begetting were conjoined
The infinitely small and great.
The outmost star on being’s rim,
...
Just when each bed was big with bloom,
And as prophetic of perfume,
When spring, with her bright horoscope,
Was sweet as an unuttered hope;
Just when the last star flickered out,
And twilight, like a soul in doubt,
Hovered between the dark and dawn,
And day lay waiting to be born;
Just when the gray and dewy air...
And if he should come again
In the old glad way,
I should smile and take his hand.
What were there to say?
I should close my eyes and smile,
And my soul would be
Like the peace of summer noons
Beside the sea.
Just when each bud was big with bloom,
And as prophetic of perfume,
When spring, with her ight horoscope,
Was sweet as an unuttered hope;
Just when the last star flickered out,
And twilight, like a soul in doubt,
Hovered between the dark and dawn,
And day lay waiting to be born;
Just when the gray and dewy air...
* * *
The Angel that presided oer my birth
Said Little creature formd of Joy & Mirth
Go love without the help of any King on Earth
My birth-day!—Oh beloved mother!
My heart is with thee o'er the seas.
I did not think to count another
Before I wept upon thy knees—
Before this scroll of absent years
Was blotted with thy streaming tears.
My own I do not care to check.
I weep—albeit here alone—
As if...
'Tis a new life—thoughts move not as they did
With slow uncertain steps across my mind,
In thronging haste fast pressing on they bid
The portals open to the viewless wind;
That comes not, save when in the dust is laid
The crown of pride that gilds each mortal brow,
And from before man's vision melting...
* * *
Of H s birth this was the happy lot
His Mother on his Father him begot
