“thou art a fool,” said my head to my heart,
“Indeed, the greatest of fools thou art,
To be led astray by the trick of a tress,
By a smiling face or a ribbon smart;”
And my heart was in sore distress.
Then Phyllis came by, and her face was fair,
The light gleamed soft on her raven hair;
And her lips were blooming a rosy red....
I’ S boun’ to see my gal to-night—
Oh, lone de way, my dearie!
De moon ain’t out, de stars ain’t bright—
Oh, lone de way, my dearie!
Dis hoss o’ mine is pow’ful slow,
But when I does git to yo’ do’
Yo’ kiss ’ll pay me back, an’ mo’,
Dough lone de way, my dearie.
De night is skeery-lak an’ still—
Oh, lone de way,...
O Li’l’ lamb out in de col’,
De Mastah call you to de fol’,
O li’l’ lamb!
He hyeah you bleatin’ on de hill;
Come hyeah an’ keep yo’ mou’nin’ still,
O li’l’ lamb!
De Mastah sen’ de Shepud fo’f;
He wandah souf, he wandah no’f,
O li’l’ lamb!
He wandah eas’, he wandah wes’;
De win’ a-wrenchin’...
Lay me down beneaf de willers in de grass,
Whah de branch ’ll go a-singin’ as it pass.
An’ w’en I ’s a-layin’ low,
I kin hyeah it as it go
Singin’, “Sleep, my honey, tek yo’ res’ at las’.”
Lay me nigh to whah hit meks a little pool,
An’ de watah stan’s so quiet lak an’ cool,
Whah de little birds in spring
Ust to come an...
The Day unfolds like a lotus bloom,
Pink at the tip and gold at the core,
Rising up swiftly through waters of gloom
That lave night’s shore.
Down bamboo-stalks the sunbeams slide,
Darting like glittering elves at play,
To the thin arched grass where crickets hide
And sing all day.
The old crows caw from the...
Out where the sky and the sky-blue sea
Merge in a mist of sheen,
There started a vision of silver things,
A leap and a quiver, a flash of wings
The sky and the sea between.
Is it of birds from the blue above,
Or fish from the depths that be?
Or is it the ghosts
In silver hosts
Of birds that were drowned...
Snare me the soul of a dragon-fly,
The jewelled heart of a dew-tipped spray,
A star’s quick eye,
Or the scarlet cry
Of a lonely wing on a dawn-lit bay.
Then add the gleam of a golden fan,
And I will paint you Miyoko San.
Find me the thought of a rose, at sight
Of her own pale face in a fawning stream,
The...
If I, athirst by a stream, should kneel
With never a blossom or bud in sight,
Till down on the theme of its liquid night
The moon-white tip of a sudden keel,
A fairy boat,
Should dawn and float
To my hand, as only the Gods deserve,
The cloud-like curve,
The loosened sheaf,
The ineffable pink of a lotus leaf,—
I...
When cherry flowers begin to blow
With Yuki’s face beneath them,
The richest petals lose their glow,
And small buds haste to sheath them.
When blue wistaria hangs its head
And Yuki leans above it,
The swallow flits discomforted,—
With none to see or love it.
When lotus blossoms open wide,
And beckon men to...
O Let me die a-singing!
O let me drown in light!
Another day is winging
Out from the nest of night.
The morning-glory’s velvet eye
Brims with a jewelled bead.
To-day my soul’s a dragon-fly,
The world a swaying reed.
