Mistress Quiet-Eyes

While I sit beside the window
I can hear the pigeons coo,
That the air is warm and blue,
And how well the young bird flew—
Then I fold my arms and scold the heart
That thought the pigeons knew.

While I sit beside the window
I can watch the flowers grow
Till the seeds are ripe and blow
To the fruitful earth below—
Then I shut my eyes and tell my heart
The flowers cannot know.

While I sit beside the window
I am growing old and drear ;
Does it matter what I hear,
What I see, or what I fear ?
I can fold my hands and hush my heart
That is straining to a tear.

The earth is gay with leaf and flower,
The fruit is ripe upon the tree,
The pigeons coo in the swinging bower,
But I sit wearily
Watching a beggar-woman nurse
A baby on her knee.

Here are Ladies [1913]

The Moon

If the Moon had a hand
I wonder would she
Stretch it down unto me ?

If she did, I would go
To her glacier land,
To her ice-covered strand.

I would run, I would fly,
Were the cold ever so,
And be warm in the snow.

O Moon of all Light,
Sailing far, sailing high
In the infinite sky.

Do not come down to me,
Lest I shriek in affright,
Lest I die in the night
Of your chill ecstasy.

Here are Ladies [1913]

Sweet-Apple

At the end of the bough, at the top of the tree
(As fragrant, as high, and as lovely as thou),
One sweet apple reddens which all men may see,
At the end of the bough.

Swinging full to the view, tho' the gatherers now
Pass, and evade, and o'erlook busily :
Overlook! nay, but pluck it! they cannot tell how.

For it swings out of reach as a cloud, and as free
As a star, or thy beauty, which seems too, I vow,
Remote as the sweet rosy apple—ah me!
At the end of the bough.

Here are Ladies [1913]

The Daises

In the scented bud of the morning—O,
When the windy grass went rippling far,
I saw my dear one walking slow
In the field where the daisies are.

We did not laugh and we did not speak
As we wandered happily to and fro;
I kissed my dear on either cheek
In the bud of the morning—O.

A lark sang up from the breezy land,
A lark sang down from a cloud afar,
And she and I went hand in hand
In the field where the daisies are.

Here are Ladies [1913]

One and One

Do you hate me, you !
Sitting quietly there,
With the burnished hair
That frames the two
Deep eyes of your face
In a smooth embrace ?

And you say naught,
And I never speak ;
But you rest your cheek
On your hand, a thought
Showing plain as the brow
Goes wrinkling now.

Of what do you think,
Sitting opposite me,
As you stir the tea
That you do not drink,
And frown at naught
With those brows of thought ?

Here are Ladies [1913]

Women

Listen! If but women were
Half as kind as they are fair
There would be an end to all
Miseries that do appal.

Cloud and wind would fly together
In a dance of sunny weather,
And the happy trees would throw
Gifts to travellers below.

Then the lion, meek and mild,
With the lamb would, side by side,
Couch him friendly, and would be
Innocent of enmity.

Then the Frozen Pole would go,
Shaking off his fields of snow,
To a kinder clime, and dance
Warmly with the girls of France.

These; if women only were
Half as kind as they are fair.


Here are Ladies [1913]

Brigid

(After the Irish)

Do not marry, Breed, asthore !
That old man whose head is hoar
As the winter, but instead
Mate with some young curly-head
He will give to you a child,
He will never leave your side,
And at morning when you wake
Kiss for kiss will give and take.

I wish that I had died, I do,
Before I gave my love to you ;
Love so lasting that it will
While I live be with you still :
And for it what do I get ?
Pain and trouble and regret,
The terrors of the aspen-tree
Which the wind shakes fearfully.

If this country could be seen
As it ought—then you had been
Living in a castle grand
With the ladies of the land :
The friend and foe, the Gael and Gaul,
Would be cheering, one and all,
For yourself, and, this is true,
I would be along with you.

You promised, 'twas a lie, I see,
When you said you'd come to me
At the sheep-cote; I was there
And I whistled on the air,
And I gave our settled call
But you were not there at all !
There was nothing anywhere
But lambs and birds and sunny air.

When it is dark you pass me by,
And when the sun is in the sky
You pass me also—night or day
You look away, you walk away !
But if you would come to me,
And say the word of courtesy,
I would close the door, and then
I'd never let you out again.

But do not marry, Breed, asthore !
That old man ; his heart is hoar
As his head is : you can see
Winter gripping at his knee :
His eyes and ears are blear and dim,
How can you expect of him
To see or hear or pleasure you
Half as well as I would do ?

Here are Ladies [1913]