RECOLLECTION

I must forget awhile the mellow flutes

And all the lyric wizardry of strings;

The fragile clarinet,

Tremulous over meadows rich with dawn,

Must knock against my vagrant heart

And throb and cry no more.

For I am shaken by the loveliness

And lights and laughter and beguiling song

Of all this siren world;

The regal beauty of women, round on round,

The swift, lithe slenderness of girls,

And children's loyal eyes,

Hill rivers and the lilac fringe of seas

Lazily plunging, glow of city nights

And faces in the glow —

These things have stolen my heart away, I lie

Parcelled abroad in sound and hue,

Dispersed through all I love.

I must go far away to a still place

And draw the shadows down across my eyes

And wait and listen there

For wings vibrating from beyond the stars,

Wide-ranging, swiftly winnowing wings

Bearing me back mine own.

So soon, now, I shall lie deep hidden away

From sound or sight, with hearing strangely dull

And heavy-lidded eyes,—

‘ T is time, O passionate soul, for me to go

Some far, hill-folded road apart

And learn the ways of peace.