The Melody of Earth Part 2

To Mr. William Stanley Braithwaite and to Mr. Fletcher personally for "Spring," John Gould Fletcher, printed in the _Poetry Review_.

To M. G. Brereton for "The Old Brocade" from _A Celtic Christmas_.

To Miss Abbie Farwell Brown for "The Wall" in ma.n.u.script.

To Mrs. Grace Hazard Conkling for "The Rose" in ma.n.u.script.

To Mr. Miles M. Dawson for "The Thistle" from _Songs of the New Time_.

To Violet Fane (Lady Curie) for "To a New Sun-Dial" from _Collected Poems_.

To Mrs. Mary McNeil Fenollosa for "Birth of the Flowers."

To Mr. Arthur Guiterman for "Tulips" and "Columbines" in ma.n.u.script.

To Miss Mary R. Jewett for "Flowers in the Dark," Sarah Orne Jewett, from _Verses_ (privately printed).

To Rev. Arthur Ketchum for "The Spirit of the Birch" in ma.n.u.script.

To Miss Hannah Parker Kimball for "Sun, Cardinal, and Corn Flowers" from _Soul and Sense_.

To Mr. William Lindsey for "Two Roses" from _Apples of Istakhar_.

To Catherine Markham (Mrs. Edwin Markham) for "A Garden Friend."

To Mr. Lloyd Mifflin for "Draw closer, O ye Trees" from _The Flying Nymph, and Other Verse_.

To Miss Angela Morgan for "The Awakening" in ma.n.u.script.

To E. Nesbit (Mrs. Hubert Bland) for "Baby Seed Song."

To Mr. Shaemas O Sheel for "While April Rain went by" from _The Light Feet of Goats_ (The Franklin Press).

To Mr. Clinton Scollard for "The Crocus Flame," and "Sunflowers," from _Ballads Patriotic and Romantic_; for "In the Garden-Close at Mezra" and "In an Egyptian Garden" from _The Lutes of Morn_.

To Mrs. Emily Selinger for "Over the Garden Wall."

To Mrs. May Riley Smith for "Sorrow in a Garden" in ma.n.u.script.

To the estate of Frank L. Stanton for "Sweetheart-Lady."

To Mr. Charles Wharton Stork for "Boulders" in ma.n.u.script, and for "Color Notes," printed in _Lippincott's Magazine_.

To Mr. Charles Hanson Towne for "A White Rose."

To Katharine Tynan (Mrs. Henry Albert Hinkson) for "The Choice,"

published by Messrs. Sidgwick & Jackson in _The Poems of To-day_, an anthology.

To Mr. Frederic A. Whiting for his own poems "A Rose Lover" and "A Wonder Garden" in ma.n.u.script and for "Kinfolk" by Kate Whiting Patch.

To Mr. Clement Wood for "Rose-Geranium" from _Glad of Earth_.

To Mr. Henry A. Wise Wood for "The Joy of a Summer Day."

NOTE

With very few exceptions only the poets who are writing to-day, or who have written within a period of ten years, are represented in this collection; and certain favorite poems peculiarly suited to the spirit of this book which chanced to be included in _High Tide_ may be missed here. G. M. R.

WITHIN GARDEN WALLS

EARTH

_Gra.s.shopper, your fairy song And my poem alike belong To the deep and silent earth From which all poetry has birth; All we say and all we sing Is but as the murmuring Of that drowsy heart of hers When from her deep dream she stirs: If we sorrow, or rejoice, You and I are but her voice._

_Deftly does the dust express In mind her hidden loveliness, And from her cool silence stream The cricket's cry and Dante's dream: For the earth that breeds the trees Breeds cities too, and symphonies, Equally her beauty flows Into a savior or a rose._

_Even as the growing gra.s.s Up from the soil religions pa.s.s, And the field that bears the rye Bears parables and prophecy.

Out of the earth the poem grows Like the lily, or the rose; And all that man is or yet may be, Is but herself in agony Toiling up the steep ascent Towards the complete accomplishment When all dust shall be, the whole Universe, one conscious soul._

_Yea, and this my poem, too, Is part of her as dust and dew, Wherein herself she doth declare Through my lips, and say her prayer._

JOHN HALL WHEELOCK

THE FURROW

Stride the hill, sower, Up to the sky-ridge, Flinging the seed, Scattering, exultant!

Mouthing great rhythms To the long sea beats On the wide sh.o.r.e, behind The ridge of the hillside.

Below in the darkness-- The slumber of mothers-- The cradles at rest-- The fire-seed sleeping Deep in white ashes!

Give to darkness and sleep: O sower, O seer!

Give me to the Earth.

With the seed I would enter.

O! the growth thro' the silence From strength to new strength; Then the strong bursting forth Against primal forces, To laugh in the suns.h.i.+ne, To gladden the world!

PADRAIC COLUM