Embers Part 1

Embers.

by Gilbert Parker.

INTRODUCTION

I had not intended that Embers should ever be given to the public, but friends whose judgment I respect have urged me to include it in the subscription edition at least, and with real reluctance I have consented.

It was a pleasure to me to have one piece of work of mine which made no bid for pence or praise; but if that is a kind of selfishness, perhaps unnecessary, since no one may wish to read the verses, I will now free myself from any chance of reproach. This much I will say to soothe away my own compunctions, that the book will only make the bid for popularity or consideration with near a score of others, and not separately, and that my responsibility is thus modified. The preface to Embers says all that need be said about a collection which is, on the whole, merely a book of youth and memory and impressionism in verse. At least it was all spontaneous; it was not made to order on any page of it, and it is the handful left from very many handfuls destroyed. Since the first edition (intended only for my personal friends) was published I have written "Rosleen," "Where Shall We Betake Us?" "Granada," "Mary Callaghan and Me," "The Crowning" (on the Coronation of King Edward VII), the fragment "Kildare" and "I Heard the Desert Calling"; and I have also included others like "The Tall Dakoon" and "The Red Patrol," written over twenty years ago. "Mary Callaghan and Me" has been set to music by Mr. Max Muller, and has made many friends, and "The Crowning" was the Coronation ode of 'The People', which gave a prize, too ample I think, for the best musical setting of the lines. Many of the other pieces in 'Embers' have been set to music by distinguished composers like Sir Edward Elgar, who has made a song-cycle of several, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Mr. Arthur Foote, Mrs. Amy Woodforde Finden, Robert Somerville, and others. The first to have musical setting was "You'll Travel Far and Wide," to which in 1895 Mr. Arthur Foote gave fame as "An Irish Folk Song." Like "O Flower of All the World," by Mrs. Amy Woodforde Finden, it has had a world of admirers, and such singers as Mrs. Henschel helped to make Mr.

Foote's music loved by thousands, and conferred something more than an ephemeral acceptance of the author's words.

When thou comest to the safe tent of the good comrade, abide there till thy going forth with a stedfast mind; and if, at the hospitable fire, thou hast learned the secret of a heart, thou shalt keep it holy, as the North Wind the trouble of the Stars.

PROEM

And the Angel said: "What hast thou for all thy travail-- what dost thou bring with thee out of the dust of the world?"

And the man answered: "Behold, I bring one perfect yesterday!"

And the Angel questioned: "Hast thou then no to-morrow?

Hast thou no hope?"

And the man replied: "Who am I that I should hope!

Out of all my life I have been granted one sheaf of memory."

And the Angel said: "Is this all!"

And the man answered: "Of all else was I robbed by the way: but Memory was hidden safely in my heart--the world found it not."

ROSLEEN

"She's the darlin' of the parish, she's the pride of Inniskillen; 'Twould make your heart lep up to see her trippin'

down the glen; There's not a lad of life and fame that wouldn't take her s.h.i.+llin'

And inlist inside her service-did ye hear her laughin'

then?

Did ye see her with her hand in mine the day that Clancy married?

Ah, darlin', how we footed it-the gra.s.s it was so green!

And when the neighbours wandered home, I was the guest that tarried, An hour plucked from Paradise--come back to me, Rosleen!

Across the seas, beyand the hills, by lovely Inniskillen, The rigiment come marchin'--I hear the call once more Shure, a woman's but a woman--so I took the Sergeant's s.h.i.+llin', For the pride o' me was hurted--shall I never see her more?

She turned her face away from me, and black as night the land became; Her eyes were jewels of the sky, the finest iver seen; She left me for another lad, he was a lad of life and fame, And the heart of me was hurted--but there's none that's like Rosleen!"

WILL YOU COME BACK HOME?

Will you come back home, where the young larks are singin'?

The door is open wide, and the bells of Lynn are ringin'; There's a little lake I know, And a boat you used to row To the sh.o.r.e beyond that's quiet--will you come back home?

Will you come back, darlin'? Never heed the pain and blightin', Never trouble that you're wounded, that you bear the scars of fightin'; Here's the luck o' Heaven to you, Here's the hand of love will brew you The cup of peace--ah, darlin', will you come back home?

MARY CALLAGHAN AND ME

It was as fine a churchful as you ever clapt an eye on; Oh, the bells was ringin' gaily, and the sun was s.h.i.+nin'

free; There was singers, there was clargy--"Bless ye both,"

says Father Tryon-- They was weddin' Mary Callaghan and me.

There was gatherin' of women, there was hush upon the stairway, There was whisperin' and smilin', but it was no place for me; A little s.h.i.+p was comin' into harbour through the fairway-- It belongs to Mary Callaghan and me.

Shure, the longest day has endin', and the wildest storm has fallin'-- There's a young gossoon in yander, and he sits upon my knee; There's a churchful for the christenin'--do you hear the imp a-callin'?

He's the pride of Mary Callaghan and me.

KILDARE

He's the man that killed Black Care, He's the pride of all Kildare; Shure the devil takes his hat off whin he comes: 'Tis the clargy bow before him, 'Tis the women they adore him, And the Lord Lieutenant orders out the drums-- For his hangin', all the drums, All the drums!