Gloucester Moors and Other Poems Part 1

Gloucester Moors and Other Poems.

by William Vaughn Moody.

NOTE

Several poems of this collection, including "An Ode in Time of Hesitation," "The Brute," and "On a Soldier Fallen in the Philippines," have appeared in the _Atlantic Monthly_; "Gloucester Moors" and "Faded Pictures," in _Scribner's Magazine_; and "The Ride Back," under a different t.i.tle in the _Chap-Book_. The author is indebted to the editors of these periodicals for leave to reprint.

GLOUCESTER MOORS

A mile behind is Gloucester town Where the fis.h.i.+ng fleets put in, A mile ahead the land dips down And the woods and farms begin.

Here, where the moors stretch free In the high blue afternoon, Are the marching sun and talking sea, And the racing winds that wheel and flee On the flying heels of June.

Jill-o'er-the-ground is purple blue, Blue is the quaker-maid, The wild geranium holds its dew Long in the boulder's shade.

Wax-red hangs the cup From the huckleberry boughs, In barberry bells the grey moths sup, Or where the choke-cherry lifts high up Sweet bowls for their carouse.

Over the shelf of the sandy cove Beach-peas blossom late.

By copse and cliff the swallows rove Each calling to his mate.

Seaward the sea-gulls go, And the land-birds all are here; That green-gold flash was a vireo, And yonder flame where the marsh-flags grow Was a scarlet tanager.

This earth is not the steadfast place We landsmen build upon; From deep to deep she varies pace, And while she comes is gone.

Beneath my feet I feel Her smooth bulk heave and dip; With velvet plunge and soft upreel She swings and steadies to her keel Like a gallant, gallant s.h.i.+p.

These summer clouds she sets for sail, The sun is her masthead light, She tows the moon like a pinnace frail Where her phosphor wake churns bright.

Now hid, now looming clear, On the face of the dangerous blue The star fleets tack and wheel and veer, But on, but on does the old earth steer As if her port she knew.

G.o.d, dear G.o.d! Does she know her port, Though she goes so far about?

Or blind astray, does she make her sport To brazen and chance it out?

I watched when her captains pa.s.sed: She were better captainless.

Men in the cabin, before the mast, But some were reckless and some aghast, And some sat gorged at mess.

By her battened hatch I leaned and caught Sounds from the noisome hold,-- Cursing and sighing of souls distraught And cries too sad to be told.

Then I strove to go down and see; But they said, "Thou art not of us!"

I turned to those on the deck with me And cried, "Give help!" But they said, "Let be: Our s.h.i.+p sails faster thus."

Jill-o'er-the-ground is purple blue, Blue is the quaker-maid, The alder-clump where the brook comes through Breeds cresses in its shade.

To be out of the moiling street With its swelter and its sin!

Who has given to me this sweet, And given my brother dust to eat?

And when will his wage come in?

Scattering wide or blown in ranks, Yellow and white and brown, Boats and boats from the fis.h.i.+ng banks Come home to Gloucester town.

There is cash to purse and spend, There are wives to be embraced, Hearts to borrow and hearts to lend, And hearts to take and keep to the end,-- O little sails, make haste!

But thou, vast outbound s.h.i.+p of souls, What harbor town for thee?

What shapes, when thy arriving tolls, Shall crowd the banks to see?

Shall all the happy s.h.i.+pmates then Stand singing brotherly?

Or shall a haggard ruthless few Warp her over and bring her to, While the many broken souls of men Fester down in the slaver's pen, And nothing to say or do?

GOOD FRIDAY NIGHT

At last the bird that sang so long In twilight circles, hushed his song: Above the ancient square The stars came here and there.

Good Friday night! Some hearts were bowed, But some amid the waiting crowd Because of too much youth Felt not that mystic ruth;

And of these hearts my heart was one: Nor when beneath the arch of stone With dirge and candle flame The cross of pa.s.sion came,

Did my glad spirit feel reproof, Though on the awful tree aloof, Unspiritual, dead, Drooped the ensanguined Head.

To one who stood where myrtles made A little s.p.a.ce of deeper shade (As I could half descry, A stranger, even as I),

I said, "These youths who bear along The symbols of their Saviour's wrong, The spear, the garment torn, The flaggel, and the thorn,--

"Why do they make this mummery?

Would not a brave man gladly die For a much smaller thing Than to be Christ and king?"

He answered nothing, and I turned.

Throned in its hundred candles burned The jeweled eidolon Of her who bore the Son.

The crowd was prostrate; still, I felt No shame until the stranger knelt; Then not to kneel, almost Seemed like a vulgar boast.

I knelt. The doll-face, waxen white, Flowered out a living dimness; bright Dawned the dear mortal grace Of my own mother's face.

When we were risen up, the street Was vacant; all the air hung sweet With lemon-flowers; and soon The sky would hold the moon.

More silently than new-found friends To whom much silence makes amends For the much babble vain While yet their lives were twain,

We walked along the odorous hill.

The light was little yet; his will I could not see to trace Upon his form or face.

So when aloft the gold moon broke, I cried, heart-stung. As one who woke He turned unto my cries The anguish of his eyes.

"Friend! Master!" I cried falteringly, "Thou seest the thing they make of thee.

Oh, by the light divine My mother shares with thine,

"I beg that I may lay my head Upon thy shoulder and be fed With thoughts of brotherhood!"

So through the odorous wood,

More silently than friends new-found We walked. At the first meadow bound His figure ashen-stoled Sank in the moon's broad gold.