Page:Hephaestus, Persephone at Enna, and Sappho in Leucadia.djvu/38

 :So men have wider missions than we know.
 * ’Tis not thro’ all their moods they hunger for
 * Our poor pale faces; as a flame at sea
 * They seek us in the gloom, and then forget.
 * ’Tis when by dusk the battle-sweat has dried;
 * ’Tis when the port is won, and wind and storm
 * Are past; ’tis when the heart for solace aches;
 * ’Tis when the road is lost in darkling woods,
 * Or under alien stars the fire is lit
 * And when strange dreams make deep the idle hour;
 * Then would I have my name sing throbbingly
 * Thro’ some beloved heart, soft as a bird,—
 * And swing with it—swing sweet as silver bells!
 * Not all your hours I hoped to see you turn
 * To my poor face; but when the wayside flower
 * Shone through the dust and won the softer mood,
 * And when the soul aspired for better things,
 * Disturbed by voices calling past the Dawn,
 * I hoped your troubled eyes would seek my eyes.
 * And in those days that I have cried for you
 * And went uncomforted, had you returned,
 * I could have washed your guilty feet with tears,
 * And unto you still grown, and gone thro’ sun
 * And gloom beside you, holding in my arms
 * Hope’s hostage children, while I gladly felt
 * The keen captivity of love re-wake
 * At each light touch, and in the sweet dread bliss
 * Of motherhood and most mysterious birth
 * Forgot old wrongs, and starred the hills of grief