To Louise Michel

I cannot take your road, Louise Michel,
Priestess of Pity and of Vengeance-no:
Down that amorphous gulf I cannot go-
That gulf of Anarchy whose pit is Hell.
Yet, sister, though my first word is farewell,
Remember that I know your hidden woe;
Have felt the grief that rends you blow on

blow;

Have knelt beside you in the murky cell.

You never followed hate (let this atone)
Nor knew the wrongs of others from your

own:

Wild was the road, but Love has always

led,

So I am silent where I cannot praise ;

And here now at the parting of the ways,

I lay a still hand lightly on your head.

Shepherd Boy and Nereid

Ah, once of old in some forgotten tongue,
Forgotten land, I was a shepherd boy,
And you a Nereid, a wingèd joy :
On through the dawn-bright peaks our
bodies swung

And flower-soft lyrics by immortals sung
Fell from their unseen pinnacles in

air:

God looked from Heaven that hour, for

you were fair,

And I a poet, and the star was young.

You'd heard my woodland pipe and left the

sea

Your hair blown gold and all your body

white

Had left the ocean-girls to follow me.

Shepherd Boy and Nereid

We joined the hill-nymphs in their joyous

flight,

And you laughed lightly to the sea, and sent Quick glances flashing through me

went.

A Song at the Start

Oh, down the quick river our galley is going,

With a sound in the cordage, a beam on

the sail :

The wind of the canyon our loose hair is blowing,

And the clouds of the morning are glad of the gale.

Around the swift prow little billows are breaking,

And flinging their foam in a glory of

light;

Now the shade of a rock on the river is

shaking,

And a wave leaps high up growing suddenly white.

A Song at the Start

The weight of the whole world is light as a feather,

And the peaks rise in silence and westerly flee :

Oh, the world and the poet are singing together,

And from the far cliff comes a sound of

the sea.