s.

Beneath an oriel window facing south
Through which the unniggard sun poured morning
streams,
I daily stood and laughing drank the beams,
And, catching fistfuls, pressed them in my mouth.

This I remember, and the carven oak,
The long and polished floors, the many stairs,
Th' heraldic windows, and the velvet chairs,
And portraits that I knew so well, they almost spoke.

III
So I have loved thee, as a lonely child
Might love the kind and venerable sire
With whom he lived, and whom at youthful fire
Had ever sagely, tolerantly smiled;

In whose old weathered brain a boundless store
Lay hid of riches never to be spent;
Who often to the coaxing child unbent
In hours' enchantment of delightful lore.

So in the night we parted, friend of years,
I rose a stranger to thee on the morrow;
Thy stateliness knows neither joy nor sorrow,--
I will not wound such dignity by tears.

DISILLUSION

I WROTE the burning words to you
That meant so much to me.
I sent them speeding straight to you,
To you across the sea;
I waited with sure reckoning
For your reply to me.

I waited, and the counted day
Fruitlessly came and went;
I made excuse for the delay,
Pitiable confident.
I knew to-morrow's light must bring
The words you must have sent.

And still I stand on that dim verge
And look across the sea;
The waves have changed into a dirge
Their volubility.
And in my disillusioned heart
Is a little grave for me.

But still with shaded eyes I gaze
As mournfully I sing,
And one by one the trailing days,
As they no message bring,
Fall with their slow monotony
As beads fall from a string.

THE BANQUET

WINE ran; rich yellow wine upon the marble floor
Recklessly spilled; the Nubians ran to pour
A fresh libation; and to scatter showers
Of red rose petals; candles overturned
Smouldered among the ruins of the flowers,
And overhead swung heavy shadowy bowers
Of blue and purple grapes,
And strange fantastic shapes
Of varied birds, where lanterns hung and dimly burned.

The melon and the orange, turned to use
As golden balls with laughter lightly tossed,
Lay burst and drained of their sweet juice,
Uselessly ripened and for ever lost;
All glowing as they lay upon the ground,
As envious of their fellows,
Who, piled in luscious reds and yellows,
Enriched the tables all around,
Th