everywhere
And throb of dancing feet:

The mirth and the convivial din
Of revelers in wanton glee,
With tunes of harp and violin
In tangled harmony.

But with a sense of nameless dread,
I turned me, from the merry face
Of this newcomer, to my dead;
And, kneeling there a space,

I sobbed aloud, all tearfully:--
By this dear face so fixed and cold,
O Lord, let not this New Year be
As happy as the old!

THEIR SWEET SORROW

They meet to say farewell: Their way
Of saying this is hard to say.--
He holds her hand an instant, wholly
Distressed--and she unclasps it slowly.

He bends _his_ gaze evasively
Over the printed page that she
Recurs to, with a new-moon shoulder
Glimpsed from the lace-mists that enfold her.

The clock, beneath its crystal cup,
Discreetly clicks--_"Quick! Act! Speak up!"_
A tension circles both her slender
Wrists--and her raised eyes flash in splendor,

Even as he feels his dazzled own.--
Then, blindingly, round either thrown,
They feel a stress of arms that ever
Strain tremblingly--and "_Never! Never!_"

Is whispered brokenly, with half
A sob, like a belated laugh,--
While cloyingly their blurred kiss closes,
Sweet as the dew's lip to the rose's.

[Illustration]

JUDITH

O Her eyes are amber-fine--
Dark and deep as wells of wine,
While her smile is like the noon
Splendor of a day of June,
If she sorrow--lo! her face
It is like a flowery space
In bright meadows, overlaid
With light clouds and lulled with shade.
If she laugh--it is the trill
Of the wayward whippoorwill
Over upland pastures, heard
Echoed by the mocking-bird
In dim thickets dense with bloom
And blurred cloyings of perfume.
If she sigh--- a zephyr swells
Over odorous asphodels
And wall lilies in lush plots
Of moon-drown'd forget-me-nots.
Then, the soft touch of her hand--
Takes all breath to understand
What to liken it thereto!--
Never roseleaf rinsed with dew
Might slip soother-suave than slips
Her slow palm, the while her lips
Swoon through mine, with kiss on kiss
Sweet as heated honey is.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

HE AND I

Just drifting on together--
He and I--
As through the b