This is the weariest woe, O heart, of love and hate Too weary, not to know Why thou hast all this woe.

 

MOODS AND MEMORIES.

 

CITY NIGHTS.

I. IN THE TRAIN.

THE train through the night of the town, Through a blackness broken in twain By the sudden finger of streets; Lights, red, yellow, and brown, From curtain and window-pane, The flashing eyes of the streets.

Night, and the rush of the train, A cloud of smoke through the town, Scaring the life of the streets; And the leap of the heart again, Out into the night, and down The dazzling vista of streets!

II. IN THE TEMPLE.

THE grey and misty night, Slim trees that hold the night among  Their branches, and, along The vague Embankment, light on light.

The sudden, racing lights! I can just hear, distinct, aloof, The gaily clattering hoof Beating the rhythm of festive nights.

The gardens to the weeping moon Sigh back the breath of tears. O the refrain of years on years ’Neath the weeping moon!

 

A WHITE NIGHT.

THE yellow moon across the clouds That shiver in the sky; White, hurrying travellers, the clouds, And, white and aching cold on high, Stars in the sky.

Whiter, along the frozen earth, The miracle of snow; Close covered as for sleep, the earth Lies, mutely slumbering below Its shroud of snow.

Sleepless I wander in the night, And, wandering, watch for day; Earth sleeps, yet, high in heaven, the night Awakens, faint and far away, A phantom day.

 

IN THE VALLEY.

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