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HERBS AND APPLES
"To be alone, to watch the dusk and weep"
HERBS AND APPLES
BY
HELEN HAY WHITNEY
Author of "Songs and Sonnets,"
"Gypsy Verses," Etc.
New York: JOHN LANE COMPANY
London: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
MCMX
Copyright, 1910
By John Lane Company
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
I give you this, the bitter and the sweet.
It holds my heart, can you not hear it beat?
So poor a gift to put within your hand—
Apples and Herbs!—but you will understand.
It holds my heart, can you not hear it beat?
So poor a gift to put within your hand—
Apples and Herbs!—but you will understand.
CONTENTS
PAGE To Neighbor Life 1 The Unburied 2 Up a Little Road 3 On Cedar Street, New York 4 Che Sarà Sarà 5 The Dead Wanton 6 Leaven 7 Quaeritur 8 Love Land 9 By the Western Gate 10 For Music 11 The Little Ghost 12 Madonna Eve 13 A Conversation 14 Be Brave 15 Forfeiture 16 The Search 17 Dust 18 Nature's Child 19 Veritatis 20 The Peacock 21 Anticipation 22 The Wayfarer 23 Renunciation 24 Arabesque
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tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">25 The Architects 26 Ambush 27 The Scales 28 The Old Tragedy 29 Taboo 30 The Rivals 31 Alone 32 Beneath the Mask 33 Thoth 34 Little Dancer 35 Sic Itur ad Astra 36 The Judges 37 The Spring Planting 38 An Impressionist Picture 39 Such Help for Singing 40 Tempus Edax Rerum 41 The Coward 42 The Lost Romany 43 Compensation 44 Untamed 45 To Pervanche 46 The Belle 47 Release 48 The Thief 49 I will Write Letters to the Grass 50 Only This 51 The Survivor 52 Megaera 53 The Song of Mokai 54 To the Gypsy Man 55 There is no Danger in Disdain 56 The Playmate 57 Afterwards
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href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@43406@[email protected]#Page_58" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">58 The Old Maid 59 Madness? 60 The Scholar 61 Wisdom's Secret 62 Caged 63 The Wife Speaks 64 The Altar 65
Acknowledgment is made to Messrs. Harper & Bros., the Century Company, The Metropolitan Magazine, and Collier's Weekly, for courteous permission to reproduce certain of the verses included in this volume.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE "To be Alone, to Watch the Dusk and Weep"
Frontispiece 32
"Smiling She Flouts Demosthenes" 6 The Peacock 21 Little Dancer 35 The Romany 43 Pervanche 46 "And Wrap My Heart Close Shrouded in the Hours" 50
Frontispiece 32
"Smiling She Flouts Demosthenes" 6 The Peacock 21 Little Dancer 35 The Romany 43 Pervanche 46 "And Wrap My Heart Close Shrouded in the Hours" 50
HERBS AND APPLES
TO NEIGHBOR LIFE
Neighbor Life, I love you well,
Have you any goods to sell?
Let me buy or let me borrow
Joy, to tide me o'er the morrow;
I will give you in exchange
Baskets full of thoughts that range,
Bright utensils of my brain;
Coins of feeling you shall gain.
All I ask in equal measure
Is your store of joy and pleasure.
Neighbor Life, I love you well,
Have you any joy to sell?
Have you any goods to sell?
Let me buy or let me borrow
Joy, to tide me o'er the morrow;
I will give you in exchange
Baskets full of thoughts that range,
Bright utensils of my brain;
Coins of feeling you shall gain.
All I ask in equal measure
Is your store of joy and pleasure.
Neighbor Life, I love you well,
Have you any joy to sell?
THE UNBURIED
In the wood the dead trees stand,
Dead and living, hand to hand,
Being Winter, who can tell
Which is sick and which is well?
Standing upright, day by day
Sullenly their hearts decay
Till a wise wind lays them low,
Prostrate, empty, then we know.
Dead and living, hand to hand,
Being Winter, who can tell
Which is sick and which is well?
Standing upright, day by day
Sullenly their hearts decay
Till a wise wind lays them low,
Prostrate, empty, then we know.
So thro' forests of the street,
Men stand dead upon their feet,
Corpses without epitaph;
God withholds his wind of wrath,
So we greet them, and they smile,
Dead and doomed a weary while,
Only sometimes thro' their eyes
We can see the worm that plies.
Men stand dead upon their feet,
Corpses without epitaph;
God withholds his wind of wrath,
So we greet them, and they smile,
Dead and doomed a weary while,
Only sometimes thro' their eyes
We can see the worm that plies.
UP A LITTLE ROAD
Up a little road with the morning in my arms,
Drenched with dew and tipsy with the madness of the May,
Leafy fingers on my face, I stop not for your charms!
Love is waiting round the turn, to be my Love to-day.
Drenched with dew and tipsy with the madness of the May,
Leafy fingers on my face, I stop not for your charms!
Love is waiting round the turn, to be my Love to-day.
Shouting as I ride on the springing ringing sod,
Ah! my pony knows the goal to which his course is laid,
Galloping thro' dawn he knows he bears a little god
Bacchus-mad with happiness who burns to meet his maid.
Ah! my pony knows the goal to which his course is laid,
Galloping thro' dawn he knows he bears a little god
Bacchus-mad with happiness who burns to meet his maid.
ON CEDAR STREET, NEW YORK
I, whose totem was a tree
In the days when earth was new,
Joyous leafy ancestry
Known of twilight and of dew,
Now within this iron
In the days when earth was new,
Joyous leafy ancestry
Known of twilight and of dew,
Now within this iron
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wall
Slave of tasks that irk the soul,
To my parents send one call—
That they give me of their dole.
Slave of tasks that irk the soul,
To my parents send one call—
That they give me of their dole.
Thro' the roar of alien sound
Grimy noise of work-a-day,
Secretly a voice, half drowned,
Whispers thro' the evening's grey,
"Child, we know the path you tread,
Ghost and manes, we are true;
Cedar spirits, long since dead,
Calm and sweet abide with you."
Grimy noise of work-a-day,
Secretly a voice, half drowned,
Whispers thro' the evening's grey,
"Child, we know the path you tread,
Ghost and manes, we are true;
Cedar spirits, long since dead,
Calm and sweet abide with you."
CHE SARÀ SARÀ
Deep as the permanent earth is deep,
Fierce as its central fire,
Man is his own conclusion,
Woman her great desire.
Fierce as its central fire,
Man is his own conclusion,
Woman her great desire.
THE DEAD WANTON
She was so light, so frail a thing,
She had no wisdom but her face,
Which caught men's fancy like the Spring
Yet held them but a moment's space.
She had no wisdom but her face,
Which caught men's fancy like the Spring
Yet held them but a moment's space.
She is the youngest of the dead,
And so the great lean round her feet;
They strive to learn from her fair head
Why far-forgotten life was sweet.
And so the great lean round her feet;
They strive to learn from her fair head
Why far-forgotten life was sweet.
For now she knows what Plato knows,
And lapped in languor she agrees
With Kant, and as her soft hair blows,
Smiling, she flouts Demosthenes.
And lapped in languor she agrees
With Kant, and as her soft hair blows,
Smiling, she flouts Demosthenes.
"Smiling, she flouts Demosthenes"
LEAVEN
Others furnish bread and meat,
Busy hucksters on the street,
They will give you what you need,
All the facts your life to feed.
Busy hucksters on the street,
They will give you what you need,
All the facts your life to feed.
Mine are not these wares of earth,
I can give my love but mirth;
Let, oh let this part be mine,
I would be your salt and wine.
I can give my love but mirth;
Let, oh let this part be mine,
I would be your salt and wine.
QUAERITUR
What if to-day, when I have made so sure
That love is utterly and wholly mine,
What if I found that faith should not endure
And all my trust in you I should resign;
That love is utterly and wholly mine,
What if I found that faith should not endure
And all my trust in you I should resign;
That when I send my thoughts like homing birds
To your dear heart they find no resting place,
But all misunderstood, far, foreign words,
They die away like strangers at your face.
To your dear heart they find no resting place,
But all misunderstood, far, foreign words,
They die away like strangers at your face.
Love, make me certain, make the circuit true,
And when I wonder, give the faith I seek
Perfectly trusting, let me end in you
Heart against heart, and cheek upon your cheek.
And when I wonder, give the faith I seek
Perfectly trusting, let me end in you
Heart against heart, and cheek upon your cheek.
LOVE LAND
Where is El Dorado?
Where is bright Cathay?
These are lands where we should go
To live and love to-day.
Where is bright Cathay?
These are lands where we should go
To live and love to-day.
Miles of glistening beaches
Over all the sun,
Tropic, spicy-laden breeze
To lull when day is done.
Over all the sun,
Tropic, spicy-laden breeze
To lull when day is done.
Gypsy lass and lover
With the tides we'd rove;
We be natives of no land
Save the land of love.
With the tides we'd rove;
We be natives of no land
Save the land of love.
BY THE WESTERN GATE
You and you only!—By the Western gate
That fronts the falling sun I shade my face
And watch for you. As one who's lost the race
Tries to demand no further gift from Fate
Lest he be hurled more low, so I, who wait
And want you, ask no pity of your grace
On my defeat, I only long to trace
My lost heart; come to me, my need is great.
That fronts the falling sun I shade my face
And watch for you. As one who's lost the race
Tries to demand no further gift from Fate
Lest he be hurled more low, so I, who wait
And want you, ask no pity of your grace
On my defeat, I only long to trace
My lost heart; come to me, my need is great.
I see the young men with their crystal eyes,
They stand about my door, their hearts, I know
Are breaking in the poppies that they bring.
I cannot love them for I am not wise;
Ah, come, or else forever let me go,
I grow so tired with waiting in the Spring.
They stand about my door, their hearts, I know
Are breaking in the poppies that they bring.
I cannot love them for I am not wise;
Ah, come, or else forever let me go,
I grow so tired with waiting in the Spring.
FOR MUSIC
The Indian Summer and Love have fled,
Oh, red, red lips like a crimson rose,
Oh, slender hands with the tips of red,
You are lost in the land of Nobody-knows.
Oh, red, red lips like a crimson rose,
Oh, slender hands with the tips of red,
You are lost in the land of Nobody-knows.
The sweet breeze blows but it comes not back,
The water flows in a silver stream,
But never returns on its moon-white track,
They are gone, past recall, like a lovely dream.
The water flows in a silver stream,
But never returns on its moon-white track,
They are gone, past recall, like a lovely dream.
Ah, crimson lips like a tilted flower,
Where sweetest honey awaits the bee;
Come back, come back for a single hour,
Dear Love, my Summer, come back to me.
Where sweetest honey awaits the bee;
Come back, come back for a single hour,
Dear Love, my Summer, come back to me.
THE LITTLE GHOST
The little one who loved the sun
Who only lived for play,
Ah, why was she the one condemned
To dark and dreams for aye!
Who only lived for play,
Ah, why was she the one condemned
To dark and dreams for aye!
The perfect perfume of her
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life
Was as a rose's breath,
And now she treads eternally
The gusty walks of Death.
Was as a rose's breath,
And now she treads eternally
The gusty walks of Death.
MADONNA EVE
From what far spicery derives your hair
The sweet faint fragrance that enslaves my sense?
What subtle love trick taught you to be fair
With overt lure and covert reticence?
The sweet faint fragrance that enslaves my sense?
What subtle love trick taught you to be fair
With overt lure and covert reticence?
Madonna Eve, you bear upon your breast
A hungry emerald like the desiring sea,
But warm upon your heart lie pearls of rest
What man could exorcise such witchery?
A hungry emerald like the desiring sea,
But warm upon your heart lie pearls of rest
What man could exorcise such witchery?
A CONVERSATION
"Laddy, leave your pedant's task,
Rove the world with me.
Fields and towns and pretty lands
Together we would see.
There be workers everywhere,
You would not be missed.
Come, ah come, and take for yours
The mouth you never kissed!"
Rove the world with me.
Fields and towns and pretty lands
Together we would see.
There be workers everywhere,
You would not be missed.
Come, ah come, and take for yours
The mouth you never kissed!"
"Lady, I am fain for play,
So I may not go.
Only those who hate to toil
The true enjoyment know;
But could you love a larrikin
Whose task he'd so resign?"
"Yes!—I'd love a larrikin
If only he were mine."
So I may not go.
Only those who hate to toil
The true enjoyment know;
But could you love a larrikin
Whose task he'd so resign?"
"Yes!—I'd love a larrikin
If only he were mine."
BE BRAVE
Be brave about yourselves, you little ones,
If in the crazy warp and woof you gleam
With the insistence of determined suns,
Shine, being true and modest in your dream.
If in the crazy warp and woof you gleam
With the insistence of determined suns,
Shine, being true and modest in your dream.
If to the peace of nature you respond
Draw from her breast your milk, nor weep the high
Duties for lack of which you now despond,
Made for historic planets thro' the sky.
Draw from her breast your milk, nor weep the high
Duties for lack of which you now despond,
Made for historic planets thro' the sky.
Knowing yourself a gay and careless weed,
Be you courageous in your light despair;
Sure that you fill a space of unknown need,
Idle and green in the bright coat you wear.
Be you courageous in your light despair;
Sure that you fill a space of unknown need,
Idle and green in the bright coat you wear.
Strive to the uttermost to find your worth,
Jester or Gypsy, Body, Brain or Soul,
Filling with perfect cheer your place on earth,
So shall the tapestry of Time be whole.
Jester or Gypsy, Body, Brain or Soul,
Filling with perfect cheer your place on earth,
So shall the tapestry of Time be whole.
FORFEITURE
So I have lost you. When the utter ache
Shall fade at length to mere despondency
What will the answer to this problem be?
They say that nothing dies, that all we stake
Brings some unknown return; what then shall make
An adequate exchange for love, to see
Your hand held out in friendship?—as for me
The episode is ended, for life's sake.
Shall fade at length to mere despondency
What will the answer to this problem be?
They say that nothing dies, that all we stake
Brings some unknown return; what then shall make
An adequate exchange for love, to see
Your hand held out in friendship?—as for me
The episode is ended, for life's sake.
You want me still for that small joy I gave,
But now it ends for you. I am not brave
To love you seared; I have no happy days
To brood upon at dusk, and so I claim,
As all the wager that good fortune pays,
Complete obliteration of your name.
But now it ends for you. I am not brave
To love you seared; I have no happy days
To brood upon at dusk, and so I claim,
As all the wager that good fortune pays,
Complete obliteration of your name.
THE SEARCH
I tire of the struggle, the search for the ultimate I,
There hangs the chalice of sapphire, the infinite sky,
Why thro' the space of despair should my spirit be hurled
Seeking for truth, when beneath lies this pearl of a world?
There hangs the chalice of sapphire, the infinite sky,
Why thro' the space of despair should my spirit be hurled
Seeking for truth, when beneath lies this pearl of a world?
Seers may direct us thro' pain to discover the soul,
Comforting joy may not give us the absolute whole,
But if the seers should be wrong, may the truth not be ours
Thanking dear Life for its light and its beautiful hours?
Comforting joy may not give us the absolute whole,
But if the seers should be wrong, may the truth not be ours
Thanking dear Life for its light and its beautiful hours?
DUST
Motes of the city dust, could this thing be
That midst your myriad particles for me
Might come one atom out of Ispahan,
One spiced far memory of caravan.
That midst your myriad particles for me
Might come one atom out of Ispahan,
One spiced far memory of caravan.
Indrawn upon my breath I'd know an urge
To dissipate monotony, and purge
The spirit of its spleen; one with the man
Who takes the sun blue air of Ispahan.
To dissipate monotony, and purge
The spirit of its spleen; one with the man
Who takes the sun blue air of Ispahan.
NATURE'S CHILD
I had a friend whose soul was very fair,
His word was wisdom and his strength was sure;
His courage in the ills he had to bear
Made others strong and able to endure.
I asked no love, no tribute of the sense
For his companionship was recompense.
His word was wisdom and his strength was sure;
His courage in the ills he had to bear
Made others strong and able to endure.
I asked no love, no tribute of the sense
For his companionship was recompense.
I thought I was beloved, but did not care,
He smiled on me as he on others smiled,
But one grey day a chill was in the air
And then to prove that I was Nature's child,
He spoke—"I do not love you very much—"
And all my friendship shattered at the touch.
He smiled on me as he on others smiled,
But one grey day a chill was in the air
And then to prove that I was Nature's child,
He spoke—"I do not love you very much—"
And all my friendship shattered at the touch.
VERITATIS
Seated among the shards of Potiphar
I pondered. Shall we still strive on? forsooth
There is no better, that is good as Best,
There is no truer that is true as Truth.
I pondered. Shall we still strive on? forsooth
There is no better, that is good as Best,
There is no truer that is true as Truth.
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id="peacock"/>
THE PEACOCK
THE PEACOCK
She was more beautiful than tropic night,
Luring, compelling as the smile of Fate;
Like a poor wastrel, I for her delight
Squandered my soul and gained her idle hate.
Peacock and paroquet!—at last I know
The sorriest songsters make the bravest show.
Luring, compelling as the smile of Fate;
Like a poor wastrel, I for her delight
Squandered my soul and gained her idle hate.
Peacock and paroquet!—at last I know
The sorriest songsters make the bravest show.
ANTICIPATION
The joy is in the making. While we sow
Our dream is wonderful with flowers, we name
The purlieus of our garden and the aim
Is worth the effort, yet we cannot know
The garden will be just a garden, so
The dream is heaven. This way mothers frame
The child's high dedication to its fame,
Repaid for all reality may show.
Our dream is wonderful with flowers, we name
The purlieus of our garden and the aim
Is worth the effort, yet we cannot know
The garden will be just a garden, so
The dream is heaven. This way mothers frame
The child's high dedication to its fame,
Repaid for all reality may show.
God knows this, so He lets us have the best,
The vast anticipation, rugged man
Joys in the struggle, triumphs over throes,
Vanquished a thousand times he still finds zest
In hope and all his pleasure in a plan
To be fulfilled at length in Heaven?—who knows.
The vast anticipation, rugged man
Joys in the struggle, triumphs over throes,
Vanquished a thousand times he still finds zest
In hope and all his pleasure in a plan
To be fulfilled at length in Heaven?—who knows.
THE WAYFARER
Half way to happiness,
The whole way back again,
Stumbling up the stubborn hill
From the luring lane.
The whole way back again,
Stumbling up the stubborn hill
From the luring lane.
Little sunset House of Hearts
Standing all alone,
I could come and sweep the leaves
From your stepping stone.
Standing all alone,
I could come and sweep the leaves
From your stepping stone.
I, and he, could light your fires
Laughing at the rain
But O it's far to Happiness,
A short way back again.
Laughing at the rain
But O it's far to Happiness,
A short way back again.
RENUNCIATION
Not what I ask, but what I do not ask,
O my Beloved, proves my love for you.
And love can set to love no harder task
Than wistful silence, reticence to sue.
O my Beloved, proves my love for you.
And love can set to love no harder task
Than wistful silence, reticence to sue.
I lock my lips, I force a wise content
With all my being wailing for a sign.
Ah, if men knew what woman's smiling meant
When fierce and hard the heart cries out "He's mine."
With all my being wailing for a sign.
Ah, if men knew what woman's smiling meant
When fierce and hard the heart cries out "He's mine."
Mothers of men are we, we barren ones
Who say "Be happy, dear, and play your part."
What matter how we yearn, you are our sons
Whose every footfall breaks a woman's heart.
Who say "Be happy, dear, and play your part."
What matter how we yearn, you are our sons
Whose every footfall breaks a woman's heart.
ARABESQUE
Gold fish, rose and red
As lady Lillith's hair,
Mauve and blue as curling smoke
And water-sapphires there.
As lady Lillith's hair,
Mauve and blue as curling smoke
And water-sapphires there.
At the fountain's brim
I built a little dream,
As a goldsmith cunningly
I made it flash and gleam.
I built a little dream,
As a goldsmith cunningly
I made it flash and gleam.
I wrought a maiden shape,
I colored it with love,
Scarlet mouth and breast of pearl
And eyes of turtle dove.
I colored it with love,
Scarlet mouth and breast of pearl
And eyes of turtle dove.
Thro' hours of moony dark,
I woo'd her for my bride
But ah! I could not build her soul,
So with the dawn she died.
I woo'd her for my bride
But ah! I could not build her soul,
So with the dawn she died.