Challenge Part 10

Soldier, soldier, spic and span, Aren't you the lucky man; Splendid in your gold and blue-- How the small boy envies you!

Oh, there's glory for you here-- Girls to smile and men to cheer; Bands behind and bands before Thrilling with the l.u.s.t of War.

Soldier, soldier, proud as though Marching to a sanguine foe, Bravely would you face the brink Fired with music, and with drink...

Stalwart warrior pa.s.s, and be Glad you are not such as we-- We, who, without flags or drums, March to battle in the slums.

Regiments of workers--we Are a foolish soldiery, Combating, till we convert, Ignorance, disease and dirt...

Soldier, soldier, look--and then Laugh at us poor fighting-men, Struggling on, though every street Is the scene of our defeat.

Laugh at us, who, day by day Come back beaten from the fray; We, who find our work undone-- We, whose wars are never won.

_Gay flags flying down the street; Comes the drum's insistent beat Like a fierce, gigantic pulse-- And the screaming fife exults!_

PEACE

(_The Fisheries dispute having been amicably compromised, the world is at peace again._ .... News Despatch.)

'_At peace_'? The world has never been at peace-- Its wars are never-ending; there is naught In all its battles like these overwrought And storming hours with their dark increase.

The cities roar; in every street one sees Women and children, battle-wounded, caught.-- No slaves, no shattered hosts have ever fought So bitterly, so hopeless of release...

Well, if it must be war, take up the sword, Facing the world with grim and savage glee; And, with the courage of a Faith restored, Strike till the darkness falters, and we see That liberty is no mere gaudy word, And peace no slothful, placid mockery.

THE DYING DECADENT

_And when the evening came he fell asleep, And dreamed a dream of pallid loveliness:_

He wandered in a forest dark and deep, Where phantoms pa.s.sed him with a soft caress; Where shadows moved and ghostly spirits stood Sphinxes of silence, wraiths of mystery; A magic wood, a strange and scented wood Where roses sprang from every withered tree.

A wood that woke his wonder and his fear, A wood of whispered spells and shameful lore, Beyond whose furthest rim he seemed to hear A lonely sea upon a lonelier sh.o.r.e.

Visions swept by him with a chanted spell, Crouched at his feet and murmured at his side-- And like a dim refrain there rose and fell The restless minor of an ebbing tide...

Then, amidst broken sighs and wafts of song, Borne on the breezes blowing from the west, He saw one figure dancing in the throng More wan and wonderful than all the rest.

The singing grew and nearer still she came, A being made of rose and fire and mist; Her deep eyes burning like the purple flame Hid in the heart of every amethyst.

And, with the crooning of the distant sea, She sang to charm his soul and still his fear: "Oh, come, my love that wanders wearily; Oh, come, for you have called, and I am here...

Oh, I have waited long to bring you there, Beyond the border of the things that are, Where all is terrible and strange and fair, As were your dreams that reached my favorite star...

For you shall live and set the suns to rhyme; You shall escape a mortal's petty fate; You shall behold the birth and death of Time...

Oh come, my love, for you these wonders wait.

"Moonlight and music and the sound of waves, Sea-spells incanted by a mermaid-muse, And women's voices breathing slumb'rous staves, These shall you have whenever you may choose.

And you shall know the maidens of the moon, Lying on lilies shall you see them dance; And you shall fling red roses to the tune, Great roses while the magic scene enchants.

Wantons and queens shall take your heart to play And lose it in a mesh of tangled hair; And you shall always give your heart away, And find a new one every hour there.

Here are the notes of every nightingale Like rare pearls dropping in a golden pan; And you shall hear white music in each dale, Sweet silver sounds that are not heard by man.

And I shall show you all the world's delight, The unknown pa.s.sion of each flaming star; Your eyes shall be endowed with keener sight Beyond the border of the things that are.

Oh come, they wait you on the further strand-- Your drab and mournful mood they will exchange For joy's resplendent purple in the land Where all is rhythmical and fair and strange...

Oh come and learn the songs unborn, unsung, And I shall give you all your longing craves, That you may live in ecstasy among Moonlight and music and the sound of waves."

Entranced he stood--so exquisite the art That charmed him he could scarcely whisper low: "And who are you that comes to stir my heart With fragments of the songs I used to know---- You speak of wild and yet familiar things, Exotic pa.s.sions and uncanny bliss; A thousand dreams your voice recalls and brings; And who are you that shows me all of this?"

"I am the soul and spirit of your songs; I am your ballad's grief, your lyric's fire.

I am the light for which your yearning longs; Your curious rapture and your sick desire.

I am the burden that your lays beseech; The one refrain that flows through all your themes.

I am the eerie glamor of your speech, I am the mystic radiance of your dreams.

Come then with me, where all men's dreams are born, Where winds shall lift your perfumed thoughts aloft; Where there is never night or noon or morn, Only a twilight, sensuous and soft.

And you shall know the wonder of each year, The fiery secrets of a myriad Springs...

Lying on lilies shall you see them here; And you shall live and touch immortal things."

She paused and sighed. Slowly he shook his head As one who sees a guarded flame go out; "Never to die? Nay that alone," he said, "Were worse than all this wandering in doubt.

Nor would I go if Death himself should come To crown Life's blessing with a greater gift; In such a perfect world I would be dumb-- What could I long for when my fancies drift?...

And more than this, I do not choose to go; For I am sick of strange and subtle sounds, Of fevered phrases, tinted words that glow, And all the twisting art that but astounds.

I do not long for tortured harmonies; No more my languid soul is racked and tossed With yearning for strange sh.o.r.es and stranger seas-- I seek the visions I have long since lost.

I seek the ways of simple love and hate, Once more I long to join the virile race; For I was blind till now, and now too late I see the wonder of the commonplace.

"I long to hear men's voices, coa.r.s.e and wild, That never knew a poet's wan desire; I long to hear them, as a little child Listens to elders grouped about the fire...

To hear them as they mingle grave and gay-- The prudent planning for the week, and then Amid the tritest gossip of the day, Quaint, petty talk of merchandise and men.

I crave the usual and homely themes; The everyday of which no mermaid sings....

These are the fairest fragments of my dreams; These are the conquering and deathless things."

He ceased; a sudden radiance round him shone, And all things melted like a phantom wrack.

And as he swept his hands and stood alone He heard hoa.r.s.e thunders and the dusk grew black.

Vast tremors shook the world from side to side-- The earth and sky became a monstrous blot...

_And then it seems he woke, and waking, died; Calling on things that he had long forgot._

FUNERAL HYMN

When Life's gay courage fails at last, And I grow worse than old-- Though Death puts out my fiery heart, I never shall grow cold.

For warm is earth's green covering, And warmly I shall lie, Wrapped in the winding-sheets of air And the great, blue folds of sky!

PROTESTS

(_After a Painting by Hugo Ballin_)

Something impelled her from the hearth; Whispers and winds drew her along; But still, unconscious of the earth, She read her book of golden Song.

Old legends stirred her as she read Of life victoriously unfurled, Of glories gone but never dead, And Beauty that redeemed the world.