Chapter I: Front Matter

POEMS OF LIFE

POEMS
OF LIFE

By
KATHARINE FORREST HAMILL

PHILADELPHIA
PETER REILLY, PUBLISHER
133 N. THIRTEENTH STREET
1915

COPYRIGHT 1915, BY PETER REILLY
PUBLISHED JULY, 1915

FIRST IMPRESSION

TO

GRACE BARTLETT STRYKER

Words fail me when I strive to say
What you’ve meant to me--for so long a day
Hope--Inspiration--Sympathy.
Steadfast and true, whate’er might be.
O priv’lege rarest to the end
As in the past, to call you--_friend_.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The poems contained within the following pages are _children of the brain_ which at intervals obtruded their company, and which, such as they are, at the solicitation of my friends, I have ventured to set down.

K. F. H.

CONTENTS

Dedication IX

Author’s Note XI

POEMS OF LIFE.
Page

Today 5

Jewels 6

Something Gone 7

A-Maying 8

Tribute 9

Good-Bye 10

The Wondrous Song 14

Miladi 17

The Something-my-life-has-missed 18

Contentment 20

Gone 21

To My Muse 22

Conception 24

Awakening 25

The House Built on Sands 26

To a Butterfly 28

A Fragment 29

Query 30

I Close Mine Eyes 32

Understanding 33

We Met in May 34

I Turn Me Down a Lighted Way 36

Counsel 37

Decision 39

You Never Guessed the Secret 40

The Light 42

Education 43

Re-Adjustment 44

FROM “RHYMES FOR WEE SWEETHEARTS”

When Grandmama Was Little 53

Harold’s Lament 55

Mrs. Spider 57

The Naughty Little Girl 58

On the Stair 60

The Land O’Dreams 61

The Middle of the Night 63

When Our Fathers Were Little Boys 65

Slumber Land 67

The New Brother 68

POEMS OF LIFE

TO-DAY

The Yesterdays we might have called our own
But which, in our blindness, we let slip by,
Alas! they know not to return again,
Deep-buried doth each, within its grave, lie.

But O belov’ed, now that we have made
The golden secret ours--to hold alway
We will not sorrow o’er departed hours--
Just live in God’s great glorious--To-day!

JEWELS

Oh, not the gracious deeds your kindness knew, dear,
When shone my sun and skies were ever fair;
But the more precious sympathies you tendered
In sorrow’s hour. _Those_ my jewels rare
Which dearer, than off’ring wealth knows to proffer,
I’ll keep beside me whate’er may attend,
Nor render up so long as Life’s day lasteth,--
Aye, and take with me, when shall plead its end.

SOMETHING GONE

You come to me--you take my hand,
You try to make me see
Things should become as they once were,
’Twixt you and me.

I listen to each word, you say,
I mark well ev’ry tone,
Only to find--you plead in vain,--
There’s something gone.

Something gone--that cannot come back again,
Tho’ most entreatingly you pray.
Yet, not mine the fault,--but yours alone,
It went away.

A-MAYING

We will go a-Maying dear,
Just you and I together,
Oh, the glory of God’s blossoming
Sunshiny weather!
Ev’ry ill we will forget,
Nor remember a regret,
For ’twill never do to fret
Whilst we are a-straying.
Only laughter ringing clear,
Waking echo far and near;
You and I so happy dear;
A-Maying! A-Maying!

TRIBUTE

To prove myself--aye, that’s my aim,
To prove myself for those
Who took me by the hand and held,
Nor cared if others chose
To notice or pass coldly by.
Thro’ stormiest of weather
Stood ever at my side, and said
We’ll face the world together!

GOOD-BYE

_She_

Good-bye, yes, I’ve decided
It’s best--it should not go _on_,
The quite delightful companionship
You and I, for some time, have known.

No, do not try to dissuade me,
I’ve thought it most carefully o’er,
To arrive at but one conviction--
We must see each other no more.

_He_

And you think to sever our friendship
By a mere putting away,
Letting the same, as it were, slip from us
Nor permitting me to say,

A word in defence of its going
As if I’d no _right_ to share
In the matter of decision
I ask you,--Is it fair?

_She_

Man-like you refuse to _reason_
To see it’s the only way,
That the step really should have been taken
Even _before_ to-day.

With you ’tis quite diff’rent,--the matter,--
You’ve priv’lege entire of your life;
But my freedom bows to restriction,--
I am another man’s wife.

_He_

Yes, another man’s wife, but the honor
The Fates have conferred, it would seem
He doesn’t the quite appreciate,--
At least, ’tis the knowledge I gleam.

From observing his attitude towards you,
Which I’m sure,--and you can but agree,
Is not in the least in keeping with what
A husband’s towards a wife _should_ be.

_She_

And his failing you think permits me
Favor to accept at _your_ hands,
That the vow I took at the altar
Ceases to impose its demands.

In sickness or health I promised,
“For better or worse”,--till the day,
He who gave should in his judgment
See fit to take away.

_He_

And you’ll let it bind you, that promise,
To a man who does not care;
Whose int’rest is the thoroughly selfish,
In whose secrets--you do not share,

Listen, dear, the priv’lege of Mortals,--
To get what we can out of life.
Free yourself from the bond that is irksome
And find happiness, as my wife.

_She_

Nay, not so, the rule of living
Holds faithful but to the one test;
Nor counts it--another’s transgression,
We must give of _ourselves_--our best.

Of no use to appeal the exception,
The truth remains fix’ed alway,
So, good-bye, it _must_ be,--and, God bless you,--
_There is nothing more to say_.

THE WONDROUS SONG

I longed to sing a wondrous song,
So wondrous, ’twould compel
The admiration unreserved
Of one and all as well.

My pen I took in hand and strove
The magic words to write,
Alas! I could not of my Muse
Inspiration invite.

She would not humor, tho’ I begged
Persistently and long
For the right metre--the right thought,
To best set down my song.

’Twas stately phrase I coveted,
The Laurel I would court--
That of the world’s acknowledgment
Of unsurpass´ed thought.

At length disheartened, my appeal
Knew, but to be denied,
I rose and to the window moved,
And marked the scene outside.

All quiet stretched the land before,
Enwrapt in the soft haze
Which with such rare enchantment clothes
Autumn’s initial days.

Idly my glance the expanse swept
Till it came to where lay
Outside the gate, the winding road
Leading to far-away.

Then with the moment light was mine--
Yet not complex its thought,
The inspiration which appealed
Was diff’rent, from that sought.

The winding road--the simple theme--
They who followed after--
The toll it wrested of sad tears,
For short dole of laughter.

The tranquil ways bidden farewell,
To seek of its unrest,
The truth alas! too oft brought home,
The paths forsook, were best.

Could I but so compose a lay,
That one who heard might pause,
Nor continue to sacrifice
In an unrighteous cause.

And keep his soul tho’ it should be
By cruelest conflict wrung,
I need not further supplicate--
My wondrous song were sung.

MILADI

Miladi is so wonderful in furbelows and laces;
Miladi is so wonderful of such beguiling graces;
My poor faint heart goes pit-a-pat when she her Slave addresses
I wonder if how _much_ I love, Miladi guesses!

Miladi is so wonderful, her dimples and her curls;
Miladi is so wonderful, my mind bewildered whirls;
Oh would some pow’r benign might make it plain for me to see
How much it is, in very truth, Miladi thinks of _me_.

THE SOMETHING MY LIFE HAS MISSED

It whispers in the murmur
Of the breezes passing by,
Pulsates in the azure
Of ev’ry flawless sky.
And oh! when twilight gathers
And its curtain gently falls,
The-something-my-life-has-missed
Calls and calls.

Part of the Throng have found it,
The light within their eyes
Pleads of too great a radiance
The truth to disguise.
Their world is all they wish for,
Nor know they to implore
From off Destiny’s altar
Happiness more.

It whispers in the murmur
Of the breezes passing by,
Pulsates in the azure
Of ev’ry flawless sky.
Some day I, too, shall know it
In all its ecstacy,
The-something-my-life-has-missed
Will come to me.

CONTENTMENT

To have you with me day by day
Watch you flitting to and fro,
In and out this room and that,
Up and down the stairs and lo!
With each turn mark you at
Some task benign--love bids you know.

To have you with me day by day,
A tender, trusting, gracious self
Let the world treasure as it may,
To me, far dearer than its wealth
Your comradeship. Nor pleads the hour
In all God’s calendar so true,
With blessing richer for its dow’r
Than the rare one which gave me,--_you_.

GONE

I turn to find you,
But do not see--
Who at my side I knew
Continually.

Again, I hearken!
But do not hear,
Your voice answer mine
In tones so clear.

Gone!--nevermore on earth
To see, to know,
And I still live on
God!--is it so?

TO MY MUSE

Let others bow before Wealth’s shrine,
And tribute render up
For the pleasures manifold it brings
To overflow Life’s cup.
But at your altar, Muse, I kneel
And reverential pray,
When darkness would have claimed my soul--
You held its blight at bay.

My sky of Life was overcast--
Nor showed one patch of blue--
Love had betrayed, and deep,--ah, deep!
My heart drank of its rue.
Where lo! a hand my shoulder pressed,
E’en as I would give up;--
I turned,--your eyes looked into mine--
There passed the cup.

A music wonderful entranced
Which led to heights afar;
Ever it beckoned on, and on,
My guiding star.
The chains that hitherto had held,--
How worthless proved their pow’r!
Instead of wishing Life to pass
I thanked God for each hour.

_Let others bow before Wealth’s shrine,
And tribute render up
For the pleasures manifold it brings
To overflow Life’s cup.
But at your altar, Muse, I kneel
And reverential pray,
When darkness would have claimed my soul,--
You held its blight at bay._

CONCEPTION

To the many you give of your lighter vein
Laughter and gay repartee.
But the deeper side,--that which thinks things out,
You give to me.

With the many you play Life’s make-believe game;
’Tis a bantering light they see
When they look in your eyes, their earnest gaze
You save for me.

The many accept you for what you would seem;
From such blundering am I free:
I know you for your own true self,--the self
You are to me.

AWAKENING

Oh, truth was mine before. I knew
The sun was gold; the skies of day were blue;
But the wonder of things, dear--_this_ never grew
Until into my life, God’s grace sent _you_.

THE HOUSE BUILT ON SANDS

We will go, he said, far, far away,
And a world make of our own.
A kingdom, such as never before
On land or sea, has been known.

She smiled into his eyes,--and oh! the look
Of perfect trust she gave
As he gathered her close, vowing the while
Allegiance unto the grave.

Well, they went away and made their world
As others had done before,
For the time being love blinding them
To the confine of its shore.

They were all-in-all to each other, alone,
And it mattered not a whit,
That, in the scheme of things outside the pale,
They were not permitted to fit.

Defiance they flung in the face of dissent!
Life,--was it not their right
To live it as they wanted to?
And they would, all warning despite.

Why burden the pages by writing down
Their history in detail?
Was ever yet such a compact made
That was known _not_ to fail.

’Twas a question of time,--“_The house built on sands_”
From its moorings slipped away;
They who court Fate’s disfavor--or soon--or late,
“Pass under the rod” of her sway.

TO A BUTTERFLY

Butterfly, Butterfly,
Roaming thro’ the air--
Flying here, flying there,
Flying--ev’rywhere.
Bending o’er the roses’ petals,
Drinking of their dew,
Then away--with quick dart--
Cleaving towards the blue!

Butterfly, Butterfly,
Roaming thro’ the air--
If I, like you, had privilege,
To wander ev’rywhere.
I’d spread my wings and soar up! up!
Straight to Heav’n’s door--
And when I got there Butterfly,
I’d roam no more!

A FRAGMENT

Flowers exquisite frequent thrive,
Hidden in the shade
Of some o’er-arching foliage
In a secluded glade.

They need the shadow, not the sun,
To best perfect their bloom.
E’en so, life’s rarest thought expands
Oft, in its darkened room.

QUERY

You love me, you say, and want me
To become your own.
I believe you are in earnest now,
But,--as the years go on--

What do you think will happen!
Shall we travel side by side,
Lovers, and faithful companions,
Whatever may betide?

So many have taken the venture,
But to find it turn out for the bad,
Who, at the beginning, just as much faith
In a different outcome had.

That I’m fearful our fate might be like theirs,--
Have we proof, think you, it will not?
A guarantee,--we shall never grow tired
And want to unfasten the knot?

Tho’ my love is yours, ’twere far better,
Our paths separately should trend;
Than start together, and _then_ diverge,
Nor accomplish the journey’s end.