Chapter I: Front Matter

SHORT FLIGHTS

BY
_MEREDITH NICHOLSON_

_With a weak, uncertain wing
And a short flight, faltering
Like a heart afraid to sing._

INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOWEN-MERRILL CO.
1891

Copyright 1890
BY
MEREDITH NICHOLSON

TO MY UNCLE

WILLIAM MORTON MEREDITH

CONTENTS

INVOCATION--TO THE SEASONS xi

SAT EST VIXISSE 1

SONG 3

’TIS NEVER NIGHT IN LOVE’S DOMAIN 5

ESTRANGED 7

WHEN FRIENDS ARE PARTED 8

WHEREAWAY 9

A SECRET 11

DISAPPOINTMENT 13

STRIVING 14

AN IDOLATER 16

LOVE’S MIDAS TOUCH 17

IN ETHER SPACES 18

MY PADDLE GLEAMED 20

FAITHLESS 21

GRAPE BLOOM 22

ILL-STARRED 23

THE SOLDIER HEART 25

AN UNWRITTEN LETTER 27

MY LADY OF THE GOLDEN HEART 28

DREAMS 30

CARDINAL NEWMAN 31

ON THE MEDITERRANEAN 32

WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY 34

RIGHTEOUS WRATH 36

SUNSET 37

RONDEAU OF EVENTIDE 38

A PRINCE’S TREASURE 39

DIEU VOUS GARDE 41

SWEETHEART TIME 42

THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS 44

GUARDING SHADOWS 46

ART’S LESSON 47

IN THE SHADOW 48

“LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT” 50

SONGS AND WORDS 51

FOR A NEW YEAR’S MORN 53

THREE FRIENDS 54

A RHYME OF LITTLE GIRLS 57

THE BATTLES GRANDSIRE MISSED 59

BARRED 61

A SLUMBER SONG 62

BEFORE THE FIRE 64

OCTOBER 66

IN WINTER I WAS BORN 68

GOOD NIGHT AND PLEASANT DREAMS 69

WHERE LOVE WAS NOT 71

DOWN THE AISLES 73

RUIN 74

HALF FLIGHTS 76

A KIND OF MAN 77

TRANSFIGURED 78

LOVE’S POWER 79

FIRE-HUNTING 80

HEARTACHE 81

FRIENDSHIP’S SACRAMENT 83

OMAR KHAYYAM 84

A DISCOVERY 86

_SONNETS_

A MODERN PURITAN 89

THE LAW OF LIFE 90

TO EUGENE FIELD IN ENGLAND 91

DEPENDENCE 92

BY SHERIDAN’S GRAVE 93

VIKING 94

VIOLIN 95

WHAT THE BABIES SAY 96

SECRETS 97

BLIND 98

A FANCY 99

THOREAU 100

_SHORT FLIGHTS_

TO THE SEASONS.

_Seasons that pass me by in varied mood,
As on the impressionable land you leave a trace,
Molding sometime a delicate flower’s sweet face,
Touching again with green the somber wood,
Or drawing all beneath a snowy hood,--
Am I not worthy as they to have a place
In your remembrance? Am I made too base
To know what weed and thorn have understood?_

_Fair vernal time, I need your quickening
Even as the sleeping Earth! O summer heat
Make flower and fruit in me that I may bring
Full hands to Autumn when above me beat
The serious winds; and Winter, make me strong
Like the glad music of your battle song!_

SAT EST VIXISSE.

I.

To have lived!
To have felt a quickened beat
Of the heart in spring;
To have known that something sweet
Moved the birds to sing;
To have seen dim waves of heat
O’er a field of green retreat!

II.

To have found the hiding-place
Of the wild wood rose;
To have held, a little space,
Any flower that grows;
To have known a moment’s grace
Looking in a loved one’s face
To have lived, to have lived!