Chapter I: Front Matter

THE LOST CHIMES
_And Other Poems_

GUSTAV MELBY

BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
THE GORHAM PRESS

Copyright, 1918, by Gustav Melby

All Rights Reserved

THE GORHAM PRESS, BOSTON, U. S. A.

_To the Memory of My Friend_

DR. FRANK J. CRESSY

_Whose Skill as a Physician Saved My
Child’s Life, and Whose Kindness as
a Friend Lent Inspiration to Life’s
Pursuits_

CONTENTS

Page

The Lost Chimes 13

The Sibyl’s Prophecy 91

Elegiacs

In Memoriam 105

The Farewell 117

Baby Bruce 119

A Funeral of a Child on Christmas Eve 120

The Wreath 121

Lines Written on Receiving News of My Father’s Death 122

The Great Strife

War and Providence 127

The Yellow Peril 128

The Veteran 129

Dies Irae 130

A May Morning, 1917 131

My Sailor-Lad’s Letter 132

The Bugle Call 134

Flag-Raising 136

The Red Cross 137

The Doleful Mother of Mankind 138

Midwinter’s Dream (1918) 139

By the Wayside

The Canadian Prairies 143

The Rocky Mountains 143

Mount Shasta 144

Verses 145

To an Unknown Musician 146

Seattle 147

Gjoa 148

The Grave in the Desert 149

The Mountains of the Prophet 150

Chicago 151

The Isle of Dreams 152

Lake Harriet 153

The Cubist 154

The Handclasp 155

A Country Store 156

Sunsets on Clearwater Lake, Minn. 158

Twilight 162

April 162

I’m a Part of the Wind and the Curling Wave 164

The Chipping Sparrow 165

In the Lilac-Blossom-Time 166

The Runnel’s Ditty 168

The Child and the Gospel of St. John 169

The Birthday Cake 170

My Goldfish 170

The Fiddler’s Christmas Music 172

Cruel Kitty 175

To 176

Farewell 177

Alone 178

Lines on an Old Songbook 178

Pearls and Palaces 180

Victor Hugo 183

To a Friend 184

To a “Knocker” 185

A Vision 186

Signs Celestial 187

Despair 188

Hope 188

Be Still My Soul, Be Still 190

Awake 190

The Awakening 192

Asters 192

Butterflies 193

The Rosebush 194

Two Aspects 195

The Great “I Am” 196

The Death Chant 196

The Letter 197

God’s Truth-Teller 199

The Death of the Poet 200

In Search of the Perfect 202

The Christmas Cactus 203

Christmas Night 204

A New Year’s Invocation, 1918 205

Easter 207

Sonnets

Lux Ex Oriente 211

On the Statue of Voltaire 212

A Venetian Well Head 213

The Prospect 214

The Harvest 215

The Reward of Epimenides 215

THE LOST CHIMES

“Count not the cost, a thousand more or less
Is not the question, but a perfect tone,
A clang as clear as the Italian sky,
As strong and joyful as the victor’s cry,
As deep and mellow as the ocean’s moan,
And tender as a mother’s fond caress.”

“And let there be no stint of pure alloy,
Of bronze and silver, no, not even of gold,
Yea, let this be thy very master-piece,
In all its making,--if it doth me please,
Half of my fortune shall to thee be told,
And to its praise my life I shall employ.”

Thus spake Sordino, noble Florentine,
To one who was renowned for casting bells,
Who now was asked to make a set of chimes,
A task he had accomplished many times,
But this, he thought, the highest skill compels,
And yet the work he promised to begin.

But first for thoughts and dreams he leisure found,
For consecration to the work at hand,
Since this the glory of his life should be,
A grand creation, a sweet symphony
Of human life, which all might understand,
Their souls re-echoed in the liquid sound.