A Solar Eclipse

In that great journey of the stars through space About the mighty, all-directing Sun, The pallid, faithful Moon has been the one Companion of the Earth. Her tender face, Pale with the swift, keen purpose of that race Which at Time’s natal hour was first begun, Shines ever on her lover as they run And lights his orbit with her silvery smile.

Sometimes such passionate love doth in her rise, Down from her beaten path she softly slips, And with her mantle veils the Sun’s bold eyes, Then in the gloaming finds her lover’s lips. While far and near the men our world call wise See only that the Sun is in eclipse.

A SUGGESTION To C. A. D.

Let the wild red-rose bloom. Though not to thee So delicately perfect as the white And unwed lily drooping in the light, Though she has known the kisses of the bee And tells her amorous tale to passers-by In perfumed whispers and with untaught grace, Still let the red-rose bloom in her own place; She could not be the lily should she try.

Why to the wondrous nightingale cry hush Or bid her cease her wild heart-breaking lay, And tune her voice to imitate the way The whip-poor-will makes music, or the thrush? All airs of sorrow to one theme belong, And passion is not copyrighted yet. Each heart writes its own music. Why not let The nightingale unchided sing her song?