# New poems and variant readings

New Poems AND VARIANT READINGS BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS
First published . November 25th, 1918. Reprinted . . . . . November 27th, 1918.
All rights reserved
PREFACE
All Stevensonians owe a debt of gratitude to the Bibliophile Society of Boston for having discovered the following poems and given them light in a privately printed edition, thus making them known, in fact, to the world at large. Otherwise they would have remained scattered and hidden indefinitely in the hands of various collectors. They will be found extraordinarily interesting in their self-revelation, and some, indeed, are so intimate and personal that one understands why Stevenson withheld them from all eyes save his own. The love-poems in particular, though they are of very unequal merit, possess in common a really affecting sincerity. That Stevenson should have preserved these poems through all the vicissitudes of his wandering life shows how dearly he must have valued them; and shows, too, I think, beyond any contradiction, that he meant they should be ultimately published.
LLOYD OSBOURNE.
CONTENTS
| | PAGE |
| PRAYER | 1 |
| LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ | 2 |
| THOUGH DEEP INDIFFERENCE SHOULD DROWSE | 2 |
| MY HEART, WHEN FIRST THE BLACKBIRD SINGS | 3 |
| I DREAMED OF FOREST ALLEYS FAIR | 4 |
| ST. MARTIN'S SUMMER | 6 |
| DEDICATION | 7 |
| THE OLD CHIMÆRAS, OLD RECEIPTS | 8 |
| PRELUDE | 10 |
| THE VANQUISHED KNIGHT | 11 |
| TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF NORTHERN LIGHTS | 11 |
| THE RELIC TAKEN, WHAT AVAILS THE SHRINE? | 13 |
| ABOUT THE SHELTERED GARDEN GROUND | 14 |
| AFTER READING "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA" | 15 |
| I KNOW NOT HOW, BUT AS I COUNT | 15 |
| SPRING SONG | 16 |
| THE SUMMER SUN SHONE ROUND ME | 16 |
| YOU LOOKED SO TEMPTING IN THE PEW | 17 |
| LOVE'S VICISSITUDES | 18 |
| DUDDINGSTONE | 18 |
| STOUT MARCHES LEAD TO CERTAIN ENDS | 20 |
| AWAY WITH FUNERAL MUSIC | 20 |
| TO SYDNEY | 21 |
| HAD I THE POWER THAT HAD THE WILL | 23 |
| O DULL COLD NORTHERN SKY | 24 |
| APOLOGETIC POSTSCRIPT OF A YEAR LATER | 25 |
| TO MARCUS | 26 |
| TO OTTILIE | 27 |
| THIS GLOOMY NORTHERN DAY | 28 |
| THE WIND IS WITHOUT THERE AND HOWLS IN THE TREES | 29 |
| A VALENTINE'S SONG | 31 |
| HAIL! CHILDISH SLAVES OF SOCIAL RULES | 34 |
| SWALLOWS TRAVEL TO AND FRO | 36 ​ |
| TO MESDAMES ZASSETSKY AND GARSCHINE | 37 |
| TO MADAME GARSCHINE | 39 |
| MUSIC AT THE VILLA MARINA | 39 |
| FEAR NOT, DEAR FRIEND, BUT FREELY LIVE YOUR DAYS | 40 |
| LET LOVE GO, IF GO SHE WILL | 41 |
| I DO NOT FEAR TO OWN ME KIN | 42 |
| I AM LIKE ONE THAT FOR LONG DAYS HAD SATE | 44 |
| VOLUNTARY | 45 |
| ON NOW, ALTHOUGH THE YEAR BE DONE | 47 |
| IN THE GREEN AND GALLANT SPRING | 47 |
| DEATH, TO THE DEAD FOR EVERMORE | 48 |
| TO CHARLES BAXTER | 49 |
| I WHO ALL THE WINTER THROUGH | 52 |
| LOVE, WHAT IS LOVE? | 53 |
| SOON OUR FRIENDS PERISH | 53 |
| AS ONE WHO HAVING WANDERED ALL NIGHT LONG | 53 |
| STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF MEN | 55 |
| THE WIND BLEW SHRILL AND SMART | 56 |
| MAN SAILS THE DEEP AWHILE | 57 |
| THE COCK'S CLEAR VOICE INTO THE CLEARER AIR | 58 |
| NOW WHEN THE NUMBER OF MY YEARS | 59 |
| WHAT MAN MAY LEARN, WHAT MAN MAY DO | 60 |
| SMALL IS THE TRUST WHEN LOVE IS GREEN | 61 |
| KNOW YOU THE RIVER NEAR TO GREZ | 62 |
| IT'S FORTH ACROSS THE ROARING FOAM | 63 |
| AN ENGLISH BREEZE | 65 |
| AS IN THEIR FLIGHT THE BIRDS OF SONG | 66 |
| THE PIPER | 67 |
| TO MRS. MACMARLAND | 68 |
| TO MISS CORNISH | 69 |
| TALES OF ARABIA | 71 |
| BEHOLD, AS GOBLINS DARK OF MIEN | 72 |
| STILL I LOVE TO RHYME | 73 |
| LONG TIME I LAY IN LITTLE EASE | 74 |
| FLOWER GOD, GOD OF THE SPRING | 75 |
| COME, MY BELOVED, HEAR FROM ME | 76 |
| SINCE YEARS AGO FOR EVERMORE | 77 |
| ENVOY FOR "A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES" | 78 |
| FOR RICHMOND'S GARDEN WALL | 80 ​ |
| HAIL, GUEST, AND ENTER FREELY! | 80 |
| LO, NOW, MY GUEST | 81 |
| SO LIVE, SO LOVE, SO USE THAT FRAGILE HOUR | 81 |
| AD SE IPSUM | 82 |
| BEFORE THIS LITTLE GIFT WAS COME | 82 |
| GO, LITTLE BOOK—THE ANCIENT PHRASE | 83 |
| MY LOVE WAS WARM | 84 |
| DEDICATORY POEM FOR "UNDERWOODS" | 85 |
| FAREWELL | 86 |
| THE FAR-FARERS | 87 |
| COME, MY LITTLE CHILDREN, HERE ARE SONGS FOR YOU | 87 |
| HOME FROM THE DAISIED MEADOWS | 88 |
| EARLY IN THE MORNING I HEAR ON YOUR PIANO | 88 |
| FAIR ISLE AT SEA | 89 |
| LOUD AND LOW IN THE CHIMNEY | 89 |
| I LOVE TO BE WARM BY THE RED FIRESIDE | 90 |
| AT LAST SHE COMES | 90 |
| MINE EYES WERE SWIFT TO KNOW THEE | 90 |
| FIXED IS THE DOOM | 91 |
| MEN ARE HEAVEN'S PIERS | 92 |
| THE ANGLER ROSE, HE TOOK HIS ROD | 93 |
| SPRING CAROL | 94 |
| TO WHAT SHALL I COMPARE HER | 95 |
| WHEN THE SUN COMES AFTER RAIN | 96 |
| LATE, O MILLER | 97 |
| TO FRIENDS AT HOME | 97 |
| I, WHOM APOLLO SOMETIME VISITED | 98 |
| TEMPEST TOSSED AND SORE AFFLICTED | 98 |
| VARIANT FORM OF THE PRECEDING POEM | 99 |
| I NOW, O FRIEND, WHOM NOISELESSLY THE SNOWS | 100 |
| SINCE THOU HAST GIVEN ME THIS GOOD HOPE, O GOD | 103 |
| GOD GAVE TO ME A CHILD IN PART | 104 |
| OVER THE LAND IS APRIL | 105 |
| LIGHT AS THE LINNET ON MY WAY I START | 106 |
| COME, HERE IS ADIEU TO THE CITY | 106 |
| IT BLOWS A SNOWING GALE | 107 |
| NE SIT ANCILLÆ TIBI AMOR PUDOR | 107 |
| TO ALL THAT LOVE THE FAR AND BLUE | 108 |
| THOU STRAINEST THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN FERN | 110 ​ |
| TO ROSABELLE | 111 |
| NOW BARE TO THE BEHOLDER'S EYE | 112 |
| THE BOUR-TREE DEN | 114 |
| SONNETS | 118 |
| FRAGMENTS | 123 |
| AIR OF DIABELLI'S | 128 |
| EPITAPHIUM EROTII | 132 |
| DE M. ANTONIO | 133 |
| AD MAGISTRUM LUDI | 133 |
| AD NEPOTEM | 134 |
| IN CHARIDEMUM | 135 |
| DE LIGURRA | 135 |
| IN LUPUM | 136 |
| AD QUINTILIANUM | 137 |
| DE HORTIS JULII MARTIALIS | 137 |
| AD MARTIALEM | 139 |
| IN MAXIMUM | 139 |
| AD OLUM | 140 |
| DE CŒNATIONE MICÆ | 140 |
| DE EROTIO PUELLA | 141 |
| AD PISCATOREM | 141 |