The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-02-21

which Malmorda weaves out of love and
hopper
Silence againi TITS better, for ills dark
Down here, and one must ride eyes fixed on
earth,
Not gazing up at thee. These upstart rocks,
Like granite Asculps, bar nay way.
O dead, stout fighter and strong lover, grand
If gray,
The wife thou hadst Is minel My dream. my
hope
Stand realized. Queen of the sept Hy-Cualan.
Bride OF Malmorda is thy Torcalai
The ostman skill and suppleness once wed
With Irish strain, our royal race shall feel
Emprise dreamed not by Ostman or by Gael.
Mistress of sea and shore as Of the crag
And lawn shall Erin be, and those who long
For Towering lives shall not be forced to choose
Twixt saint and soldier. Yea, our ranting bards
Shall have high songs to sing, whereto their
harps
Can make the music OF the morn vibrate,
Ay, and these hot invaders who now CONS
In thunder, and steal out on sliding keels-
As glide their vikings over icy fields
Where North and Night are one-shall be our
friends.
In every. Val9 q IoFCalA shall reign,
And Ostmen shall come asking us for wives
OF Gaelic blood, until our mingled race
Shall rule the world. This thy revenge shall be,
Gray Asculp.
Mr.. Clarke, the author of this poem, is
not wholly a newcomer In the field of
literature. He is The author of a play
founded upon the career of Robert EN-
met, which has much literary merit, and
of many excellent poems and ballads.
best known among which. perhaps, is n
upon the exploits Of the gallant sailor,
Gushing, in the wal with the South. 1t
Is not too much to say, however. that
nothing he has heretofore given to the
public has afforded any sort of indication
Of the powers displayed In Malmorda-
the ~inexhaustible well of passion, the SUD-
lime conception of the beautiful and
the fatalistic Gin short that suprem me
poetic gift which, eternallV analysed, can
never be defined. The appearance of
this poem is by no means the less remark
able as it is the work of a man who has
already won what may be called a "prac-
tical" success after years Of devotion to a
professional calling. Mr.. Clark is a New
York journalist of much distinction, and
In professionalcircle Is at least as highly
regarded for his executive and practical
abilities as for his skill with tbs pen. OF
tho rank that the world will give Malmor-
da in the near future, we entertain no
doubt. AS long as the heroic and the
beautiful are loved, 1t will be a fountain
of eujoyment and a well Of inspiration.
II Mr., Clarke can give the world one or
two more such poems, the gel eration
will have found In him the voice that the
world lacks since Tennyson died.
These are brave words. and In uttering
them we are not unconscious of our own
humility, as compared with the great
faculty of criticism which passes on the
fate of poets. Yet we say them with
what wo think is an irresistible percep-
ton of their truth.
Malmorda In published in unprsten-
tious but very acceptable form by g. P.
Putnam's Sons. The text 10 illustrated
with o number of characteristic wood
cuts, which aid the reader In realizing
the mechanical details OF the narrative.
Mr.. CLARKE has appended to 1t sufficient
notes to show that he has paid careful
attic to archaeological truth and
typographical accuracy, At the same
time, the BOOK is weighted, with no
supe rluous array of learning, either in
the text or by way of notes. The scenes
and their adornments grow up naturally
about the narrative, and the notes ex-
plain just so much as would be likely to
remain obscure to a reader of ordinary
information.