New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-05-01
NAKLNG A POEM.
THE CONFESSION OF a MINOR ARTIST
IN VERSE"

IN VERSE"
From The Academy and Literature
Somewhere or other. thinking of some one or
hearing some one talked of, l heard the words
uttered: she makes think of lavender
Afterward l was dawdling at the keyboard Of
a piano; doing, so TO speak, over the harmony
Il use the word in the technical sense) of the
recitative that precedes the air, When 1 am
dead" in Purcells Dido" The words, she
makes me think Of lavender" came back into
my mind, mixed themselves up with the chro-
matte sixths and struck a definite ''note"-the
note of Sir Peter Lely's beauties of Charles IFS
court. with their long necks. sloping shoulders
painted spnets, virginaIs. viols da gambia or
d'amore, and the other instruments of indefi-
mite vanished time. That eight syllabled phrase
obviously predestned for the opening of a paper
of verses, stuck in my ear. along with a little
phrase of music that had evolved in thinking
over it-four bars and a half close and then
four bars and full close for the second line of
the verse. The second line was not yet written.
For several days I was occasionally troubled
one is with a word the tip Of the tongue-the
little word wanting" Then. perhaps a week
after. lying awake. in bed I thought Of this:
You make me think of lavender,
And that is why 1 love you So
AS far the music went the next two lines
were simple one repeats the first eight bars
with the slight change of harmony necessary for
the transition into new key and new subject.
That much I did in bed, in my mind before
falling asleep In the morning l set about the
third and fourth lines. which, after time APP
peared like this on paper:
Your sloping shoulders, heavy hair
long like
And year swans neck ef snow"
The changes I made unconsciously for the sake
of what scientific students of verse call pho
netic syzygy." "anastomOss" 3nd so on. The
vowel sounds of long and swan" are the
same and long swans like snow is
a kind Of alliteratiVe tTickery which is part Of
the branch called "symptosis" l had been max
ing number of experiments in the contrasting
of ten syIlabled lines with octosyllabic and
GhO inc hat NJ pff0 in my
ear ] wrote:
Are those Of women dead so long ago"
then changed the line to
'-Beft those gracious girls Of long ago"
with the aim of sustaining the ALTERATION of
lavender love slipping shout
like snow"
Of the remaining verse the first copy looked
like this:
.who lived the quiet life and vent c.aad aw way.
As from the dried rose petals +e,ies perfumes go;
(Whose long white
AAe-seHi ~ I7+assetA-zefft fingers from the
spinet's keys
Drew little small. heart-clutching little melodies
be4aa4Rse tv-ty- ayeeG He day
And in their ordered gardens took the air
And the final version like this:
Lavender
You make me think of lavender,
And that is why / love you SO.
Your sOpiug shoulders heavy hair,
And long swans neck like snow,
Befit those gracious girls Of long ago,
Who in closed gardens took the quiet air,
Who lived the ordered life to gently pass
From earth from petals perfumes go,
OR shadows from that dial in the grass;
Whose fingers from the painted spinet keys
Drew small heart-clutC hing melodies.
one may not say
Whether thew were more fair.
Or more 10 be desired than maids to-day.
! only know
Ncu make think Of lavender,
And that is why ! love you So