New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-30
A JAPANESE FAN.

Do flowers llaant out such riot glare?
Al ne. an me. 10 Journey there!
linked out against the yellow glow
One sharp peak rises, blackly bare:
A stately swan steers up the sky
A. me, an me, 10 journey there!
And see her as she furls her FAM
Was ever lady half fair?
She beckOns to me with her eyes
All me, an me, to journey there!
Were feet so dainty small?
Was ever coiled such shining hair?
All me, an me. to journey therel
Fan-pictured, dear Japan thy calm
Fills OF West with dull despair!
CThe palm leaves sift the sunlight through
All me. ali me, to journey there!
Miss GiIespy underst ands better than either
Of the two writers mentioned above the virtue
OF brevity. This virtue has its dangers. and the
suthor Of ''The Eastward Road" does not alto
gether escape them Seeking TO be epigrammatic.
she exposes. in a few cases. something like
poverty OF thought. 1t may be admitted more
ever. that she is never startingly original or
Illuminating. On the other hand. there 4.
quality finer than that of the average maker
Of brief verses IN the two examples which we
choose from a fairly large handful of skilfully
made pieces IN this book:
REACTION
Lest should taste forbidden fruit
shut myself from Paradise.
And stone by stone j built the wall
That hides II from mine eyes
But now that am safe outside
That IL would might not cross.
May not sit a little while
Without and count my lossf
VALENTINE.
The wise forget. dear heart
And play the hero's part.
Brave to the last
They weep not nor regret,
CAIN are their eyes;
Dear heart. the wise forget
All the verses in Miss Gillespy's book not ex-
cepting those which are least successful In
workmanship. suggest a sensitive temperament
and a mind dwelling TO good purpose on ques-
Hons Of character. on delicate moral issues The
tone is never didactic morbid; it is through
out wholesome and sincerely poetic.
"A E." is a member OF that band of Celtic
versihers who murmur darby about mysterious
things. and. while occasionally producing po-
etical lire. even. at rare intervals whole
lyric possessing some charm. are as a rule
richer in words than in inspiration. 1.-The Divine
Vision" is a book Of moods. vague dreamy
moods. half ascetic and half sensuous. The
author would scarcely condescend we fancy to
the merely human contemplation Of life and
love and death. He alludes in one OF his poems
10 The Breath OF the Darkness embodied to
leach rs Enspeakable things" and like all the
niish, nierophantic Celts, twittering OF their
awful spiritual travail. he strives TO make us
feel that he is having tremendous trafflckiprs
with the high gods Of Irish poesy. Somehow
We are not moved. "A E." is picturesouslv
rhetorical, sweetly precious in his feeling for
nature, and a wondrous hand altogether with
the stars and the and the immemorabs
woe and all the rest of it, but he is almost never
simply clear and poeticaL There is much mora
In the book in the obscure vein of the titura ,
poem than there is in the meditative vet suf
hcienty direct vein OF "A Memory" which. we
regret is TOO long to be quoted here. and of thu
following poems
RECALL.
nat call may draw thee back again
LOST cove, what art. what charm. NAV ule.xa,
lne tender touch the kiss are vain $3.50
for thcu vert lured away by these
Or, must we tho iron hand
And mask with hate the holy breath