Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1916-12-15
Than every whimper of regret

Torn out Of tunes that demons
dreamed,
And pitched to such a piercing key,
1t stabbed the ear with agony;
And when at last it lulled and died,
l stood aghast and terrified.
I shuddered and I shut my eyes,
And still could see, and feel aware
Some mystic presence waited there !;
And staring, with a dazed surprise,
saw a creature so divine
That never subtle thought of mine
May reproduce to inner sight
So fair a vision Of delight.
"a syllable Of dew that drips
From out a lily's laughing lips
Could not be sWeeter than the word
I listened to, yet never heard
For, oh, the woman hiding there
Within the shadows of her hair,
Spake to me in an undertone
So delicate, my soul alone
But understood it as moan
Of some weak melody of wind
A heavenward breeze had left behind.
"A tracery of trees, grotesque
Against the sky, behind her seen,
Like shapeless shapes of arabesque
Wrought in an oriental screen;
And tall, austere and statuesque
She doomed before it-e'en as though
The spirit hand of Angelo
Had chiseled her to life complete,
With chips of moonshine round her
feet.
And I grew jealous Of the dusk,
To see it softly touch her face,
AS loverlike, with fond embrace,
It folded round her like huSk:
But when the glitter of her hand,
Like wasted glory, beckoned me,
My eyes grew blurred and dull and
dim
My vision failed-I could not see
I could not stir-I could but stand,
Till, quivering in every limb,
I flung me prone, as though to swim
The tide of grass whose waves Of
green
Went rolling oeean-wide between
My helpless shipwrecked heart and
her
Who claimed me for worshiper.
''1And writhing thus in my despair,
/ heard a weird, unearthly sound,
That seemed to lift me from the
ground
And hold me floating in the air.
I looked, and 10! / saw her bow
Above a harp within her hands;
A crown of blossoms bound her brow,
And on her harp were twisted
strands
OF silken starlight, ripping DER
With music never heard before
By mortal ears; and, at the strain,
/ felt my spirit snap its chain
And break away, and could see
It as it turned and fed from me
To greet its mistress, where she smiled
To see the phantom dancing wild
And wizardlilze before the spell
Her mystic fingers knew so well.''
/ sat throughout it all as though I'M
der the strange influence of an eastern
drug. My fancy was so wrought upon
I only saw the reader mistily, and
clothed, as it were, in bedragoned
costume of the Orient. My mind
seemed dle-steeped in browse and
languor, and yet peopled with a thou
sand shadowy fancies that came troop
ing from chaotic hiding places, and
mingling in revelry of such riotOus
extravaganza it seemed a holiday Of
selfish thought.
/ shook my head, rubbed my eyes,
arose beWildered, and sat down again;
arose again and walked across the
room, my strange companion following
every motion with an intensity of gaze
almost mesmeric.
''You fail to comprehend it?' he
queried.
shook my head.
''You can almost grasp it, can't
youY'
''Yes," ] answered.
"But not quite?"
"Not quite"
Does it worry your
"YeS."
"Think it will cling to you, and fret
you, vex you, haunt your"
II know it will"
"Think you'll ever fully comprehend
it?"
81 can't say" replied, thoughtfully.
perhaps / may in time. Will you al
low me to copy it?"
"What do you want with it?'
81 want to study it," / replied.
'tAnd you're sure you don't under
stand it, and it worries you, and frets
you, and vexes you, and haunts you?
Good! I'll read you the final clause
now; that may throw light of some
kind on it," and, opening the scroll,
again he read:
''What is it? Who will rightly guess
If it be aught but nothingness
That dribbles from a hayward pen
To spatter in the eyes of men?