Olive Custance

“ Go out with dancing feet and dreaming eyes,
And find wild Folly, with her rainbow wings,
Sweeter than all the wisdom of the wise.
O delicate Youth, thy praises shall be sung
While yet my heart is young . . .
Thy whiteness, and thy brightness, and the sweet
Flushed softness of thy little restless feet . . .
The tossed and sunny tangle of thy hair,
Thy swiftness, slimness, shyness, simpleness,
That set the old folk sighing for the rare
Red rose of Joy thy careless days possess.
. . . And when at last, with sad, indifferent face,
I walk in narrow pathways patiently ”

“ By that strange sphinx, my soul, they slowly rise
And settle on white pages wing to wing . . .
White pages like flower-petals fluttering
Held spellbound there till some blind hour shall bring
The perfect voice that, delicate and wise,
Shall set them free in fairyland at last!
That garden of all dreams and ecstasies
Where my soul sings through an eternal spring,
Watching alone with enigmatic eyes,
Dark wings on pale flower-petals quivering . . .
O words of all my songs . . . black butterflies! ”

“ Glittering with tears, and gay with painted lies
(For seldom--seldom art thou stained and torn,
Showing a tattered lining, and the bare
Bruised body of thy wearer) ; thou art fair
To look at, O thou garment of our pride!
A net of colours, thou dost catch the wise;
He lays aside his wisdom for thy sake ...
And Beauty hides her loveliness in thee ...
And after ... when men know the agony
Of thy great weight of splendour, and would shake
Thee swiftly from their shoulders, cast aside
The burden of thy jewelled bands that break
Their very hearts ... often it is too late. ”

“ While he so radiant, so divinely kind,
Lured thee with honeyed words to be his friend,
All heedless of thy fate, for Love is blind.
For Love is blind and cruel, and the end
Of every joy is sorrow and distress. ”

“ How all Love's arrows seek thy joy, Oh Sweet!
And wound the white perfection of thy youth!
How all the poisoned spears of hate are hurled
Against thy sorrow when thou darest to meet
With martyrdom men's mockery of the truth! ”

“ Helpless and dumb, with desperate eyes, that see
The terrible beauty of those simple things
My soul disdained when she was proud and free.
And I can only pray: God pity me,
God pity me and give me back my voice! ”

“ The moon a silver shroud for my despair,
And all the golden forests of the spheres
Have showered their splendours on me leaf by leaf
Till men that meet me in the sunlight, stare
To see the shining garment of my grief! ”

“ My heart is like a lighted Inn that waits
Your swift approach . . . and at the open gates
White Beauty stands and listens like a flower.
She has been dreaming of you in the night,
O fairy Princes; and her eyes are bright. ”

“ Parce que l'eau, la terre et la montante flamme
En nul endroit ne sont si belles qu'en mon âme.
J'ai dit ce que j'ai vu et ce que j'ai senti,
D'un coeur pour qui le vrai ne fut point trop hardi,
Et j'ai eu cette ardeur, par l'amour intimée,
Pour être après la mort parfois encore aimée,
Et qu'un jeune homme alors lisant ce que j'écris,
Sentant par moi son coeur, ému, troublé, surpris,
Ayant tout oublié des épouses réelles,
M'accueille dans son âme et me préfère à elles. ”

“ I was pale and sad in the South like the olive-trees
That droop their silver heads by the dusty roads,
And are grave and cold and grey in spite of the sun...
In the veils of rose and blue that the bright dawn spun
Day wrapped me round in vain! ”

“ A net of pleasures in a world of woes,
A bright temptation for gay youth that goes
Laughing upon his way without a care!
A shield of light for conquering Love to bear
Stronger than all the swords of all his foes. ”

“ While splendid angels of the sunset stand
Watching in flaming circles wing to wing...
Frail golden flowers that perish at a breath,
That wither in the hands of light, and die
When bright dawn wakens in a silver sky. ”

“ Sits in the sunshine—tired at last of play
(A child, that finds the morning all too long) ,
Tempts with its beauty that disastrous day
When in the gathering darkness of despair
Death shall strike dumb the laughing mouth of song. ”

“ Regardless of the little lovely town
Rising behind him, with its clustered towers...
O Saint, look up! and see how gay and fair
The earth is in its summer-time of flowers,
Look up, and see the world, for God is there... ”

“ The sky forgets her starry multitude,
Seeing how fair mere earthly flowers can be!
Glad country where the wayward feet of Spring,
Moving in mystic dances, bring desire,
New miracles of beauty every day... ”

“ I come from lonely downs and silent woods,
With winter in my heart, a withered world,
A heavy weight of dark and sorrowful things,
And all my dreams spread out their rainbow wings,
And turn again to those bright solitudes
Where Beauty met me in a thousand moods,
And all her shining banners were unfurled... ”

“ Where, summer comrades gay and debonair,
The south wind and the sunlight danced . . . you smiled,
With great glad eyes, as bright as summer seas,
To feel their twinkling fingers in your hair . . . ”

“ And skirts of wide horizons round her spread
White as the white wing-feathers of a dove.
Her feet, a flash of silver on the sea,
Chase silver sails that fly untiringly
Towards the enchanted Islands of the West. ”

“ Hoping to catch, at last, a shining dream!
Peacocks. A Mood
In Gorgeous plumage, azure, gold and green,
They trample the pale flowers, and their shrill cry
Troubles the garden's bright tranquillity! ”

“ But Love has caught you by the wings
And radiant as Eurydice
By her brave poet's song set free,
I rush into the arms of joy!
Shadow-Nets
When I was wandering on the Downs to-day
I saw the pine-woods sleeping in the sun . . .
For they were tired of weaving shadow-nets—
Weaving all day in vain . . . in vain . . . in vain . . . ”

“ The midnight feast, the glittering dance!
The wizard harpers play for me,
I wear a crown upon my head,
A princess in eternity,
I dance and revel with the dead . . .
"Vain lies!" I hear the people cry,
I listen to their weary truth ”