https://sonett.fontane-place.de/ Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:03:18 +0000 MyBB https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23130 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:37:06 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23130
A LITTLE rest, a little rest, O God!
Ere the long darkness shuts me from the day,
Let me have time to see the morning lay
Her lavish gold upon the hills and, shod

With purple, pass where vestal eve hath trod
The starry lanes of midnight. I would stay
A-near the cool and healing grass, and pray
As prays the violet from the mossy sod,

Taking the rain and sunshine as from Thee,
Scarce conscious that it asks, but glad withal
Simply to live. My tired soul would see

Green buds and fritillaries, and would call
For priest-like nature's benedicite,
Ere death's eclipse upon mine eyelids fall".]]>
A LITTLE rest, a little rest, O God!
Ere the long darkness shuts me from the day,
Let me have time to see the morning lay
Her lavish gold upon the hills and, shod

With purple, pass where vestal eve hath trod
The starry lanes of midnight. I would stay
A-near the cool and healing grass, and pray
As prays the violet from the mossy sod,

Taking the rain and sunshine as from Thee,
Scarce conscious that it asks, but glad withal
Simply to live. My tired soul would see

Green buds and fritillaries, and would call
For priest-like nature's benedicite,
Ere death's eclipse upon mine eyelids fall".]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23129 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:35:59 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23129
THE glory is departed — imminent night
Wraps her dusk vans about the mountains gray,
Where late the smouldering embers of the day
Glowed with a solemn and foreboding light :

Thus summer's pageant dies upon the sight;
Thus autumn's tragic flush dissolves away;
Thus the dear dreams we fain would keep for aye
Are startled into unreturning flight.

O maimed and stricken life! — the lyric bloom
And dewy freshness — shall these never be
Thy portion more? Drowned in the midnight gloom,

Shalt ne'er again some radiant vision see?
Courage! behind the sullen peaks of doom,
Somewhere God's kindling splendor dawns for thee.]]>
THE glory is departed — imminent night
Wraps her dusk vans about the mountains gray,
Where late the smouldering embers of the day
Glowed with a solemn and foreboding light :

Thus summer's pageant dies upon the sight;
Thus autumn's tragic flush dissolves away;
Thus the dear dreams we fain would keep for aye
Are startled into unreturning flight.

O maimed and stricken life! — the lyric bloom
And dewy freshness — shall these never be
Thy portion more? Drowned in the midnight gloom,

Shalt ne'er again some radiant vision see?
Courage! behind the sullen peaks of doom,
Somewhere God's kindling splendor dawns for thee.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23128 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:34:10 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23128
AH, had I know the sorrow and unrest,
The wild desires and vain imaginings,
The wished-for good no morrow ever brings,
The days of dolor and the nights unblest;

Yea, had I known how from my life the zest
Should vanish as the dwindled water-springs;
How hope, grown hopeless, with dishevelled wings
Low trailing, should surcease her futile quest —

I would have loved thee still, because I must;
For in thy voice I hear the prescient call
Of homing birds borne down the wintry gust,

With breath of hyacinthine buds, and all
The music of clear streams, while ev'n the dust
Breaks into bloom where'er thy light feet fall.]]>
AH, had I know the sorrow and unrest,
The wild desires and vain imaginings,
The wished-for good no morrow ever brings,
The days of dolor and the nights unblest;

Yea, had I known how from my life the zest
Should vanish as the dwindled water-springs;
How hope, grown hopeless, with dishevelled wings
Low trailing, should surcease her futile quest —

I would have loved thee still, because I must;
For in thy voice I hear the prescient call
Of homing birds borne down the wintry gust,

With breath of hyacinthine buds, and all
The music of clear streams, while ev'n the dust
Breaks into bloom where'er thy light feet fall.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23127 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:33:22 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23127
HER loveliness makes music in my soul ; —
A lily in the dew ; a rose at morn
When the wind ripples o'er the golden corn ;
Streams that between the dappled meadows roll

Their shining length ; bells that at evening toll
Their silver vespers ; bees that wind their horn
Through noonday quests ; and, when the stars are born,
Late birds swift winging towards their nested goal —

All these wake not within my prescient heart
So much of joy as when, her gentle eyes
Upraised to mine making my pulses start,

I fitch from their pure deeps some sweet surprise,
And of all beauty feel that she is part —
Beauty of night and dawn, of earth and skies.]]>
HER loveliness makes music in my soul ; —
A lily in the dew ; a rose at morn
When the wind ripples o'er the golden corn ;
Streams that between the dappled meadows roll

Their shining length ; bells that at evening toll
Their silver vespers ; bees that wind their horn
Through noonday quests ; and, when the stars are born,
Late birds swift winging towards their nested goal —

All these wake not within my prescient heart
So much of joy as when, her gentle eyes
Upraised to mine making my pulses start,

I fitch from their pure deeps some sweet surprise,
And of all beauty feel that she is part —
Beauty of night and dawn, of earth and skies.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23126 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:32:13 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23126
ALL beauteous things meet in the wondrous deep
Of her dark eyes — cool dawns and orange eves.
And fhitterings of green wind-lifted leaves
On noon-tide slopes where summer lies asleep ;

There, mirrored, are the streams that downward leap
To die in mist; and there the dream that weaves
Its midnight spell about her and retrieves
Her spirit from the cares day hath in keep.

Plead for me, O my verse, breathe all my love
Into her heart — dear heart that I would fain
Shelter against my own ; and I would prove,

Through all the years to be, that not in vain
To crown her life with blessedness I strove,
Or sought to shield her gentle soul from pain.]]>
ALL beauteous things meet in the wondrous deep
Of her dark eyes — cool dawns and orange eves.
And fhitterings of green wind-lifted leaves
On noon-tide slopes where summer lies asleep ;

There, mirrored, are the streams that downward leap
To die in mist; and there the dream that weaves
Its midnight spell about her and retrieves
Her spirit from the cares day hath in keep.

Plead for me, O my verse, breathe all my love
Into her heart — dear heart that I would fain
Shelter against my own ; and I would prove,

Through all the years to be, that not in vain
To crown her life with blessedness I strove,
Or sought to shield her gentle soul from pain.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23125 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:31:31 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23125
I BUILT my life in thee; in that dear nest
Hope carolled o'er her fledgelings day by day,
Bodeless of hours when they should fly away,
And leave bereaved and lorn her gentle breast.

My sunlight was thy smile, and I was blest;
Till round the rose-strewn path where I did stray
Gathered unhallowed vapors, chill and gray,
And ominous clouds frowned from the darkened west.

But now I know not, oh ! I know not, where
The wild fresh beauty of our morn hath fled;
The world, grown aged, is no longer fair;

The dewless petals of the rose are shed;
Love lies discrowned and dumb — he that was heir
Of all our dreams — and dust is on his head.]]>
I BUILT my life in thee; in that dear nest
Hope carolled o'er her fledgelings day by day,
Bodeless of hours when they should fly away,
And leave bereaved and lorn her gentle breast.

My sunlight was thy smile, and I was blest;
Till round the rose-strewn path where I did stray
Gathered unhallowed vapors, chill and gray,
And ominous clouds frowned from the darkened west.

But now I know not, oh ! I know not, where
The wild fresh beauty of our morn hath fled;
The world, grown aged, is no longer fair;

The dewless petals of the rose are shed;
Love lies discrowned and dumb — he that was heir
Of all our dreams — and dust is on his head.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23124 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:30:29 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23124

A LITTLE while, ah, yet a little while
As Time's swift shuttle plies, and I shall be
With thee at last but a wan memory,
Too dim and fugitive for tear or smile.

But I shall see thee in the woodland aisle,
In the white clouds piled o'er the heaving sea,
In the far mountain's blue immensity,
In sun-scorched city streets spread mile on mile.

But haply, sometime, mid night's shadowy gleams,
Across uncharted leagues, from unknown lands,
Though 'twixt us roll the tides of countless streams,

And like an ocean stretch the desert sands,
Thou shalt behold me in unwilling dreams,
With eyes of sorrow and beseeching hands.]]>

A LITTLE while, ah, yet a little while
As Time's swift shuttle plies, and I shall be
With thee at last but a wan memory,
Too dim and fugitive for tear or smile.

But I shall see thee in the woodland aisle,
In the white clouds piled o'er the heaving sea,
In the far mountain's blue immensity,
In sun-scorched city streets spread mile on mile.

But haply, sometime, mid night's shadowy gleams,
Across uncharted leagues, from unknown lands,
Though 'twixt us roll the tides of countless streams,

And like an ocean stretch the desert sands,
Thou shalt behold me in unwilling dreams,
With eyes of sorrow and beseeching hands.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23123 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:29:44 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23123
DEAR LOVE, I love you as the flowers the dew,
As the parched desert loves the healing rain,
As tear-worn eyes soft slumber after pain,
As winter-prisoned buds the vernal blue.

My soul's deep tides all move and meet in you ;
The slackened lutestrings that so long have lain
Unswept, forgotten, dumb, now wake again
To thrill with ecstasies which once they knew.

For you to me are life and warmth and sun;
The naked boughs with bloom are clothed once more
Like pearls, love's dear bestowments, one by one,

t hoard away within my heart, a store
Of treasured sweets where treasure there was none.
And all my world grows opulent as of yore.]]>
DEAR LOVE, I love you as the flowers the dew,
As the parched desert loves the healing rain,
As tear-worn eyes soft slumber after pain,
As winter-prisoned buds the vernal blue.

My soul's deep tides all move and meet in you ;
The slackened lutestrings that so long have lain
Unswept, forgotten, dumb, now wake again
To thrill with ecstasies which once they knew.

For you to me are life and warmth and sun;
The naked boughs with bloom are clothed once more
Like pearls, love's dear bestowments, one by one,

t hoard away within my heart, a store
Of treasured sweets where treasure there was none.
And all my world grows opulent as of yore.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23122 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:28:53 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23122
WHY do I love thee? — ask, when night is done,
Why morning dawns ; ask any flower that blows,
Why from its dewy heart the perfume flows
When zephyrs woo ; ask why the gossamers, spun

By faery hands ere moonlit hours are run,
Shake all their threaded tears if but the rose
Stir in its dreams ; ask why green buds unclose
Their tender bosoms to the quickening sun.

Ah, who shall fathom life's old mysteries,
Or read the ancient riddle of the heart?

But this I know — whene'er thy gentle eyes
Look into mine, along my pulses start

Strange melodies, and I see thy soul that lies,
Virgin and white, in its own place apart.]]>
WHY do I love thee? — ask, when night is done,
Why morning dawns ; ask any flower that blows,
Why from its dewy heart the perfume flows
When zephyrs woo ; ask why the gossamers, spun

By faery hands ere moonlit hours are run,
Shake all their threaded tears if but the rose
Stir in its dreams ; ask why green buds unclose
Their tender bosoms to the quickening sun.

Ah, who shall fathom life's old mysteries,
Or read the ancient riddle of the heart?

But this I know — whene'er thy gentle eyes
Look into mine, along my pulses start

Strange melodies, and I see thy soul that lies,
Virgin and white, in its own place apart.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23121 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:28:02 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23121
NOT now, not now, not of this veiled sun
Nor tenuous shade, our tremulous love was born,
But when the sheer night feathered toward the morn,
And the faint stars, like tapers, one by one,

Died in the dawn, and the chill night was done.
'Twas when the light wind o'er the breathing corn
Winnowed his vans, and from each gossamered thorn
Billowed the dew-pearled gonfalons day had won.

Then had our love its birth — a fluttering thing,
That scarce, knew if the fire-fledged morn had come.
Or if to swell its moon-white throat and sing,

Or bid, 'mid twilight leaves, its voice be dumb.
But now day wanes — Dear, doth desire take wing?
Doth the grasshopper e'en grow burdensome?]]>
NOT now, not now, not of this veiled sun
Nor tenuous shade, our tremulous love was born,
But when the sheer night feathered toward the morn,
And the faint stars, like tapers, one by one,

Died in the dawn, and the chill night was done.
'Twas when the light wind o'er the breathing corn
Winnowed his vans, and from each gossamered thorn
Billowed the dew-pearled gonfalons day had won.

Then had our love its birth — a fluttering thing,
That scarce, knew if the fire-fledged morn had come.
Or if to swell its moon-white throat and sing,

Or bid, 'mid twilight leaves, its voice be dumb.
But now day wanes — Dear, doth desire take wing?
Doth the grasshopper e'en grow burdensome?]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23120 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:27:03 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23120
SOMETIME, sometime — ah, let not hope abate
Her vestal flame — when past the cloudy night,
My soul shall stand revealed in clearer light,
Wilt thou not set ajar thy heart's closed gate?

No storm-tossed bird e'er sought its nested mate,
All spent and weary from its anxious flight,
More eagarly than I, through drouth and blight,
Toil towards love's shrine, withdrawn, inviolate.

Some guerdon somewhere surely there must be,
Some cool oasis in the desert sands,
Some peaceful haven past the homeless sea,

For the worn pilgrim from unsmiling lands ; —
O thou where Elim's palms and fountains be,
To thee I lift faint eyes and suppliant hands.]]>
SOMETIME, sometime — ah, let not hope abate
Her vestal flame — when past the cloudy night,
My soul shall stand revealed in clearer light,
Wilt thou not set ajar thy heart's closed gate?

No storm-tossed bird e'er sought its nested mate,
All spent and weary from its anxious flight,
More eagarly than I, through drouth and blight,
Toil towards love's shrine, withdrawn, inviolate.

Some guerdon somewhere surely there must be,
Some cool oasis in the desert sands,
Some peaceful haven past the homeless sea,

For the worn pilgrim from unsmiling lands ; —
O thou where Elim's palms and fountains be,
To thee I lift faint eyes and suppliant hands.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23119 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:25:59 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23119
BE glad that love hath come to thee and me,
Beloved, tardy comer though he is;
Dearer to me this rare autumnal bliss
Than all the Spring's precarious grace could be.

What were life's triumphs, never more to see
Love's splendor burn in other eyes — to miss
The rapturous wonder when love's first warm kiss
Dews the soft lips surrendered trustingly.

Dear, in deep shadows I so long have lain
That I am avid of the smallest ray
Foretelling love's great glory dawns again

To bless my life, ere evening, chill and gray,
Quenches the vital spark in heart and brain;
O star of hope, lead in the fuller day!]]>
BE glad that love hath come to thee and me,
Beloved, tardy comer though he is;
Dearer to me this rare autumnal bliss
Than all the Spring's precarious grace could be.

What were life's triumphs, never more to see
Love's splendor burn in other eyes — to miss
The rapturous wonder when love's first warm kiss
Dews the soft lips surrendered trustingly.

Dear, in deep shadows I so long have lain
That I am avid of the smallest ray
Foretelling love's great glory dawns again

To bless my life, ere evening, chill and gray,
Quenches the vital spark in heart and brain;
O star of hope, lead in the fuller day!]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23118 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:25:09 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23118
(Vale, vale, in (sternum vale)

OUR ways diverge ; we shall not meet again ;
But that old season, gone beyond recall.
Shall never quite pass from your life, nor all
Forgotten be its pleasures and its pain.

Hushed is the music of the summer rain
Among the flowers ; no more the lilies tall
Flame in the garden where for us the small
Vine-cloistered minstrel warbled his refrain.

The last word has been spoken and we part;
Vanished the dream which was too bright to stay
Hate from her quiver draws a final dart

Full-fledged with scorn and deadly will to slay.
Farewell ! the hollow chambers of your heart
Shall know henceforth the ghost of a dead day.]]>
(Vale, vale, in (sternum vale)

OUR ways diverge ; we shall not meet again ;
But that old season, gone beyond recall.
Shall never quite pass from your life, nor all
Forgotten be its pleasures and its pain.

Hushed is the music of the summer rain
Among the flowers ; no more the lilies tall
Flame in the garden where for us the small
Vine-cloistered minstrel warbled his refrain.

The last word has been spoken and we part;
Vanished the dream which was too bright to stay
Hate from her quiver draws a final dart

Full-fledged with scorn and deadly will to slay.
Farewell ! the hollow chambers of your heart
Shall know henceforth the ghost of a dead day.]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23117 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:23:43 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23117
I

DAILY we dwell beneath the self-same roof ;
Our unaverted eyes meet as of yore ;
In small fair household courtesies, as before.
Our self-forgetfulness is put to proof;

We tread a common path, nor hold aloof
From the old scenes which erstwhile wreathed our door
With Eden's early grace, yet more and more
Our woven lives are severed, warp and woof.

Not now, as once, a simple flower imparts
Its tender tale to our united souls;
Our hands clasp, but no answering gladness starts

Wave-like from zones where love's deep ocean rolls;
We speak, we smile, we mingle, yet our hearts
Are sundered each from each wide as the poles.

II

Still— still — who knows? a touch, a tear, a sigh,
A sweet remembered word, some sudden way
Of speech, awaking memories of a day
When earth laughed forth in bloom, and all the sky

Grew opulent with love's own vermeil dye, —
Who knows but one of these, like magic, may
Restore the glory, and the rapturous sway,
Within the heart, of hair and lip and eye?

Echoes that haunt the silence of the past,
Visions of joy that keep a vigil vain.

Fond ghosts that wander in the rayless, vast,
Unhallowed night with empty cries of pain, —

Who knows but these may all prevail at last,
And love's receding wave rush back again ?]]>
I

DAILY we dwell beneath the self-same roof ;
Our unaverted eyes meet as of yore ;
In small fair household courtesies, as before.
Our self-forgetfulness is put to proof;

We tread a common path, nor hold aloof
From the old scenes which erstwhile wreathed our door
With Eden's early grace, yet more and more
Our woven lives are severed, warp and woof.

Not now, as once, a simple flower imparts
Its tender tale to our united souls;
Our hands clasp, but no answering gladness starts

Wave-like from zones where love's deep ocean rolls;
We speak, we smile, we mingle, yet our hearts
Are sundered each from each wide as the poles.

II

Still— still — who knows? a touch, a tear, a sigh,
A sweet remembered word, some sudden way
Of speech, awaking memories of a day
When earth laughed forth in bloom, and all the sky

Grew opulent with love's own vermeil dye, —
Who knows but one of these, like magic, may
Restore the glory, and the rapturous sway,
Within the heart, of hair and lip and eye?

Echoes that haunt the silence of the past,
Visions of joy that keep a vigil vain.

Fond ghosts that wander in the rayless, vast,
Unhallowed night with empty cries of pain, —

Who knows but these may all prevail at last,
And love's receding wave rush back again ?]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23116 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 13:21:56 +0200 ZaunköniG]]> https://sonett.fontane-place.de/showthread.php?tid=23116
LOVE, are our lives so long that we may part
For months and years, nor feel a pang of grief?
Or is the measure of the days so brief
That, as they go, they leave no bitter smart
To trace its dreary record on the heart?
O, unto thee is not the fallen leaf,
The withered landscape, and the rustling sheaf,
Presageful of a time when we must start
Upon a longer journey, nevermore
To come again and clasp each other's hand,
And look with love into each other's eyes?
Lo ! here we may not tarry long, for o'er
Our sight a vapor gathers, and the land
Lies wrapped in gloom descending from the skies.]]>
LOVE, are our lives so long that we may part
For months and years, nor feel a pang of grief?
Or is the measure of the days so brief
That, as they go, they leave no bitter smart
To trace its dreary record on the heart?
O, unto thee is not the fallen leaf,
The withered landscape, and the rustling sheaf,
Presageful of a time when we must start
Upon a longer journey, nevermore
To come again and clasp each other's hand,
And look with love into each other's eyes?
Lo ! here we may not tarry long, for o'er
Our sight a vapor gathers, and the land
Lies wrapped in gloom descending from the skies.]]>