The Dreamers And Other Poems   By: Theodosia Pickering Garrison (1874-1944)

BY

THEODOSIA GARRISON

NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

TO

F. J. F.

September , 1917

For the privilege of reprinting the poems included in this volume the author thanks the Editors of Scribner's, Harper's Magazine, Harper's Bazar, McClure's, Collier's Weekly, The Delineator, The Designer, Ainslee's, Everybody's, The Smart Set, The Cosmopolitan, Lippincott's, Munsey's, The Rosary, The Pictorial Review, The Bookman, and the Newark Sunday Call.

CONTENTS

THE DREAMERS

THREE SONGS IN A GARDEN

THE RETURN

BLACK SHEEP

MONSEIGNEUR PLAYS

UNBELIEF

THE SILENT ONE

THE ROSE

THE SONG OF THE YOUNG PAGE

THE NEW SPRING

THE BURDEN

THE BRIDE

THE SEER OF HEARTS

THE UNSEEN MIRACLE

THE APRIL BOUGHS

TRANSIENTS

THE MOTHER

WHEN PIERROT PASSES

THE POET

MAGDALEN

A SALEM MOTHER

THE DAYS

THE CALL

THE PARASITE

YOUTH

THE EMPTY HOUSE

THE BROKEN LUTE

ORCHARDS

TWILIGHT

A LOVE SONG

OLD BOATS

BEAUTY

A SONG

MOTHERS OF MEN

LOVELACE GROWN OLD

SHADE

THE VAGABOND

DISTANCE

THE GYPSYING

GOOD BYE, PIERETTE

THE AWAKENING

THE WEDDING GOWN

THE DISCIPLES

THE UNKNOWING

HEART OF A HUNDRED SORROWS

THE RETURNING

THE INLANDER

AD FINEM

A SONG OF HELOISE

THE RETURN

THE POPLARS

THE LITTLE JOYS

SONGS OF HIMSELF

HIMSELF

THE FAIR

THE DANCING DAYS

SHEILA

THE GRIEF

THE INTRODUCTION

THE STAY AT HOME

THE DREAMERS

The gypsies passed her little gate She stopped her wheel to see, A brown faced pair who walked the road, Free as the wind is free; And suddenly her tidy room A prison seemed to be.

Her shining plates against the walls, Her sunlit, sanded floor, The brass bound wedding chest that held Her linen's snowy store, The very wheel whose humming died, Seemed only chains she bore.

She watched the foot free gypsies pass; She never knew or guessed The wistful dream that drew them close The longing in each breast Some day to know a home like hers, Wherein their hearts might rest.

THREE SONGS IN A GARDEN

I

White rose leaves in my hands, I toss you all away; The winds shall blow you through the world To seek my wedding day. Or East you go, or West you go And fall on land or sea, Find the one that I love best And bring him here to me. And if he finds me spinning 'Tis short I'll break my thread; And if he finds me dancing I'll dance with him instead; If he finds me at the Mass (Ah, let this not be, Lest I forget my sweetest saint The while he kneels by me!)

II

My lilies are like nuns in white That guard me well all day, But the red, red rose that near them grows Is wiser far than they. Oh, red rose, wise rose, Keep my secret well; I kiss you twice, I kiss you thrice To pray you not to tell. My lilies sleep beneath the moon, But wide awake are you, And you have heard a certain word And seen a dream come true. Oh, red rose, wise rose, Silence for my sake, Nor drop to night a petal light Lest my white lilies wake.

III

Will the garden never forget That it whispers over and over, "Where is your lover, Nanette? Where is your lover your lover?" Oh, roses I helped to grow, Oh, lily and mignonette, Must you always question me so, "Where is your lover, Nanette?" Since you looked on my joy one day, Is my grief then a lesser thing? Have you only this to say When I pray you for comforting? Now that I walk alone Here where our hands were met, Must you whisper me every one, "Where is your lover, Nanette?"

I have mourned with you year and year, When the Autumn has left you bare, And now that my heart is sere Does not one of your roses care? Oh, help me forget forget, Nor question over and over, "Where is your lover, Nanette? Where is your lover your lover?"

THE RETURN