New Poems, and Variant Readings

Part 1

Transcribed from the 1918 Chatto & Windus edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

New Poems AND VARIANT READINGS

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

* * * * *

LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1918

PREFACE

ALL Stevensonians owe a debt of gratitude to the Bibliophile Society of Boston for having discovered the following poems and given them light in a privately printed edition, thus making them known, in fact, to the world at large. Otherwise they would have remained scattered and hidden indefinitely in the hands of various collectors. They will be found extraordinarily interesting in their self-revelation, and some, indeed, are so intimate and personal that one understands why Stevenson withheld them from all eyes save his own. The love-poems in particular, though they are of very unequal merit, possess in common a really affecting sincerity. That Stevenson should have preserved these poems through all the vicissitudes of his wandering life shows how dearly he must have valued them; and shows, too, I think, beyond any contradiction, that he meant they should be ultimately published.

LLOYD OSBOURNE.

CONTENTS

PAGE PRAYER 1 LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ 2 THOUGH DEEP INDIFFERENCE SHOULD DROWSE 2 MY HEART, WHEN FIRST THE BLACKBIRD SINGS 3 I DREAMED OF FOREST ALLEYS FAIR 4 ST. MARTIN’S SUMMER 6 DEDICATION 7 THE OLD CHIMÆRAS, OLD RECEIPTS 8 PRELUDE 10 THE VANQUISHED KNIGHT 11 TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF NORTHERN LIGHTS 11 THE RELIC TAKEN, WHAT AVAILS THE SHRINE? 13 ABOUT THE SHELTERED GARDEN GROUND 14 AFTER READING “ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA” 15 I KNOW NOT HOW, BUT AS I COUNT 15 SPRING SONG 16 THE SUMMER SUN SHONE ROUND ME 16 YOU LOOKED SO TEMPTING IN THE PEW 17 LOVE’S VICISSITUDES 18 DUDDINGSTONE 18 STOUT MARCHES LEAD TO CERTAIN ENDS 20 AWAY WITH FUNERAL MUSIC 20 TO SYDNEY 21 HAD I THE POWER THAT HAVE THE WILL 23 O DULL COLD NORTHERN SKY 24 APOLOGETIC POSTSCRIPT OF A YEAR LATER 25 TO MARCUS 26 TO OTTILIE 27 THIS GLOOMY NORTHERN DAY 28 THE WIND IS WITHOUT THERE AND HOWLS IN THE TREES 29 A VALENTINE’S SONG 31 HAIL! CHILDISH SLAVES OF SOCIAL RULES 34 SWALLOWS TRAVEL TO AND FRO 36 TO MESDAMES ZASSETSKY AND GARSCHINE 37 TO MADAME GARSCHINE 39 MUSIC AT THE VILLA MARINA 39 FEAR NOT, DEAR FRIEND, BUT FREELY LIVE YOUR DAYS 40 LET LOVE GO, IF GO SHE WILL 41 I DO NOT FEAR TO OWN ME KIN 42 I AM LIKE ONE THAT FOR LONG DAYS HAD SATE 44 VOLUNTARY 45 ON NOW, ALTHOUGH THE YEAR BE DONE 47 IN THE GREEN AND GALLANT SPRING 47 DEATH, TO THE DEAD FOR EVERMORE 48 TO CHARLES BAXTER 49 I WHO ALL THE WINTER THROUGH 52 LOVE, WHAT IS LOVE? 53 SOON OUR FRIENDS PERISH 53 AS ONE WHO HAVING WANDERED ALL NIGHT LONG 53 STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF MEN 55 THE WIND BLEW SHRILL AND SMART 56 MAN SAILS THE DEEP AWHILE 57 THE COCK’S CLEAR VOICE INTO THE CLEARER AIR 58 NOW WHEN THE NUMBER OF MY YEARS 59 WHAT MAN MAY LEARN, WHAT MAN MAY DO 60 SMALL IS THE TRUST WHEN LOVE IS GREEN 61 KNOW YOU THE RIVER NEAR TO GREZ 62 IT’S FORTH ACROSS THE ROARING FOAM 63 AN ENGLISH BREEZE 65 AS IN THEIR FLIGHT THE BIRDS OF SONG 66 THE PIPER 67 TO MRS. MACMARLAND 58 TO MISS CORNISH 69 TALES OF ARABIA 71 BEHOLD, AS GOBLINS DARK OF MIEN 72 STILL I LOVE TO RHYME 73 LONG TIME I LAY IN LITTLE EASE 74 FLOWER GOD, GOD OF THE SPRING 75 COME, MY BELOVED, HEAR FROM ME 76 SINCE YEARS AGO FOR EVERMORE 77 ENVOY FOR “A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES” 78 FOR RICHMOND’S GARDEN WALL 80 HAIL, GUEST, AND ENTER FREELY! 80 LO, NOW, MY GUEST 81 SO LIVE, SO LOVE, SO USE THAT FRAGILE HOUR 81 AD SE IPSUM 82 BEFORE THIS LITTLE GIFT WAS COME 82 GO, LITTLE BOOK—THE ANCIENT PHRASE 83 MY LOVE WAS WARM 84 DEDICATORY POEM FOR “UNDERWOODS” 85 FAREWELL 86 THE FAR-FARERS 87 COME, MY LITTLE CHILDREN, HERE ARE SONGS FOR YOU 87 HOME FROM THE DAISIED MEADOWS 88 EARLY IN THE MORNING I HEAR ON YOUR PIANO 88 FAIR ISLE AT SEA 89 LOUD AND LOW IN THE CHIMNEY 89 I LOVE TO BE WARM BY THE RED FIRESIDE 90 AT LAST SHE COMES 90 MINE EYES WERE SWIFT TO KNOW THEE 90 FIXED IS THE DOOM 91 MEN ARE HEAVEN’S PIERS 92 THE ANGLER ROSE, HE TOOK HIS ROD 93 SPRING CAROL 94 TO WHAT SHALL I COMPARE HER 95 WHEN THE SUN COMES AFTER RAIN 96 LATE, O MILLER 97 TO FRIENDS AT HOME 97 I, WHOM APOLLO SOMETIME VISITED 98 TEMPEST TOSSED AND SORE AFFLICTED 98 VARIANT FORM OF THE PRECEDING POEM 99 I NOW, O FRIEND, WHOM NOISELESSLY THE SNOWS 100 SINCE THOU HAST GIVEN ME THIS GOOD HOPE, O GOD 103 GOD GAVE TO ME A CHILD IN PART 104 OVER THE LAND IS APRIL 105 LIGHT AS THE LINNET ON MY WAY I START 106 COMIC, HERE IS ADIEU TO THE CITY 106 IT BLOWS A SNOWING GALE 107 NE SIT ANCILLÆ TIBI AMOR PUDOR 107 TO ALL THAT LOVE THE FAR AND BLUE 108 THOU STRAINEST THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN FERN 110 TO ROSABELLE 111 NOW BARE TO THE BEHOLDER’S EYE 112 THE BOUR-TREE DEN 114 SONNETS 118 FRAGMENTS 123 AIR OF DIABELLI’S 128 EPITAPHIUM EROTII 132 DE M. ANTONIO 133 AD MAGISTRUM LUDI 133 AD NEPOTEM 134 IN CHARIDEMUM 135 DE LIGURRA 135 IN LUPUM 136 AD QUINTILIANUM 137 DE HORTIS JULII MARTIALIS 137 AD MARTIALEM 139 IN MAXIMUM 139 AD OLUM 140 DE CŒNATIONE MICÆ 140 DE EROTIO PUELLA 141 AD PISCATOREM 141

PRAYER

I ASK good things that I detest, With speeches fair; Heed not, I pray Thee, Lord, my breast, But hear my prayer.

I say ill things I would not say— Things unaware: Regard my breast, Lord, in Thy day, And not my prayer.

My heart is evil in Thy sight: My good thoughts flee: O Lord, I cannot wish aright— Wish Thou for me.

O bend my words and acts to Thee, However ill, That I, whate’er I say or be, May serve Thee still.

O let my thoughts abide in Thee Lest I should fall: Show me Thyself in all I see, Thou Lord of all.

LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ

LO! in thine honest eyes I read The auspicious beacon that shall lead, After long sailing in deep seas, To quiet havens in June ease.

Thy voice sings like an inland bird First by the seaworn sailor heard; And like road sheltered from life’s sea Thine honest heart is unto me.

THOUGH DEEP INDIFFERENCE SHOULD DROWSE

THOUGH deep indifference should drowse The sluggish life beneath my brows, And all the external things I see Grow snow-showers in the street to me, Yet inmost in my stormy sense Thy looks shall be an influence.

Though other loves may come and go And long years sever us below, Shall the thin ice that grows above Freeze the deep centre-well of love? No, still below light amours, thou Shalt rule me as thou rul’st me now.

Year following year shall only set Fresh gems upon thy coronet; And Time, grown lover, shall delight To beautify thee in my sight; And thou shalt ever rule in me Crowned with the light of memory.

MY HEART, WHEN FIRST THE BLACK-BIRD SINGS

MY heart, when first the blackbird sings, My heart drinks in the song: Cool pleasure fills my bosom through And spreads each nerve along.

My bosom eddies quietly, My heart is stirred and cool As when a wind-moved briar sweeps A stone into a pool

But unto thee, when thee I meet, My pulses thicken fast, As when the maddened lake grows black And ruffles in the blast.

I DREAMED OF FOREST ALLEYS FAIR

Part 2

I DREAMED of forest alleys fair And fields of gray-flowered grass, Where by the yellow summer moon My Jenny seemed to pass.

I dreamed the yellow summer moon, Behind a cedar wood, Lay white on fields of rippling grass Where I and Jenny stood.

I dreamed—but fallen through my dream, In a rainy land I lie Where wan wet morning crowns the hills Of grim reality.

II.

I am as one that keeps awake All night in the month of June, That lies awake in bed to watch The trees and great white moon.

For memories of love are more Than the white moon there above, And dearer than quiet moonshine Are the thoughts of her I love.

III.

Last night I lingered long without My last of loves to see. Alas! the moon-white window-panes Stared blindly back on me.

To-day I hold her very hand, Her very waist embrace— Like clouds across a pool, I read Her thoughts upon her face.

And yet, as now, through her clear eyes I seek the inner shrine— I stoop to read her virgin heart In doubt if it be mine—

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