The Magic House and Other Poems 1

The Magic House and Other Poems 1

The Magic House and Other Poems

Author: Duncan Campbell Scott

 

CONTENTS PAGE

A LITTLE SONG

 

The sunset in the rosy west, 1

 

THE HILL PATH

 

Are the little breezes blind, 2

 

THE VOICE AND THE DUSK

 

The slender moon and one pale star, 5

 

FOR REMEMBRANCE

 

It would be sweet to think when we are old, 7

 

THE MESSAGE

 

Wind of the gentle summer night, 8

 

THE SILENCE OF LOVE

 

My heart would need the earth, 10

 

AN IMPROMPTU

 

The stars are in the ebon sky, 11

 

FROM THE FARM ON THE HILL

 

The night wind moves the gloom, 13

 

AT SCARBORO’ BEACH

 

The wave is over the foaming reef, 15

 

THE FIFTEENTH OF APRIL

 

Pallid saffron glows the broken stubble, 17

 

IN AN OLD QUARRY

 

Above the lifeless pools the mist films swim, 19

 

TO WINTER

 

Come, O thou conqueror of the flying year, 20

 

TO WINTER

 

Come, O thou season of intense repose, 21

 

THE IDEAL

 

Let your soul grow a thing apart, 22

 

A SUMMER STORM

 

Last night a storm fell on the world, 23

 

LIFE AND DEATH

 

I thought of death beside the lonely sea, 25

 

IN THE COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

 

This is the acre of unfathomed rest, 26

 

SONG

 

I have done, 32

 

THE MAGIC HOUSE

 

In her chamber, wheresoe’er, 33

 

IN THE HOUSE OF DREAMS

 

The lady Lillian knelt upon the sward, 36

 

THE RIVER TOWN

 

There’s a town where shadows run, 38

 

OFF THE ISLE AUX COUDRES

 

The moon, Capella, and the Pleiades, 40

 

AT LES EBOULEMENTS

 

The bay is set with ashy sails, 41

 

ABOVE ST. IRÉNÉE

 

I rested on the breezy height, 42

 

WRITTEN IN A. LAMPMAN’S POEMS

 

When April moved in maiden guise, 45

 

OFF RIVIÈRE DU LOUP

 

O ship incoming from the sea, 48

 

AT THE CEDARS

 

You had two girls--Baptiste-- 50

 

THE END OF THE DAY

 

I hear the bells at eventide, 54

 

THE REED-PLAYER

 

By a dim shore where water darkening, 56

 

A FLOCK OF SHEEP

 

Over the field the bright air clings and tingles, 58

 

A PORTRAIT

 

All her hair is softly set, 60

 

AT THE LATTICE

 

Good-night, Marie, I kiss thine eyes, 63

 

THE FIRST SNOW

 

The field pools gathered into frosted lace, 64

 

IN NOVEMBER

 

The ruddy sunset lies, 66

 

THE SLEEPER

 

Touched with some divine repose, 68

 

A NIGHT IN JUNE

 

The world is heated seven times, 70

 

MEMORY

 

I see a schooner in the bay, 72

 

YOUTH AND TIME

 

Move not so lightly, Time, away, 73

 

A MEMORY OF THE ‘INFERNO’

 

An hour before the dawn I dreamed of you, 74

 

LA BELLE FERONIÈRE,

 

I never trod where Leonardo was, 75

 

A NOVEMBER DAY

 

There are no clouds above the world, 76

 

OTTAWA

 

City about whose brow the north winds blow, 78

 

SONG

 

Here’s the last rose, 79

 

NIGHT AND THE PINES

 

Here in the pine shade is the nest of night, 80

 

A NIGHT IN MARCH

 

At eve the fiery sun went forth, 82

 

SEPTEMBER

 

The morns are grey with haze and faintly cold, 86

 

BY THE WILLOW SPRING

 

Come hither, Care, and look on this fair place, 87

 

 

 

 

A LITTLE SONG

 

 

The sunset in the rosy west

Burned soft and high;

A shore-lark fell like a stone to his nest

In the waving rye.

 

A wind came over the garden beds

From the dreamy lawn,

The pansies nodded their purple heads,

The poppies began to yawn.

 

One pansy said: It is only sleep,

Only his gentle breath:

But a rose lay strewn in a snowy heap,

For the rose it was only death.

 

Heigho, we’ve only one life to live,

And only one death to die:

Good-morrow, new world, have you nothing to give?--

Good-bye, old world, good-bye.