



Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Chuck Greif and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)










                         _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_


                    FLEURS DE LYS, AND OTHER POEMS
                     1887, E. M. RENOUF, MONTREAL

         THE ROMANCE OF SIR RICHARD, SONNETS, AND OTHER POEMS
                   1890, W. DRYSDALE & CO., MONTREAL




                             THE SNOWFLAKE

                                  AND

                              OTHER POEMS

                                  BY

                              ARTHUR WEIR

                               MONTREAL:
                           JOHN LOVELL & SON
                                 1897

             Copyrighted, 1896, by Arthur Weir, Montreal.




CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE

THE SNOWFLAKE                                                          1

THE MASQUE OF THE YEAR                                                11

THE MUSE AND THE PEN                                                  21

THE BEAVER MEADOW                                                     27

VOYAGEUR SONG                                                         31

DEDICATORY ODE                                                        34

ENTERING PORT                                                         36

WILD FLOWERS                                                          38

DEDICATORY BALLAD                                                     41

TIMOR MORTIS CONTURBAT ME                                             44

ON NEW YEAR’S EVE                                                     46

IN THE CLOSING HOURS                                                  50

WHERE HEAVEN IS                                                       51

NEW YEAR’S EVE                                                        53

PEGASUS                                                               55

IT WOULD BE EASY TO BE GOOD                                           57

THE LITTLE TROOPER                                                    59

CUPID’S DISGUISES                                                     61

MUSIC                                                                 63

BABY’S STOCKING                                                       65

MY DIVINITY                                                           66

THE SLEEPING SOUL                                                     69

THE MOTHER                                                            71

PLUCK FLOWERS IN YOUTH                                                73

O FOOLISH HEART                                                       74

MY HEART’S A MERRY ROVER                                              75

THE CIGARETTE SMOKER                                                  77

TAKE ME AS YOU FIND ME                                                78

AT THE TRYST                                                          79

SONNETS IN CALIFORNIA                                                 80

THE POOL OF SANT’ OLINE                                               83

WINTER IN THE SOUTH                                                   85

THE KINDERGARTEN                                                      87

THE POET                                                              89

GOLD TRESSES                                                          91

EN ROUTE                                                              93

AT DAWN                                                               95

MY STAR                                                               97

TO A PICTURE                                                          99

THE POET AND HIS RHYMES                                              101

TO AN INFANT                                                         103

TO SCOTLAND                                                          105

ROSINA VOKES                                                         106

A LITTLE MAID                                                        107

SAMSON AND DELILAH                                                   109

MY LADY’S BONNET                                                     110

FLOWERS AND FEARS                                                    111

THE ROSEBUD                                                          112

NIL DESPERANDUM                                                      113

FLESH AND SPIRIT                                                     114

IN CHURCH                                                            115

SUCCOR THE CHILDREN                                                  116

THE SUNSET LESSON                                                    117

AS FROM THE NECTAR-LADEN LILY                                        118

MUMMY THOUGHTS                                                       119

TO CERTAIN NATURE POETS                                              120

THE PATRIARCH’S DEATH                                                121

OH, WERE IT NOT                                                      122

FAREWELL                                                             123

THE TIDE                                                             124

MY COMRADE                                                           125

MY GIFT                                                              127

HAMLIN’S MILL                                                        128

A BALLADE OF JOY                                                     130

REMEMBRANCE                                                          132

THE GLOVE                                                            133

THE MAGIC BOW                                                        135

AT THE SEASIDE                                                       137

THE ORPHANS                                                          138

ALADDIN’S LAMP                                                       139

SONG                                                                 142

QUATRAINS                                                            143


TO

HUGH GRAHAM, ESQ.,

TO WHOSE

ENCOURAGEMENT, TASTE AND ENTERPRISE

THE AUTHOR

IS LARGELY INDEBTED

FOR

WHATEVER OF PUBLIC FAVOR HE ENJOYS,

THIS VOLUME

IS

Gratefully Dedicated.


ERRATA (corrected in this etext)

Page 23, Second verse, first line, for “And” read “As.”

Page 24, Second verse, last line, for “Thinkest” read “think’st.”

Page 27, Third verse, third line, last word, read “athirst.”

Page 86, Second verse, second line, for “a many” read “many a.”

Page 44, for Conterbat, read “Conturbat” throughout.




THE SNOWFLAKE

AND OTHER POEMS.




THE SNOWFLAKE.


    Fierce Neptune’s daughter, beneath the water,
            In grottoes cool dwelt I,
    And, laughing, hid in the seashell’s lid,
            As fishes arrowed by.
    My feet were free to the undersea;
            I played amidst its gloom,
    And in the deep where the mermaids weep
            Above the hero’s tomb,
    Where the sea snake strips dainty maiden lips
            Of kisses once so warm,
    And the lifeless child, by the eddies wild,
            Is torn from the mother’s arm.
    The foam-browed billow my head would pillow
            Upon its bosom fair,
    While the restless sweep of the moon-led deep
            Would drift us here and there.
    I oft would float in the dainty boat
            The Nautilus oared for me,
    Out, far, far out, where a noisy rout
            Of breakers leapt in glee;
    Or further urge to the world’s dim verge,
            Where heaven meets the wave,
    And the seagull’s wing was the only thing
            To follow us was brave.
    Then called by the blast, as it glided past,
            I would turn and clap my hands,
    As the waves were tossed on the tropic coast,
            And furrowed the silver sands.

    Where, with weedy locks, the bare limbed rocks
            Bend over the foaming sea,
    I oft resorted, and, as I sported,
            The sunbeams played with me.
    We would dance all day in the prismed spray,
            Or in the blossoms hide,
    That, trembling, clung to the crags and hung
            Above the boiling tide.
    Oftimes the cool, green depths of a pool
            Would lure me down to rest,
    Till the sunbeams came in a path of flame
            And found me in my nest.
    With colors gaily they decked me daily,
            And tempted me to fly
    Afar from the foam of my ocean home
            Aloft in the cloudless sky.
    But I said them nay, for the leaping spray,
            And cool, green depths of sea,
    Than the flight of birds and the sunbeams’ words
            Were dearer far to me.
    “I had seen,” I said, “to the sky o’erhead
            My sisters, laughing, soar
    For a merry flight through the azure bright,
            And never saw them more.
    I love my home in the ocean foam,
           