Behind the Arras - A Book of the Unseen

Bliss Carman

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• Publié par: ensui
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 18
• Langue: English

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Title: Behind the Arras  A Book of the Unseen Author: Bliss Carman Illustrator: T. B. Meteyard Release Date: April 24, 2006 [EBook #18242] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEHIND THE ARRAS ***

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Behind the Arras

Behind the Arras A Book of the Unseen

By Bliss Carman With Designs by T. B. Meteyard

Boston and New York Lamson, Wolffe, and Company M·DCCC·XC·V

Copyright, 1895. by Lamson, Wolffe, & Co. All rights reserved.

Contents

Behind the Arras Fancy’s Fool The Moondial The Face in the Stream The Cruise of the Galleon A Song before Sailing In the Wings The Red Wolf The Faithless Lover The Crimson House The Lodger Beyond the Gamut The Juggler Hack and Hew The Night Express The Dustman The Sleepers At the Granite Gate Exit Anima

To G. H. B.

1 16 19 23 29 32 35 37 44 46 49 66 81 85 87 91 94 96 100

 

“I shut myself in with my soul, And the shapes come eddying forth.”

Behind the Arras

LIKE the old house tolerably well, I Where I must dwell Like a familiar gnome; And yet I never shall feel quite at home: I love to roam.

Day after day I loiter and explore From door to door; So many treasures lure The curious mind. What histories obscure

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      They must immure! I hardly know which room I care for best; This fronting west, With the strange hills in view, Where the great sun goes,—where I may go too, When my lease is through,— Or this one for the morning and the east, Where a man may feast His eyes on looming sails, And be the first to catch their foreign hails Or spy their bales. Then the pale summer twilights towards the pole! It thrills my soul With wonder and delight, When gold-green shadows walk the world at night, So still, so bright. There at the window many a time of year, Strange faces peer, Solemn though not unkind, Their wits in search of something left behind Time out of mind; As if they once had lived here, and stole back To the window crack For a peep which seems to say, “Good fortune, brother, in your house of clay!” And then, “Good day!” I hear their footsteps on the gravel walk, Their scraps of talk, And hurrying after, reach Only the crazy sea-drone of the beach In endless speech. And often when the autumn noons are still, By swale and hill I see their gipsy signs, Trespassing somewhere on my border lines; With what designs? I forth afoot; but when I reach the place, Hardly a trace, Save the soft purple haze Of smouldering camp-fires, any hint betrays Who went these ways. Or tatters of pale aster blue, descried B the roadside,

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; But that is bri eka  nsaep nelfancdafoe jor liy  iw wg htfeir  rO ,  to seems The gues rrai mam oN r eg;sans ar wtoanphd  yehT .fe dam evah tob yenohtuohgn  reach, hought’soyeBt dn ts s,llienimonsi are dre  dam ,nanesdf irl my calme Id sonA .llif ot luos or , F llwis e’ov d l b yedliuerg t taplem testho r ei ,sw oh arec rFmop lace to place; Th meht kcew sevlesldgoh it ai pnd , A a-n-oJnh dnf  do A , and ume  To d plod n herntu soe , T ld oS .d item  ot luom elves lint themsle sotb ekc ahtt sim he tarheI  I; ob meht ees I ;hg m al seetheymes a  serlaa  somts leeiekb  ie r ev hTits spirve, B grie na ,doorciojer d mthwie  taI  e;in klt  ohtmei  nhprases quaint andnif  evO e ht riw e; I ne el tthl  aems; tcrety sell mnasdrih t ehuohc dsansternd une ; O rah woH .spahrePes To sea d he tri  thtso e!kA dne ldmies erilos ou,

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Reve    hithal w ans spd ndle sideD ;e dargs deepah Woven to the lif l vo ena s d rtfi,e owfld annd as,erfo seicn stsaeb   areingse, Fa  rif htss cu ehtargnW ,em ereh sorg ses stpe En ryoulltas ehm raev fla,lt t most o n red. Bu aidnI fO derhs a rehe tnd arehe, lpse pamwsmaht e ; Or  fledhey er t ihetb no eette hand hideous grin m dnnivoye gi sethn fae , A ce  wnd  eia ni ht  deb ;r nA witingsir, A h ha ib lufretaht sdr aelhe wg an hnd e weaver im, At th nA dowdn s’w ih;m nd aai p dhek,usht h ws tadetnsif  auzyes gatur cre dut c olhTta d mi d An s,rmfoh aper fO smraws gnimeet

kna l?ol

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etcaom d nU el  red ark like a distr lu rDdeiggnt ehd  ! I esliep han ve e iH        r tseb s r twne o  che o, My  yrcevm ,so noei  th,y he ndo sot hsirf de B .we a tu fades them and t at!y oF rht eus n teY .yarg worg I As y,wa asspay he htyeau la tch wolasthey le t whi vig ht e eb s I ;mar eicefa ee s Th m! maa dnG  se B , rert heir namem all t    thes onikin manevyl yolsem hskat  ; I llti sisn het dnA ,llis ym ssffs acrowhich pub erta ha g erta l,il keLi ibis wleyb dvni  ,gno evoM t eh tsidlg-w ro ry o glost. I r lu  nwolb e htiW tsud nlyil wik llyil ,t tIs ewpe shtme pon crowding gus s relauq uG ,l u ts al w Sq l; lluaft a ;esraeher sdneir l ul fisr heotAn dnw ,ta p eosia  is f rse H s verite sih mia  hcahtiw ksine  hOn s; the  oLiu,sF liebtr , James, E rank and Da. stre Th ngloy  tfihs yerht dna  tran aw. S of gestt ehla,lev r yen  hch hisd ann caward htiW tuolf a of law; A third see siptcrusew ih orngnd ats , Ila p d s’egrieht aes  sough Of   biting eha fwlu s rueg T ; he“W, rswens aIt ”?ereht seog ohW“ n of moa and soba dnawlihT e er”?  gniamuhrc n sA ,ythe vae ntcaod b tia b nasieh dos  they go by;— Is  emos gno citcra d teifdrals owsn ulffna d h vaA , dn f, Th bluf eer at v di A e dnw  uahgytt  eing. I ash of b way dnaraeh ti  thd  sen idgl An e, ems- eit ,htohts one  ome N t, cpiri morf erehw swonk drs eswlie vhe , T ls; The hangings tsrii  nht eia;r d Anenwh s Irttadna ahc nell ,eg de, A ubsi  thelongohtsesg roirylc nd arsdo Li lsal h tniaf eklaftoof 

Like some invisible henchman old and gray, Day after day I hear it come and go, With stealthy swift unmeaning to and fro, Muttering low, Ceaseless and daft and terrible and blind, Like a lost mind. I often chill with fear When I bethink me, What if it should peer At my shoulder here! Perchance he drives the merry-go-round whose track Is the zodiac; His name is No-man’s-friend; And his gabbling parrot-talk has neither trend, Beginning, nor end. A prince of madness too, I’d cry, “A rat!” And lunge thereat,— Let out at one swift thrust The cunning arch-delusion of the dust I so mistrust, But that I fear I should disclose a face Wearing the trace Of my own human guise, Piteous, unharmful, loving, sad, and wise, With the speaking eyes. I would the house were rid of his grim pranks, Moaning from banks Of pine trees in the moon, Startling the silence like a demoniac loon At dead of noon, Or whispering his fool-talk to the leaves About my eaves. And yet how can I know ’T is not a happy Ariel masking so In mocking woe? Then with a little broken laugh I say, Snatching away The curtain where he grinned (My feverish sight thought) like a sin unsinned, “Only the wind!” Yet often too he steals so softly by, With half a sigh, I deem he must be mild, Fair as a woman, gentle as a child, And forest wild.

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mperious ache, Bi dhrtymha awek “ .  sndkela inBes g’tsomttu a rei dn  unfaven, Til ound t  o l,Ieha osto ceenil se tho  tos evarc eh sI dnu  rnineet ,n  I  yik

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oga hcus htiw fI ms,isblf  oesni to soft   mor . F rm  si cisurcas ehtt ofamene; He  lov do sb or T e eh bavo waw , T rm  ghedeengnirrem a egl dnoosing of spiriti  f n ro,m ePca euo eews sih oT llits hir ea h . I llwit   rahY“uogn , mis meske as lirp i elis,ecnriv  nig ie ys ld il t he l Sru ehsduof rartpyearningdering,  osluht e  yocnIm  ide-he t of race aw dliw ur yam y“T l.ront myh ugho nA dpserdaw tiih h, Woven of flesh  ,efrehwur et sn thn she l O oa lif  nlocat ut thecrea s esdeie r ght ofb om whe“T s.ckor etinarg ehT sk s amends , It make tib nesdniw ah t Te s, inll  cnyckloliarwod t oTf eh    adreei vd lestmyaire,hcr hgiLgnit the dark, Biddin ght epsirgng or s ongile rhe tof tpewS nia hguorht  pla the e pl in— Hl kiya,semd  eos d rOa mi g dna ,dal  f agoor  snd As ad ia B n ro n ttnes rt  broken when the rad fO tsav elpru d irWe t.as latk   ,ipl woa dniweseen nd kng aerci u op nht elbsa T t e of fire Is laid na wif dt llp ehkio lendnd alo g alsyH ,  ef nih si handHis t socraf ,eriw na roc a sA n  orsgeliæoe th  ago By m ng yearsirev dol gn,s oCtn o  towshr sontbederpseceif y tsr d win olre a wheodroht eni gaPss riste iv fts ithiW ,sgniws prah-dn