Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/295

I hastened away from the dim, old sea,
And I fled from the wailing haunts of old,
For they chilled my heart with a mystery
That my spirit could never to me unfold.

Stars that once I did deem divine,
Claiming a sisterhood in your songs,
Light your beams for another shrine—
My spirit to dusky silence belongs.

I can bear the world with its cold deceit;
I can smile in its dark face covered with sneers
But touch me not loving or speak to me sweet
Or my heart will sink with its weight of tears!
PORTLAND, OREGON. AUGUST 16, 1871.

Chansons

From the New Northwest, September 29, 1871
By Minnie Myrtle

Now, tell your minstrel to come, my love,
And bring his flute in tune,
And while the twilight is hanging above,
To play me "Bonnie Doon",
The braes of "Bonnie Doon";
Play with the thrill of a sorrowful air,
Like the throb of a sluggish lagoon.

The twilight hush of a Long Ago
Felt the thrill of a flute in tune,
And it waved the silence to and fro
To the ripple of "Bonnie Doon";
He played for me "Bonnie Doon".
And his grave is now in the burning sands
By a dreamless and voiceless lagoon.

Why did I smile when the silence was stained
With the sorrowful tears of a flute,
When my heart, like a charmed bird, was chained,
And the voice of my Soul was mute,