Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/198

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170
TWO WORLDS

And said: "Beneath its pall
I have hidden my heart in vain—
To the world thou hast sung it all!
Who told thee my secret pain?"


"WHITE, PILLARED NECK"

White, pillared neck; a brow to make men quake;
A woman's perfect form;
Like some cool marble, should that wake,
Breathe, and be warm.


A shape, a mind, a heart,
Of womanhood the whole:
Her breath, her smile, her touch, her art,
All—save her soul.


"GREAT NATURE IS AN ARMY GAY"

Great nature is an army gay,
Resistless marching on its way;
I hear the bugles clear and sweet,
I hear the tread of million feet.
Across the plain I see it pour;
It tramples down the waving grass;
Within the echoing mountain-pass
I hear a thousand cannon roar.
It swarms within my garden gate;
My deepest well it drinketh dry.
It doth not rest; it doth not wait;
By night and day it sweepeth by;
Ceaseless it marcheth by my door;
It heeds me not, tho' I implore.
I know not whence it comes, nor where

It goes. For me it doth not care—