Page:The roamer and other poems (1920).djvu/39

Treason and guile he feared, and silent arms.
Then stooped the foe, no more as when he shone
Upon the front and promise of this world
The morning star; nor when in gloom he came,
Not less majestic than the eternal force
And regnancy of Nature; dark with peril,
And to the death engaged, his war drew on,
Winding like thought within the doubtful brain,
Warping imagination to his will,
Transforming to his semblance every sense;
And in the spirit, ere the mortal throe,
Failure foreseen, and scorn to be betrayed,
The yearning of the long impetuous years
To loathing turned, the dying flame of hope
Leaping in anger at the long deceit;
And utterance indistinguishable arose,
That sometimes on the waking sense alarmed
Strikes undetermined whether thought or sound;
From crag and cleft "this air-built goal" it shot,
Doubtful, and fled upon the vagrant gust;
"Courage," it shrieked, and leaped in the abyss;
"The hounds of vengeance on his track are hot,
Therefore he hastes," it struck the rock behind.
The lonely steep grew spectral to his gaze;

He seemed to see them spring from cirque and cairn,