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LIFE AT THE LEES i
X 107
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LIFE AT THE LEES
Poets sing of life at the lees
In tender verses and delicate:
Of tears and manifold agonies
Little they know of what they prate.
Out of this silence, passionate
Sounds a deeper, a wilder chord.
If a song be heard through the close-barred gate.
Have pity on these my comrades, Lord !
HARD LABOR.
By X107
BOSTON
HALL'S BOOK SHOP
1916
COPYRIGHT 1916, BY
LORIN P. DELAND
To
A. H.
in recognition.
359882
CONTENTS
PAGE
Foreword . 9
IN PRISON:
AN EVENING PRAYER 13
THE DREAM 15
CONSOLATION 17
THE CONTRAST 20
THE DEVIL'S OWN TIME 22
THE WORD FOR THE DEED .... 24
POSTPONED 25
ROMANCE AND REALITY 26
CONSCIENCE 27
TO YOU, PlERETTE 30
To MY FRIEND 31
You AND I 32
APRIL WEATHER 34
THE BLAZED TRAIL 35
LEST I FALL 36
To MY MOTHER . . 37
ON PAROLE:
SPRING IN THE CITY 41
THE Two LOVES 43
FORGIVE 44
MY SONG 45
IF SUCH LOVE CAME 46
LOVE'S TOKEN 47
WHY? 48
FREEDOM :
LETTERS 51
THE SONG OF THE FUSE 65
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
These verses are the cry of a soul jailed in its
body.
The Body, X107, knew the barred door, the
prison dress, the physical humiliations of the cell,
the rage against a society forced thus to protect
itself.
But the Soul, looking through the eyes of its
jailer, the Body, saw the stars; it felt the winds
blowing over fields of blossoming grass; it heard
the lap of moon-led waters, and the laughter of
little children.
Which was the real woman the Body or the
Soul; the Body, which found its level in the gutter,
or the Soul, rejoicing in beauty and goodness?
Who can say!
But there is one thing we can say, we who feel
the tragic contradiction of the singer and her song.
We can confess that our way of punishing the body
may, and often does, destroy the soul. In this
little book the soul of XI 07, in spite of us and our
blunders and cruelties, is yet alive, and sings.
These verses are published as they were written,
without any attempt at editing. The brief extracts
from letters, chosen at random, are included with
the consent of the author. They give a glimpse of
later life and personality.
LORIN F. DELAND.
IN PRISON
These are pawns that the hand of Fate
Careless sweeps from the checkerboard.
Thou that know'st if the game be straight,
Have pity on these my comrades, Lord!
HARD LABOR.
AN EVENING PRAYER
DEAR God, another day is done,
And I have seen the golden sun
Swing in the arch from east to west,
And sink behind the pines to rest.
Now night comes creeping, velvet-shod,
And I would give Thee thanks, dear God.
That Thou hast been with me today,
And helped me o'er the stony way.
I thank Thee that Thou gavest me
The power of sight; that I may see
The tinted glories of thy skies,
An earthly glimpse of Paradise:
The power to hear the evening breeze
Swelling in organ harmonies:
The power to feel the tender grasp
Of loving hands in friendship's clasp:
The power to breathe the sweet perfume
Of dainty tea rose in its bloom:
To taste the fruit, which Thou didst bless,
Like manna in the Wilderness.
I thank Thee for these gifts to me,
14 LIFE AT THE LEES
But one thing more I ask of Thee:
From out thy bounteous, gracious hand,
Give me the power to understand,
To understand to sympathize
To note the pain in others' eyes ;
To have the power to rightly read
The kindly motive of each deed.
And this I humbly ask of Thee,
Because I know Thou lovest me.
THE DREAM
WHILE on my pillow Care did brood,
I, friendless, laid me down and dreamed
That where the pale cold moonlight streamed
A spirit in my chamber stood.
Her face was pure, divine and mild,
With that sweet look, surpassing fair,
Such as all true born mothers wear
When gazing at a well-loved child.
She glided by and from my shelf
Took down my little book of rhyme
Wherein I tried from time to time
To bring to life my hidden self.
And at her touch it seemed to me,
The thoughts that my poor words concealed,
Sprang into life, and stood revealed
As I had meant that they should be.
16 LIFE AT THE LEES
She closed the book. In ecstasy
I felt her eyes upon me turn ;
And for her touch my heart did yearn ;
The spirit's name was Sympathy.
I woke. Dull care was still with me.
"Go search" he said, "in other lands,
And find the heart that understands,
And there you'll find sweet Sympathy."
CONSOLATION
WHEN the heart was young and the
eyes were bright,
She gazed at the starry dome of night
And said, "This world is a beautiful place
And God is the King of a noble race,
And I know some day I shall see His face,"
For the heart was young, and the eyes were
bright.
When the heart was young, and the blood
was red,
The tempter came and softly said:
"Oh! come with me, where the gay lights
swing,
There are none of us born, but must have our
fling,"
And youth at its best is a fleeting thing,
When the heart is young, and the blood is red.
18 LIFE AT THE LEES
When the heart was young, and the blood
ran fast,
The throb of the city lured at last,
Where they sin by night, and they sin by day,
And the golden idols turn to clay,
And a battered soul is the price they pay,
When the heart is young, and the blood runs
fast.
And the heart was scarred, and the eyes were
dim,
And soul and body grew sick with sin,
And her eyes were scorched with the bitter
tears
She shed for the sinful waste of years,
And the hopes ran low, through doubts and
fears,
When the heart was scarred, and the eyes
were dim.
And the heart grew cold, and the way seemed
drear,
When there came a voice to her listening ear:
"Although my mandates you have denied,
''Twas for such as you that I lived and died,
'Twas for such as you I was crucified
When hearts were cold, and the way seemed
drear."
CONSOLATION 19
And the heart was calmed, and the way grew
fair
And she breathed a humble penitent prayer,
And back from their sinful sleeping spell
Came the same ideals in her heart to dwell
That had drawn her back from the mouth of
hell,
And the heart was calm and the way grew fair.
And the heart grew young, and the eyes grew
bright,
When again she gazed at the dome of night,
And said, "Oh world! I have known disgrace,
Still up beyond I may find a place,
For the penitent thief saw the Master's face:"
And the heart was young and the eyes were
bright.
20 LIFE AT THE LEES
THE CONTRAST
Then
THE God of a Christian people
Looked down on a Christian land,
And saw in a prison court-yard
A cowering woman stand.
The whip, from the hand of the jailer,
Fell with a sickening thud
Across the back of the victim,
Dyed red with her crimson blood.
And the Watcher's heart was troubled,
His eyes o'ershadowed with pain,
And he murmured "Oh my Father,
Have I suffered for such in vain?"
Then he bade his garden angel
Pluck souls, just ready for birth,
And filling them with his pity,
Sent them down here to the earth.
THE CONTRAST 21
Now
.*
The God of a Christian people
Looked down on a Christian land,
And there in a fair green country
Saw another Prison stand.
'Twas ruled by the hand of mercy,
And soothed was the heart's unrest,
And body and soul were cared for
While search was made for the best.
They breathed the air of the heavens,
They worshipped, they worked, they played,
And hands were eager to guide them,
Lest from Christ's pathway they strayed.
And the Watcher's heart grew joyful,
Sweet peace illumined his face,
For souls he had plucked in Heaven
Had each found its rightful place.
And oft on a summer's evening
Praises are flung to the breeze,
Sung by His wayward children,
Under the mulberry trees.
22 LIFE AT THE LEES
THE DEVIL'S OWN TIME
was laughter gay, as they rode
away
From the place w r here they wined and dined ;
And the car held four, but there rode one more
For the devil was perched behind.
And the road they took had an eerie look
As it wound by the cliff's tall height,
And below like ink, curled the river's brink
Like a wriggling snake in the night.
And one was a girl, whom the city's whirl
Had changed to a woman so bold,
And one bore the trace of a lovely face,
And a heart with the greed of gold.
And the men were two of the men who view
Every woman with vulture's eyes;
They were men of ease, and in such as these
Finds the devil his best disguise.
THE DEVIL'S OWN TIME 23
And the moon -shone cold on a flask of gold,
As they passed it from hand to hand;
And they took warm sips from each other's lips,
When the wine their passion had fanned.
They sang a song, but the words went wrong,
So they sang of the skies above,
And they sang of the charms of a lover's arms,
And they sang of their wanton love.
And it seemed a joke when the skid-chain
broke,
And the car did a drunken reel ;
And they laughed with glee for they could not
see
The devil was guiding the wheel.
Then out in the night rang a cry of fright,
And the car like a thing possessed
Leaped over the edge of the cliff's high ledge
And sank in the black river's breast.
And the moonlight flashed, and the water
dashed
Its spray 'gainst the cliff's grey stone,
And down with the dead, in the river's bed,
The devil was counting his own.
And a farmer's lad, (folks say he was mad)
Who passed in the early morn,
Heard the weirdest noise, where the curlews
poise,
'Twas the devil tooting the horn.
24 LIFE AT THE LEES
(To , on her Birthday.)
THE WORD FOR THE DEED
DEAR lady, on thy natal day,
Amid your gifts so grand and gay,
Pray listen to this roundelay
From me, a sad bad poet.
I would that I could dedicate
To you, a poem, oh so great,
That Shakespeare would seem second rate;
And all the world should know it.
But woe is me! My Muse has flown
And left me, poemless, alone.
She went to regions quite unknown,
As fast as she could go it.
Nor can I buy you candy sweet,
Nor purchase a swell opera seat,
I cannot buy you fruit to eat,
And I am sadly harassed.
I cannot buy sweet flowers of spring
I cannot buy a blessed thing!
I am, like all the bards who sing,
Financially embarrassed!
POSTPONED
(With apologies to G. K. Chesterton.)
I PLANNED from off my window ledge
To leap to death, and be no more ;
But it has just occurred to me
That I live on the cold first floor.
Postponed must be my suicide,
And I must seek another way ;
Then, too, there is a show tonight!
I shall not kill myself today.
I hear the story that for months
I've followed in a magazine,
In the next number quickly ends,
To miss it would be quite too mean.
They say some day, in fact next week,
Our board will festive be and gay :
The sun feels good I've changed my mind;
I shall not kill myself today.
26 LIFE AT THE LEES
ROMANCE AND REALITY
DAPHNE, let us hand in hand,
Visit that enchanted land
Where the Nile in grandeur flows,
Where the stately palm tree grows;
Where the maids of old Japan
Flirt behind a painted fan;
Where Niagara throws her veil
Diamond decked, the sun to hail;
Where they dance, 'mid merry scenes,
To the sound of tambourines ;
Daphne, let us Rhymes are tame. 1
What say to the movies, Mame?
CONSCIENCE
WHEN the owlet hoots, and the black
night creeps,
And the great house, wrapped in its shadow,
sleeps;
When the bell tolls two in a muffled chime,
As it counts the steps of the flight of Time,
The rich man wakes, and he seems to feel
An icy breath, through his chamber steal,
And sees, in the depths of his easy chair,
His nightly visitor seated there.
The head's proud poise, and the turn of the
arm,
And the look in the face that bodes him harm,
As familiar seem, in the shadows dim,
As his mirrored face, when it smiles at him.
But his brain is numbed, 'neath the night's
dark spell,
And the phantom's name he cannot tell.
28 LIFE AT THE LEES
Yet it casts on him an unearthly stare,
As it calmly lolls in his easy chair,
Till the rich man's brow is wet with dew,
And he hoarsely whispers, "Who are you?"
Then the phantom laughs, "What, awake
at last?
I have been with you for an hour past,
If you look again, you will plainly see
That I am the one that you used to be.
"I know in your heart that you thought me
dead:
But I walk with you, quite unseen, instead:
And I watch you read, where the poet sings,
How a man can step to the highest things:
And you seem to think you can do the same,
So you lead a life, that is dull and tame;
But I think, my friend, 'tis a wild sweet
dream,
For you left me out of your little scheme.
So lest you forget, and should count me dead,
I shall come each night to your lonely bed,
When the owlet hoots, and the clock strikes
two,
And tell you the things that you used to do.
"How your love for gold made you mean as
dirt,
How you never cared for another's hurt,
CONSCIENCE 29
How you ploughed your way, just to "gain
your ends,
O'er the bleeding hearts of your dearest
friends,
How you told a maid you would love for aye.
Then you cast her off, when you had your way :
And lest cold remorse in your soul should sink,
You rilled your veins with the demon Drink!
You robbed the needy, you cursed the poor,
And you drove the hungry from out your door.
And these are the things, I shall tell to you,
When the black night creeps, and the clock
strikes two.
"I shall come at night and shall have my way,
For I am a part of the price you pay:
You will toss and turn, you will sigh and groan,
And send up prayers to the Great White
Throne;
And blush in the dark, though none can see,
When you think of the thing that you used
to be."
When the owlet hoots, and the black night
creeps
And the great house, wrapped in its shadow,
sleeps,
The rich man wakes at the hour of two,
To hear of the things that he used to do.
30 LIFE AT THE LEES
TO YOU, PIERETTE
T7AREWELL, Pierette,
-T The fleeting hours
I spent with you,
Are faded flowers.
No more you dance
To lilting lay
Of silver pipes
Till break of day.
You leave the throng,
I linger yet,
Neath ash of death
I smile, Pierette!
Across the stretch
Of Memory's lands,
My eyes seek yours,
And hands seek hands.
I smile, because
I must not weep.
I wear the mask,
I sow, I reap.
On with the dance!
I would forget
I am Pierot,
You were Pierette.
M
TO MY FRIEND
I
Y soul was sick with bitter strife,
I hated man and hated life.
I feared to think of coming years,
The world was gray through mists of tears.
I cried aloud, I was bereft;
I knew that only God was left.
I cried to Him, "Oh succour me!"
And then, dear friend, He sent me thee.
II
I crept to my room, and I closed my door,
And I fell on my knees by the narrow bed,
And I lifted my face to God and said,
"You have sent me a friend, I can ask no
32 LIFE AT THE LEES
(Written to another prisoner on her birthday?)
YOU AND I
WE have met, you and I,
Like stray birds in the night,
Whose wings gently touch
In their wind-driven flight.
So together we drift
Till the morning's first rays
Show to each her own path,
And the parting of ways.
We must part, you and I,
When our course is made clear.
Though the time has been brief,
The companionship dear.
Though new voices I hear
And new faces I see,
They shall never erase
Fond remembrance of thee.
YOU AND I 33
Shall we meet, you and I,
Ere our life's sands are run?
We must leave that to Him,
The Omnipotent One.
All I ask, all I pray,
In the darkness of night,
He will guide you and me
In the path that is right.
34 LIFE AT THE LEES
APRIL WEATHER
I SAID, in the night, I shall smile no more,
For my grief seemed deep, and my heart
was sore;
But I woke when the sun caressed my lips,
And I tingled down to my finger tips.
So I sang, instead, a lilting lay
To an April sky on an April day.
THE BLAZED TRAIL
HOW fast the years swing round, my
friend,
How fast the years swing round!
Accomplished hopes and conquered fears,
Unkept resolves and bitter tears,
Are blazed along the trail of years ;
How fast the years swing round!
How brief from birth to death, my friend,
How brief from birth to death!
Like some strange dream, now sad, now
sweet,
Wherein the bad and good compete,
We taste of joy, we know defeat ;
How brief from birth to death!
Oh, may your years be sweet, my friend,
Oh, may your years be sweet!
The trail you blaze, a marking place
Of victories won in Life's hard race,
And then at last the Savior's face.
Oh, may your years be sweet!
36 LIFE AT THE LEES
LEST I FALL
WHEN heavy rests Thy hand on me,
When sorrow doth my brow en wreath,
Oh, let me not forget, dear God,
Thy stronger hand rests underneath
TO MY MOTHER
DAUGHTER of men who left the snug
harbors,
To court wild adventure and conquer the
waves;
Whose Bible and chart were their sure guide
to heaven,
Who smilingly went to their sea-weed decked
graves.
You have your compass. The Bible your
chart is;
Snug is your harbor; you watch from the
shore
Another one, sailing on Life's stormy ocean,
Asteep with adventure, athirsty for lore.
Would that my course could be laid as you
wish it ;
Would that your harbor could bring both
content ;
Mine is a craft that was fashioned for waters
Where circles the whirlpool on treachery bent.
38 LIFE AT THE LEES
Grieve not, I beg you, though still I am
drifting,
Blame not yourself for a strange craft like
mine,
Drawn were the plans of it back in the ages,
Yet all of the good, dear, within it is thine.
ON PAROLE
As I leap forth
Into a strange, kind world, a moment halt
My footsteps; and the chance which makes my worth
I weigh with that mischance they call my fault.
HARD LABOR.
SPRING IN THE CITY
OH! Spring in the city! It sets my heart
beating !
It goes to my head like the tang of the sea!
When down the wet pavements, young March
flings her greeting,
With wild, whistled songs full of hoydenish
glee.
Oh blue is her bonnet, with plumes soft and
cloudy!
And gray is her gown with a silvery sheen,
And through the long rent, where she tore it,
the rowdy,
Peeps out her bright petticoat, emerald green.
She skips through the Common, the winds
follow after,
Now coaxing, beguiling, wherever she goes :
And up to the bishop she dances with laughter,
And knocks his staid head-gear atilt on his
nose.
42 LIFE AT THE LEES
Her cry-baby sister has loaned her the flowers
That drop from her gown in her wild, merry
race;
The violet and crocus, from April's own
bowers,
She saucily tosses in mother Earth's face.
Oh! Spring in the city! It sets my heart
beating!
It goes to my head like a draught of old wine :
Stay, March, I implore you! Oh, be not so
fleeting,
For, witch that you are, you are wholly
divine!
THE TWO LOVES
"VTIGHT dew falling Night birds calling
-L ^" Mr. Jack O'Lantern Moon a'hanging in
a tree :
Breezes vagrant Odors fragrant
Come out, little lady love, and meet the night
with me.
Violets sleeping Sharp eyes peeping
Eyes of little living things that love the night
hours well :
Birds are mating I am waiting
Underneath your window, dear, my Spring-
time love to tell.
Green buds blowing Bright stars glowing
Do not think me fickle when I say that I
love two:
Life is rounded Joy unbounded
When 'neath open skies, I greet sweet Lady
Spring and you.
44 LIFE AT THE LEES
FORGIVE
DID'ST see me on the yesterday,
When meadoward we took our way,
Strike at the hand that lifted up
To my parched lips, life's brimming cup?
Did'st see me then I say?
And seeing, did'st thou veil thine eyes,
Filled with a saddened, pained surprise ?
Or was it planned that such as I
Must know a thousand deaths? Then die
Ere I have grasped the prize?
Did'st see me on the yesternight
When sickened soul was black with blight ?
Dread quivers of despairing shame
Scorched my poor body like a flame.
Did'st see me then at night?
Upon my heart a little ring
Of whitened scars, that burn and sting,
Remind me that I struck the hand
That led me to a promised land.
How long doth Memory cling?
MY SONG
I CANNOT help but sing, I said,
For joy hath lately found me!
When friendly stars shine overhead,
I cannot help but sing, I said:
Would 'st have me weep? The past is dead,
And kindly friends surround me.
I cannot help but sing, I said,
For joy hath lately found me!
46 LIFE AT THE LEES
IF SUCH LOVE CAME
IF Love should come to me some day,
And I should sadly to him say,
Before he pressed his first warm kiss,
I have done this, and this, and this,
Confessing sins of human clay;
And he should coldly turn away:
I would not sigh, nor weep, nor moan,
Nor worship Grief on purple throne;
But rather would I softly say,
If Love should come to me, some day,
" 'Tis better so. Adieu, we part !
This thing you nurtured in your heart
Was never Love; for Love forgives,
And understands, forbears, and lives I"
And gladly would I go my way,
If such Love came to me some day.
LOVE'S TOKEN
I BURIED Love, and softly laid
My hopes away, 'neath sylvan shade,
For I was sore beset.
I watered it with bitter tears
That flowed from thoughts of other years
That I would fain forget.
But when there dawned another day,
From where my Love neglected lay,
There sprang a violet.
48 LIFE AT THE LEES
WHY?
SWEPT in by the tide, and cast on Life's
bosom,
Unwanted, uncalled for, an atom of chance;
Groping and cursed by the sins of another,
Hopelessly watching the grey years advance.
Swept on by the tide, in its merciless surging,
Battered and lashed by black Poverty's wave
A plaything of Fate, by Fate ill-begotten,
Wind driven derelict, marked for the grave.
Swept out by the tide to the land of surmises;
Questions unanswered, naught learned but
aery;
Crushed by the strife of an unsought existence;
Back to the Nowhere, murmuring "Why?"
FREEDOM
Free, I said, free!
And fate comes behind and scourges me.
HARD LABOR.
EXTRACTS
FROM LETTERS
I went to the new situation last night at
the Besides the work of cashier,
I am to do all the bookkeeping, keep the
registry, attend to sixty-five mail boxes, do
the post office business, and take care of three
public telephones. Although the work was
intricate, I handled it all right. I was told
that there was no time allowed for dinner
during the eight hours' work, but that in place
of dinner the boy would give me an egg drink
from the soda fountain. I am to work also
on Sundays and holidays without extra pay
of course. I don't mind the hard work, but,
frankly, the atmosphere of the whole place
was not at all to my liking. By the time I
had my cash balanced it was nearly one o'clock
in the morning. The proprietor's father, a
dissolute -looking old man, with baggy eyes,
and who looked like pictures of General
Butler, winked at me every time his son's
back was turned, and even gave my arm a
very fatherly pressure when he let me out of
the side door after work. Pleasant, wasn't it?
I have to use my own instincts about these
52 LIFE AT THE LEES
places, I suppose; but don't for a moment
think that I am afraid of the hard work when
I say that I would rather not stay here. Do
you think that I am rash, and am throwing
away a possible chance? You know I think a
good deal of your opinion on the subject.
When I think sometimes that my identity
may be discovered, I turn sick with fear. It
is a dreadful secret to carry around. R ,
whom I knew five years ago, wonders at the
improvement in me, in speech as w r ell as looks,
and is so interested in my verses that I am
immensely flattered. Anyhow, thanks to
you, I find myself picking much wiser asso-
ciates, and I think they will be my salvation.
I am still out of work, but I am helping out
in a lunch room from eleven to half past three,
which keeps the proverbial wolf from coming
to life. This is only temporary, but I think
I am lucky, for it means one square meal a
day at least.
Oh, such a crowded, lonesome city! It is
a very dangerous thing to be unemployed
where there are lights and laughter and music,
and one is alone. It has given me a good
idea for a magazine story, but it is so hot in
mv "two by four" that I can't write. I will
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 53
get along somehow, and if looking will bring
me work, I shall get it surely.
I am reading Science and Health, and find
the principle very fine. One must believe
in the principle, and not in the personality
ESI flbfl
riu&&jw^^
1
!
LIFE AT THE LEES i
X 107
*. 7^ t
/ l(o ^f\
LIFE AT THE LEES
Poets sing of life at the lees
In tender verses and delicate:
Of tears and manifold agonies
Little they know of what they prate.
Out of this silence, passionate
Sounds a deeper, a wilder chord.
If a song be heard through the close-barred gate.
Have pity on these my comrades, Lord !
HARD LABOR.
By X107
BOSTON
HALL'S BOOK SHOP
1916
COPYRIGHT 1916, BY
LORIN P. DELAND
To
A. H.
in recognition.
359882
CONTENTS
PAGE
Foreword . 9
IN PRISON:
AN EVENING PRAYER 13
THE DREAM 15
CONSOLATION 17
THE CONTRAST 20
THE DEVIL'S OWN TIME 22
THE WORD FOR THE DEED .... 24
POSTPONED 25
ROMANCE AND REALITY 26
CONSCIENCE 27
TO YOU, PlERETTE 30
To MY FRIEND 31
You AND I 32
APRIL WEATHER 34
THE BLAZED TRAIL 35
LEST I FALL 36
To MY MOTHER . . 37
ON PAROLE:
SPRING IN THE CITY 41
THE Two LOVES 43
FORGIVE 44
MY SONG 45
IF SUCH LOVE CAME 46
LOVE'S TOKEN 47
WHY? 48
FREEDOM :
LETTERS 51
THE SONG OF THE FUSE 65
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
These verses are the cry of a soul jailed in its
body.
The Body, X107, knew the barred door, the
prison dress, the physical humiliations of the cell,
the rage against a society forced thus to protect
itself.
But the Soul, looking through the eyes of its
jailer, the Body, saw the stars; it felt the winds
blowing over fields of blossoming grass; it heard
the lap of moon-led waters, and the laughter of
little children.
Which was the real woman the Body or the
Soul; the Body, which found its level in the gutter,
or the Soul, rejoicing in beauty and goodness?
Who can say!
But there is one thing we can say, we who feel
the tragic contradiction of the singer and her song.
We can confess that our way of punishing the body
may, and often does, destroy the soul. In this
little book the soul of XI 07, in spite of us and our
blunders and cruelties, is yet alive, and sings.
These verses are published as they were written,
without any attempt at editing. The brief extracts
from letters, chosen at random, are included with
the consent of the author. They give a glimpse of
later life and personality.
LORIN F. DELAND.
IN PRISON
These are pawns that the hand of Fate
Careless sweeps from the checkerboard.
Thou that know'st if the game be straight,
Have pity on these my comrades, Lord!
HARD LABOR.
AN EVENING PRAYER
DEAR God, another day is done,
And I have seen the golden sun
Swing in the arch from east to west,
And sink behind the pines to rest.
Now night comes creeping, velvet-shod,
And I would give Thee thanks, dear God.
That Thou hast been with me today,
And helped me o'er the stony way.
I thank Thee that Thou gavest me
The power of sight; that I may see
The tinted glories of thy skies,
An earthly glimpse of Paradise:
The power to hear the evening breeze
Swelling in organ harmonies:
The power to feel the tender grasp
Of loving hands in friendship's clasp:
The power to breathe the sweet perfume
Of dainty tea rose in its bloom:
To taste the fruit, which Thou didst bless,
Like manna in the Wilderness.
I thank Thee for these gifts to me,
14 LIFE AT THE LEES
But one thing more I ask of Thee:
From out thy bounteous, gracious hand,
Give me the power to understand,
To understand to sympathize
To note the pain in others' eyes ;
To have the power to rightly read
The kindly motive of each deed.
And this I humbly ask of Thee,
Because I know Thou lovest me.
THE DREAM
WHILE on my pillow Care did brood,
I, friendless, laid me down and dreamed
That where the pale cold moonlight streamed
A spirit in my chamber stood.
Her face was pure, divine and mild,
With that sweet look, surpassing fair,
Such as all true born mothers wear
When gazing at a well-loved child.
She glided by and from my shelf
Took down my little book of rhyme
Wherein I tried from time to time
To bring to life my hidden self.
And at her touch it seemed to me,
The thoughts that my poor words concealed,
Sprang into life, and stood revealed
As I had meant that they should be.
16 LIFE AT THE LEES
She closed the book. In ecstasy
I felt her eyes upon me turn ;
And for her touch my heart did yearn ;
The spirit's name was Sympathy.
I woke. Dull care was still with me.
"Go search" he said, "in other lands,
And find the heart that understands,
And there you'll find sweet Sympathy."
CONSOLATION
WHEN the heart was young and the
eyes were bright,
She gazed at the starry dome of night
And said, "This world is a beautiful place
And God is the King of a noble race,
And I know some day I shall see His face,"
For the heart was young, and the eyes were
bright.
When the heart was young, and the blood
was red,
The tempter came and softly said:
"Oh! come with me, where the gay lights
swing,
There are none of us born, but must have our
fling,"
And youth at its best is a fleeting thing,
When the heart is young, and the blood is red.
18 LIFE AT THE LEES
When the heart was young, and the blood
ran fast,
The throb of the city lured at last,
Where they sin by night, and they sin by day,
And the golden idols turn to clay,
And a battered soul is the price they pay,
When the heart is young, and the blood runs
fast.
And the heart was scarred, and the eyes were
dim,
And soul and body grew sick with sin,
And her eyes were scorched with the bitter
tears
She shed for the sinful waste of years,
And the hopes ran low, through doubts and
fears,
When the heart was scarred, and the eyes
were dim.
And the heart grew cold, and the way seemed
drear,
When there came a voice to her listening ear:
"Although my mandates you have denied,
''Twas for such as you that I lived and died,
'Twas for such as you I was crucified
When hearts were cold, and the way seemed
drear."
CONSOLATION 19
And the heart was calmed, and the way grew
fair
And she breathed a humble penitent prayer,
And back from their sinful sleeping spell
Came the same ideals in her heart to dwell
That had drawn her back from the mouth of
hell,
And the heart was calm and the way grew fair.
And the heart grew young, and the eyes grew
bright,
When again she gazed at the dome of night,
And said, "Oh world! I have known disgrace,
Still up beyond I may find a place,
For the penitent thief saw the Master's face:"
And the heart was young and the eyes were
bright.
20 LIFE AT THE LEES
THE CONTRAST
Then
THE God of a Christian people
Looked down on a Christian land,
And saw in a prison court-yard
A cowering woman stand.
The whip, from the hand of the jailer,
Fell with a sickening thud
Across the back of the victim,
Dyed red with her crimson blood.
And the Watcher's heart was troubled,
His eyes o'ershadowed with pain,
And he murmured "Oh my Father,
Have I suffered for such in vain?"
Then he bade his garden angel
Pluck souls, just ready for birth,
And filling them with his pity,
Sent them down here to the earth.
THE CONTRAST 21
Now
.*
The God of a Christian people
Looked down on a Christian land,
And there in a fair green country
Saw another Prison stand.
'Twas ruled by the hand of mercy,
And soothed was the heart's unrest,
And body and soul were cared for
While search was made for the best.
They breathed the air of the heavens,
They worshipped, they worked, they played,
And hands were eager to guide them,
Lest from Christ's pathway they strayed.
And the Watcher's heart grew joyful,
Sweet peace illumined his face,
For souls he had plucked in Heaven
Had each found its rightful place.
And oft on a summer's evening
Praises are flung to the breeze,
Sung by His wayward children,
Under the mulberry trees.
22 LIFE AT THE LEES
THE DEVIL'S OWN TIME
was laughter gay, as they rode
away
From the place w r here they wined and dined ;
And the car held four, but there rode one more
For the devil was perched behind.
And the road they took had an eerie look
As it wound by the cliff's tall height,
And below like ink, curled the river's brink
Like a wriggling snake in the night.
And one was a girl, whom the city's whirl
Had changed to a woman so bold,
And one bore the trace of a lovely face,
And a heart with the greed of gold.
And the men were two of the men who view
Every woman with vulture's eyes;
They were men of ease, and in such as these
Finds the devil his best disguise.
THE DEVIL'S OWN TIME 23
And the moon -shone cold on a flask of gold,
As they passed it from hand to hand;
And they took warm sips from each other's lips,
When the wine their passion had fanned.
They sang a song, but the words went wrong,
So they sang of the skies above,
And they sang of the charms of a lover's arms,
And they sang of their wanton love.
And it seemed a joke when the skid-chain
broke,
And the car did a drunken reel ;
And they laughed with glee for they could not
see
The devil was guiding the wheel.
Then out in the night rang a cry of fright,
And the car like a thing possessed
Leaped over the edge of the cliff's high ledge
And sank in the black river's breast.
And the moonlight flashed, and the water
dashed
Its spray 'gainst the cliff's grey stone,
And down with the dead, in the river's bed,
The devil was counting his own.
And a farmer's lad, (folks say he was mad)
Who passed in the early morn,
Heard the weirdest noise, where the curlews
poise,
'Twas the devil tooting the horn.
24 LIFE AT THE LEES
(To , on her Birthday.)
THE WORD FOR THE DEED
DEAR lady, on thy natal day,
Amid your gifts so grand and gay,
Pray listen to this roundelay
From me, a sad bad poet.
I would that I could dedicate
To you, a poem, oh so great,
That Shakespeare would seem second rate;
And all the world should know it.
But woe is me! My Muse has flown
And left me, poemless, alone.
She went to regions quite unknown,
As fast as she could go it.
Nor can I buy you candy sweet,
Nor purchase a swell opera seat,
I cannot buy you fruit to eat,
And I am sadly harassed.
I cannot buy sweet flowers of spring
I cannot buy a blessed thing!
I am, like all the bards who sing,
Financially embarrassed!
POSTPONED
(With apologies to G. K. Chesterton.)
I PLANNED from off my window ledge
To leap to death, and be no more ;
But it has just occurred to me
That I live on the cold first floor.
Postponed must be my suicide,
And I must seek another way ;
Then, too, there is a show tonight!
I shall not kill myself today.
I hear the story that for months
I've followed in a magazine,
In the next number quickly ends,
To miss it would be quite too mean.
They say some day, in fact next week,
Our board will festive be and gay :
The sun feels good I've changed my mind;
I shall not kill myself today.
26 LIFE AT THE LEES
ROMANCE AND REALITY
DAPHNE, let us hand in hand,
Visit that enchanted land
Where the Nile in grandeur flows,
Where the stately palm tree grows;
Where the maids of old Japan
Flirt behind a painted fan;
Where Niagara throws her veil
Diamond decked, the sun to hail;
Where they dance, 'mid merry scenes,
To the sound of tambourines ;
Daphne, let us Rhymes are tame. 1
What say to the movies, Mame?
CONSCIENCE
WHEN the owlet hoots, and the black
night creeps,
And the great house, wrapped in its shadow,
sleeps;
When the bell tolls two in a muffled chime,
As it counts the steps of the flight of Time,
The rich man wakes, and he seems to feel
An icy breath, through his chamber steal,
And sees, in the depths of his easy chair,
His nightly visitor seated there.
The head's proud poise, and the turn of the
arm,
And the look in the face that bodes him harm,
As familiar seem, in the shadows dim,
As his mirrored face, when it smiles at him.
But his brain is numbed, 'neath the night's
dark spell,
And the phantom's name he cannot tell.
28 LIFE AT THE LEES
Yet it casts on him an unearthly stare,
As it calmly lolls in his easy chair,
Till the rich man's brow is wet with dew,
And he hoarsely whispers, "Who are you?"
Then the phantom laughs, "What, awake
at last?
I have been with you for an hour past,
If you look again, you will plainly see
That I am the one that you used to be.
"I know in your heart that you thought me
dead:
But I walk with you, quite unseen, instead:
And I watch you read, where the poet sings,
How a man can step to the highest things:
And you seem to think you can do the same,
So you lead a life, that is dull and tame;
But I think, my friend, 'tis a wild sweet
dream,
For you left me out of your little scheme.
So lest you forget, and should count me dead,
I shall come each night to your lonely bed,
When the owlet hoots, and the clock strikes
two,
And tell you the things that you used to do.
"How your love for gold made you mean as
dirt,
How you never cared for another's hurt,
CONSCIENCE 29
How you ploughed your way, just to "gain
your ends,
O'er the bleeding hearts of your dearest
friends,
How you told a maid you would love for aye.
Then you cast her off, when you had your way :
And lest cold remorse in your soul should sink,
You rilled your veins with the demon Drink!
You robbed the needy, you cursed the poor,
And you drove the hungry from out your door.
And these are the things, I shall tell to you,
When the black night creeps, and the clock
strikes two.
"I shall come at night and shall have my way,
For I am a part of the price you pay:
You will toss and turn, you will sigh and groan,
And send up prayers to the Great White
Throne;
And blush in the dark, though none can see,
When you think of the thing that you used
to be."
When the owlet hoots, and the black night
creeps
And the great house, wrapped in its shadow,
sleeps,
The rich man wakes at the hour of two,
To hear of the things that he used to do.
30 LIFE AT THE LEES
TO YOU, PIERETTE
T7AREWELL, Pierette,
-T The fleeting hours
I spent with you,
Are faded flowers.
No more you dance
To lilting lay
Of silver pipes
Till break of day.
You leave the throng,
I linger yet,
Neath ash of death
I smile, Pierette!
Across the stretch
Of Memory's lands,
My eyes seek yours,
And hands seek hands.
I smile, because
I must not weep.
I wear the mask,
I sow, I reap.
On with the dance!
I would forget
I am Pierot,
You were Pierette.
M
TO MY FRIEND
I
Y soul was sick with bitter strife,
I hated man and hated life.
I feared to think of coming years,
The world was gray through mists of tears.
I cried aloud, I was bereft;
I knew that only God was left.
I cried to Him, "Oh succour me!"
And then, dear friend, He sent me thee.
II
I crept to my room, and I closed my door,
And I fell on my knees by the narrow bed,
And I lifted my face to God and said,
"You have sent me a friend, I can ask no
32 LIFE AT THE LEES
(Written to another prisoner on her birthday?)
YOU AND I
WE have met, you and I,
Like stray birds in the night,
Whose wings gently touch
In their wind-driven flight.
So together we drift
Till the morning's first rays
Show to each her own path,
And the parting of ways.
We must part, you and I,
When our course is made clear.
Though the time has been brief,
The companionship dear.
Though new voices I hear
And new faces I see,
They shall never erase
Fond remembrance of thee.
YOU AND I 33
Shall we meet, you and I,
Ere our life's sands are run?
We must leave that to Him,
The Omnipotent One.
All I ask, all I pray,
In the darkness of night,
He will guide you and me
In the path that is right.
34 LIFE AT THE LEES
APRIL WEATHER
I SAID, in the night, I shall smile no more,
For my grief seemed deep, and my heart
was sore;
But I woke when the sun caressed my lips,
And I tingled down to my finger tips.
So I sang, instead, a lilting lay
To an April sky on an April day.
THE BLAZED TRAIL
HOW fast the years swing round, my
friend,
How fast the years swing round!
Accomplished hopes and conquered fears,
Unkept resolves and bitter tears,
Are blazed along the trail of years ;
How fast the years swing round!
How brief from birth to death, my friend,
How brief from birth to death!
Like some strange dream, now sad, now
sweet,
Wherein the bad and good compete,
We taste of joy, we know defeat ;
How brief from birth to death!
Oh, may your years be sweet, my friend,
Oh, may your years be sweet!
The trail you blaze, a marking place
Of victories won in Life's hard race,
And then at last the Savior's face.
Oh, may your years be sweet!
36 LIFE AT THE LEES
LEST I FALL
WHEN heavy rests Thy hand on me,
When sorrow doth my brow en wreath,
Oh, let me not forget, dear God,
Thy stronger hand rests underneath
TO MY MOTHER
DAUGHTER of men who left the snug
harbors,
To court wild adventure and conquer the
waves;
Whose Bible and chart were their sure guide
to heaven,
Who smilingly went to their sea-weed decked
graves.
You have your compass. The Bible your
chart is;
Snug is your harbor; you watch from the
shore
Another one, sailing on Life's stormy ocean,
Asteep with adventure, athirsty for lore.
Would that my course could be laid as you
wish it ;
Would that your harbor could bring both
content ;
Mine is a craft that was fashioned for waters
Where circles the whirlpool on treachery bent.
38 LIFE AT THE LEES
Grieve not, I beg you, though still I am
drifting,
Blame not yourself for a strange craft like
mine,
Drawn were the plans of it back in the ages,
Yet all of the good, dear, within it is thine.
ON PAROLE
As I leap forth
Into a strange, kind world, a moment halt
My footsteps; and the chance which makes my worth
I weigh with that mischance they call my fault.
HARD LABOR.
SPRING IN THE CITY
OH! Spring in the city! It sets my heart
beating !
It goes to my head like the tang of the sea!
When down the wet pavements, young March
flings her greeting,
With wild, whistled songs full of hoydenish
glee.
Oh blue is her bonnet, with plumes soft and
cloudy!
And gray is her gown with a silvery sheen,
And through the long rent, where she tore it,
the rowdy,
Peeps out her bright petticoat, emerald green.
She skips through the Common, the winds
follow after,
Now coaxing, beguiling, wherever she goes :
And up to the bishop she dances with laughter,
And knocks his staid head-gear atilt on his
nose.
42 LIFE AT THE LEES
Her cry-baby sister has loaned her the flowers
That drop from her gown in her wild, merry
race;
The violet and crocus, from April's own
bowers,
She saucily tosses in mother Earth's face.
Oh! Spring in the city! It sets my heart
beating!
It goes to my head like a draught of old wine :
Stay, March, I implore you! Oh, be not so
fleeting,
For, witch that you are, you are wholly
divine!
THE TWO LOVES
"VTIGHT dew falling Night birds calling
-L ^" Mr. Jack O'Lantern Moon a'hanging in
a tree :
Breezes vagrant Odors fragrant
Come out, little lady love, and meet the night
with me.
Violets sleeping Sharp eyes peeping
Eyes of little living things that love the night
hours well :
Birds are mating I am waiting
Underneath your window, dear, my Spring-
time love to tell.
Green buds blowing Bright stars glowing
Do not think me fickle when I say that I
love two:
Life is rounded Joy unbounded
When 'neath open skies, I greet sweet Lady
Spring and you.
44 LIFE AT THE LEES
FORGIVE
DID'ST see me on the yesterday,
When meadoward we took our way,
Strike at the hand that lifted up
To my parched lips, life's brimming cup?
Did'st see me then I say?
And seeing, did'st thou veil thine eyes,
Filled with a saddened, pained surprise ?
Or was it planned that such as I
Must know a thousand deaths? Then die
Ere I have grasped the prize?
Did'st see me on the yesternight
When sickened soul was black with blight ?
Dread quivers of despairing shame
Scorched my poor body like a flame.
Did'st see me then at night?
Upon my heart a little ring
Of whitened scars, that burn and sting,
Remind me that I struck the hand
That led me to a promised land.
How long doth Memory cling?
MY SONG
I CANNOT help but sing, I said,
For joy hath lately found me!
When friendly stars shine overhead,
I cannot help but sing, I said:
Would 'st have me weep? The past is dead,
And kindly friends surround me.
I cannot help but sing, I said,
For joy hath lately found me!
46 LIFE AT THE LEES
IF SUCH LOVE CAME
IF Love should come to me some day,
And I should sadly to him say,
Before he pressed his first warm kiss,
I have done this, and this, and this,
Confessing sins of human clay;
And he should coldly turn away:
I would not sigh, nor weep, nor moan,
Nor worship Grief on purple throne;
But rather would I softly say,
If Love should come to me, some day,
" 'Tis better so. Adieu, we part !
This thing you nurtured in your heart
Was never Love; for Love forgives,
And understands, forbears, and lives I"
And gladly would I go my way,
If such Love came to me some day.
LOVE'S TOKEN
I BURIED Love, and softly laid
My hopes away, 'neath sylvan shade,
For I was sore beset.
I watered it with bitter tears
That flowed from thoughts of other years
That I would fain forget.
But when there dawned another day,
From where my Love neglected lay,
There sprang a violet.
48 LIFE AT THE LEES
WHY?
SWEPT in by the tide, and cast on Life's
bosom,
Unwanted, uncalled for, an atom of chance;
Groping and cursed by the sins of another,
Hopelessly watching the grey years advance.
Swept on by the tide, in its merciless surging,
Battered and lashed by black Poverty's wave
A plaything of Fate, by Fate ill-begotten,
Wind driven derelict, marked for the grave.
Swept out by the tide to the land of surmises;
Questions unanswered, naught learned but
aery;
Crushed by the strife of an unsought existence;
Back to the Nowhere, murmuring "Why?"
FREEDOM
Free, I said, free!
And fate comes behind and scourges me.
HARD LABOR.
EXTRACTS
FROM LETTERS
I went to the new situation last night at
the Besides the work of cashier,
I am to do all the bookkeeping, keep the
registry, attend to sixty-five mail boxes, do
the post office business, and take care of three
public telephones. Although the work was
intricate, I handled it all right. I was told
that there was no time allowed for dinner
during the eight hours' work, but that in place
of dinner the boy would give me an egg drink
from the soda fountain. I am to work also
on Sundays and holidays without extra pay
of course. I don't mind the hard work, but,
frankly, the atmosphere of the whole place
was not at all to my liking. By the time I
had my cash balanced it was nearly one o'clock
in the morning. The proprietor's father, a
dissolute -looking old man, with baggy eyes,
and who looked like pictures of General
Butler, winked at me every time his son's
back was turned, and even gave my arm a
very fatherly pressure when he let me out of
the side door after work. Pleasant, wasn't it?
I have to use my own instincts about these
52 LIFE AT THE LEES
places, I suppose; but don't for a moment
think that I am afraid of the hard work when
I say that I would rather not stay here. Do
you think that I am rash, and am throwing
away a possible chance? You know I think a
good deal of your opinion on the subject.
When I think sometimes that my identity
may be discovered, I turn sick with fear. It
is a dreadful secret to carry around. R ,
whom I knew five years ago, wonders at the
improvement in me, in speech as w r ell as looks,
and is so interested in my verses that I am
immensely flattered. Anyhow, thanks to
you, I find myself picking much wiser asso-
ciates, and I think they will be my salvation.
I am still out of work, but I am helping out
in a lunch room from eleven to half past three,
which keeps the proverbial wolf from coming
to life. This is only temporary, but I think
I am lucky, for it means one square meal a
day at least.
Oh, such a crowded, lonesome city! It is
a very dangerous thing to be unemployed
where there are lights and laughter and music,
and one is alone. It has given me a good
idea for a magazine story, but it is so hot in
mv "two by four" that I can't write. I will
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 53
get along somehow, and if looking will bring
me work, I shall get it surely.
I am reading Science and Health, and find
the principle very fine. One must believe
in the principle, and not in the personality
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