The Rose-Cave on Tung Shan

The Rose-Cave on Tung Shan

After Li Po

By the Cave on the Mountain how oft have the roses blown,
How oft have the silver clouds o’er the lonely mountain flown,
And no one known,
Since I came to the Cave on Tung Shan, years ago?

It is all so lone, if the Moon should steal from the sky,
And, scarfed in a floating mist, to the Cave of the Roses hie,
To whom, or why
She came to the Cave on Tung Shan, none would know!

The Theosophical Path, June 1920

Night-Fall by the River

Night-Fall by the River

After Li Po

Heaven and my coat rose petal-strewn;
   Wine-flushed the solemn evening air,—
Beauty that hides from thought how soon
   Life and time and the world forth-fare!

And then I, star by drifting star,
   (All hurrying westward) climb to the moon
For refuge:—and from heaven afar
   Down with the dreamy moonlight swoon

And shine along the stream,—where now
   No bird ’s at song—no laughters swell—
No voices wake—no lover’s vow—
   But far off whisperings of farewell. . . .

The Theosophical Path, November 1925

The Lily-Pads

The Lily-Pads

(After Li Po)

Cold ’neath the moon the dark glass-green
Water runs whitening o’er, as though
A million silvery fins below
Cut twinkling up through the quivering sheen
The aloofness of grim skies leans o’er.

Night has some secret grief she broods
In these wide watery solitudes
I think,—she fills me so with the keen
Chill of her own approachless moods
Eerie and sad ’twixt shore and shore.

I dip an oar, and send the boat
Landward. I have no heart tonight
For the waste waves and wan moonlight
And the— Ah! here the lilies float. . . .
Pardon the touch of this rude oar!

The Theosophical Path, February 1924