’She weeps for me in her lonely room,
   In the land from whence I came;
Oh! stow me away in this ship, I pray,
   For I hear her call my name.’

‘You must not go, and you shall not go,’
   The first ghost cried in wrath. 
’Your work is planned, in the astral land,
   And a guide will show you the path.’

‘But the one I love’—­’I loved her too,’
   The first ghost stood and cried;
’And year on year I waited here,
   Yea, waited till you died.

’For I would not come between you two,
   Nor shadow her joy with fear,
But mine is the right, I claim this night
   To visit the earthly sphere.

’For you are dead, and I am dead,
   And you had her long—­so long. 
And to look on the grace of her worshipped face,
   Ah! now it can do no wrong.

’I am fettered to Earth by love of her,
   And hers is the spell divine,
That can help me rise, to the realm that lies
   Just over the astral line.

’I have kept to the laws of God and man,
   I have suffered and made no moan;
Now my little share of joy, I swear
   I will have—­and have it alone.’

A skeleton crew the anchor drew,
   And the ship from the port swung free;
With a muffled clang the ghost bell rang,
   And the boat sailed out to sea.

And one ghost stood on the deck and laughed,
   As only a glad ghost can;
While a swooning soul was dragged to his goal,
   To work out the astral span.

And a woman wept, and prayed ere she slept,
   For a dream to ease her pain;
But she dreamed instead of a man long dead,
   Who had loved her all in vain.

WOMAN

Strange are the ways that her feet have trod
   Since first she was set in the path of duty,
Finished and fair by the hand of God,
   To carry her message of love and beauty. 
Delicate creature of light and shade,
   She gleamed like an opal, on wide worlds under: 
And earth looked up to her half afraid,
   While heaven looked down at her, full of wonder.

Flame of the comet and mist of the moon,
   And ray of the sun all mingled in her. 
And the heart of her asked but a single boon —
   That love should seek her, and find her, and win her. 
She grasped the scope of the First Intent
   That made her kingdom for her, no other,
And joyfully into her place she went —
   The primal mate, and the primal mother.

Large was that kingdom and vast her sphere,
   And lightly she lifted and bore each burden. 
Lightly she laughed in the eyes of fear,
   For love was her recompense, love her guerdon. 
And never in camp, or in cave, or in home,
   Rose voice of mother or mate complaining. 
And never the foot of her sought to roam,
   Till love in the heart of the man seemed waning.