Poems By Arjava

SEED-SCATTERING and withered stems precede

The earth-redemption, the return of light :

Orphean fragments,—like offering,—still bleed,

Shed over forest dene or upland height.

Four elements on inmost altar ranged

In equal balance, body of Orpheus slain ;

By a fifth, his death to Incorruption changed,—

Soul's quintessential Light within the fane.

One paten with five sides I contemplate,

Foreseeing far-off lives ; thereon we heap

Actions and struggles and the thoughts we keep

For future pyres, betokening mastery.

" How should unnumbered acts be rendered great?"—

" Only if offered up to Love's Winged Victory."