And posting on the rails, to home return, —

  Home, and the friends whose honouring name you bear.

  Hyères, .

  IX

  BURLESQUE SONNET

  TO ÆNEAS WILLIAM MACKINTOSH

  Thee, Mackintosh, artificer of light,

  Thee, the lone smoker hails! the student, thee;

  Thee, oft upon the ungovernable sea,

  The seaman, conscious of approaching night;

  Thou, with industrious fingers, hast outright

  Mastered that art, of other arts the key,

  That bids thick night before the morning flee,

  And lingering day retains for mortal sight.

  O Promethean workman, thee I hail,

  Thee hallowed, thee unparalleled, thee bold

  To affront the reign of sleep and darkness old,

  Thee William, thee Æneas, thee I sing;

  Thee by the glimmering taper clear and pale,

  Of light, and light’s purveyance, hail, the king.

  X

  THE FINE PACIFIC ISLANDS

  (HEARD IN A PUBLIC-HOUSE AT ROTHERHITHE)

  The jolly English Yellowboy

  Is a ‘ansome coin when new,

  The Yankee Double-eagle

  Is large enough for two.

  O, these may do for seaport towns,

  For cities these may do;

  But the dibbs that takes the Hislands

  Are the dollars of Peru:

  O, the fine Pacific Hislands,

  O, the dollars of Peru!

  It’s there we buy the cocoanuts

  Mast ‘eaded in the blue;

  It’s there we trap the lasses

  All waiting for the crew;

  It’s there we buy the trader’s rum

  What bores a seaman through....

  In the fine Pacific Hislands

  With the dollars of Peru:

  In the fine Pacific Hislands

  With the dollars of Peru!

  Now, messmates, when my watch is up,

  And I am quite broached to,

  I’ll give a tip to ‘Evving

  Of the ‘ansome thing to do:

  Let ‘em just refit this sailor-man

  And launch him off anew

  To cruise among the Hislands

  With the dollars of Peru:

  In the fine Pacific Hislands

  With the dollars of Peru!

  Tahiti, August .

  XI

  AULD REEKIE

  When chitterin’ cauld the day sall daw,

  Loud may your bonny bugles blaw

  And loud your drums may beat.

  Hie owre the land at evenfa’

  Your lamps may glitter raw by raw,

  Along the gowsty street.

  I gang nae mair where ance I gaed,

  By Brunston, Fairmileheid, or Braid;

  But far frae Kirk and Tron.

  O still ayont the muckle sea,

  Still are ye dear, and dear to me,

  Auld Reekie, still and on!

  XII

  THE LESSON OF THE MASTER

  TO HENRY JAMES

  Adela, Adela, Adela Chart,

  What have you done to my elderly heart?

  Of all the ladies of paper and ink

  I count you the paragon, call you the pink.

  The word of your brother depicts you in part:

  “You raving maniac!” Adela Chart;

  But in all the asylums that cumber the ground,

  So delightful a maniac was ne’er to be found.

  I pore on you, dote on you, clasp you to heart,

  I laud, love, and laugh at you, Adela Chart,

  And thank my dear maker the while I admire

  That I can be neither your husband nor sire.

  Your husband’s, your sire’s, were a difficult part;

  You’re a byway to suicide, Adela Chart;

  But to read of, depicted by exquisite James,

  O, sure you’re the flower and quintessence of dames.

  Vailima, October .

  XIII

  THE CONSECRATION OF BRAILLE

  TO MRS. A. BAKER

  I was a barren tree before,

  I blew a quenchèd coal,

  I could not, on their midnight shore,

  The lonely blind console.

  A moment, lend your hand, I bring

  My sheaf for you to bind,

  And you can teach my words to sing

  In the darkness of the blind.

  Vailima, December .

  XIV

  SONG

  Light foot and tight foot,

  And green grass spread,

  Early in the morning,

  But hope is on ahead.

  Brief day and bright day,

  And sunset red,

  Early in the evening,

  The stars are overhead.

  THE LIGHT-KEEPER

  I

  The brilliant kernel of the night,

  The flaming lightroom circles me:

  I sit within a blaze of light

  Held high above the dusky sea.

  Far off the surf doth break and roar

  Along bleak miles of moonlit shore,

  Where through the tides the tumbling wave

  Falls in an avalanche of foam

  And drives its churnèd waters home

  Up many an undercliff and cave.

  The clear bell chimes: the clockworks strain:

  The turning lenses flash and pass,

  Frame turning within glittering frame

  With frosty gleam of moving glass:

  Unseen by me, each dusky hour

  The sea-waves welter up the tower

  Or in the ebb subside again;

  And ever and anon all night,

  Drawn from afar by charm of light,

  A sea-bird beats against the pane.

  And lastly when dawn ends the night

  And belts the semi-orb of sea,

  The tall, pale pharos in the light

  Looks white and spectral as may be.

  The early ebb is out: the green

  Straight belt of sea-weed now is seen,

  That round the basement of the tower

  Marks out the interspace of tide;

  And watching men are heavy-eyed,

  And sleepless lips are dry and sour.

  The night is over like a dream:

  The sea-birds cry and dip themselves;

  And in the early sunlight, steam

  The newly-bared and dripping shelves,

  Around whose verge the glassy wave

  With lisping wash is heard to lave;

  While, on the white tower lifted high,

  With yellow light in faded glass

  The circling lenses flash and pass,

  And sickly shine against the sky.

  1869.

  II

  As the steady lenses circle

  With a frosty gleam of glass;

  And the clear bell chimes,

  And the oil brims over the lip of the burner,

  Quiet and still at his desk,

  The lonely light-keeper

  Holds his vigil.

  Lured from afar,

  The bewildered sea-gull beats

  Dully against the lantern;

  Yet he stirs not, lifts not his head

  From the desk where he reads,

  Lifts not his eyes to see

  The chill blind circle of night

  Watching him through the panes.

  This is his country’s guardian,

  The outmost sentry of peace.

  This is the man,

  Who gives up all that is lovely in living

  For the means to live.

  Poetry cunningly gilds

  The life of the Light-Keeper,

  Held on high in the blackness

  In the burning kernel of night.

  The seaman sees and blesses him;

  The Poet, deep in a sonnet,

  Numbers his inky fingers

  Fitly to praise him:

  Only we behold him,

  Sitting, patient and stolid,

  Martyr to a salary.

  1870.

  The Poems

  Stevenson’s childhood home, 17 Heriot Row, Edinburgh

  CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF POEMS

  TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM

  A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES

  BED IN SUMMER

  A THOUGHT

  AT THE SEA-SIDE

  YOUNG NIGHT-THOUGHT

  WHOLE DUTY OF CHILDREN

  RAIN

  PIRATE STORY

  FOREIGN LANDS

  WINDY NIGHTS

  TRAVEL

  SINGING

  LOOKING FORWARD

  A GOOD PLAY

  WHERE GO THE BOATS?

  AUNTIE’S SKIRTS

  THE LAND OF COUNTERPANE

  THE LAND OF NOD

  MY SHADOW

  SYSTEM

  A GOOD BOY

  ESCAPE AT BEDTIME

  MARCHING SONG

  THE COW

  HAPPY THOUGHT

  THE WIND

  KEEPSAKE MILL

  GOOD AND BAD CHILDREN

  FOREIGN CHILDREN

  THE SUN TRAVELS

  THE LAMPLIGHTER

  MY BED IS A BOAT

  THE MOON

  THE SWING

  TIME TO RISE

  LOOKING-GLASS RIVER

  FAIRY BREAD

  FROM A RAILWAY CARRIAGE

  WINTER-TIME

  THE HAYLOFT

  FAREWELL TO THE FARM

  NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

  THE CHILD ALONE

  THE UNSEEN PLAYMATE

  MY SHIP AND I

  MY KINGDOM

  PICTURE-BOOKS IN WINTER

  MY TREASURES

  BLOCK CITY

  THE LAND OF STORY-BOOKS

  ARMIES IN THE FIRE

  THE LITTLE LAND

  GARDEN DAYS

  NIGHT AND DAY

  NEST EGGS

  THE FLOWERS

  SUMMER SUN

  THE DUMB SOLDIER

  AUTUMN FIRES

  THE GARDENER

  HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS

  ENVOYS

  TO WILLIE AND HENRIETTA

  TO MY MOTHER

  TO AUNTIE

  TO MINNIE

  TO MY NAME-CHILD

  TO ANY READER

  DEDICATION

  BOOK I

  ENVOY

  A SONG OF THE ROAD

  THE CANOE SPEAKS

  THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

  A VISIT FROM THE SEA

  TO A GARDENER

  TO MINNIE

  TO K. de M.

  TO N. V. de G. S.

  TO WILL. H. LOW

  TO MRS. WILL. H. LOW

  TO H. F. BROWN

  TO ANDREW LANG

  ET TU IN ARCADIA VIXISTI

  TO W.E. HENLEY

  HENRY JAMES

  THE MIRROR SPEAKS

  KATHARINE

  TO F. J. S.

  REQUIEM

  THE CELESTIAL SURGEON

  OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS

  THE SICK CHILD

  IN MEMORIAM F.A.S.

  TO MY FATHER

  IN THE STATES

  A PORTRAIT

  A CAMP

  THE COUNTRY OF THE CAMISARDS

  SKERRYVORE

  SKERRYVORE

  THE PARALLEL

  BOOK II

  IN SCOTS

  TABLE OF COMMON SCOTTISH VOWEL SOUNDS

  THE MAKER TO POSTERITY

  ILLE TERRARUM

  A MILE AN’ A BITTOCK

  A LOWDEN SABBATH MORN

  THE SPAEWIFE

  THE BLAST —

  THE COUNTERBLAST —

  THE COUNTERBLAST IRONICAL

  THEIR LAUREATE TO AN ACADEMY CLASS

  DINNER CLUB

  EMBRO HIE KIRK

  THE SCOTSMAN’S RETURN FROM ABROAD

  IN A LETTER FROM MR. THOMSON TO MR. JOHNSTONE

  MY CONSCIENCE!

  TO DOCTOR JOHN BROWN

  THE SONG OF RAHÉRO: A LEGEND OF TAHITI

  THE SLAYING OF TÁMATÉA

  THE VENGING OF TÁMATÉA

  RAHÉRO

  THE FEAST OF FAMINE

  MARQUESAN MANNERS

  THE PRIEST’S VIGIL

  THE LOVERS

  THE FEAST

  THE RAID

  TICONDEROGA

  A LEGEND OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS

  TICONDEROGA

  THE SAYING OF THE NAME

  THE SEEKING OF THE NAME

  THE PLACE OF THE NAME

  HEATHER ALE

  CHRISTMAS AT SEA

  SONGS OF TRAVEL

  THE VAGABOND

  YOUTH AND LOVE — I

  YOUTH AND LOVE — II

  WE HAVE LOVED OF YORE

  MATER TRIUMPHANS

  TO THE TUNE OF WANDERING WILLIE

  WINTER

  TO DR. HAKE

  TO — —

  IF THIS WERE FAITH

  MY WIFE

  TO THE MUSE

  TO AN ISLAND PRINCESS

  TO KALAKAUA

  TO PRINCESS KAIULANI

  TO MOTHER MARYANNE

  IN MEMORIAM E.H.

  TO MY WIFE

  TO MY OLD FAMILIARS

  TO S. C.

  THE HOUSE OF TEMBINOKA

  THE SONG

  THE WOODMAN

  TROPIC RAIN

  AN END OF TRAVEL

  TO S.R. CROCKETT

  EVENSONG

  A FAMILIAR EPISTLE

  RONDELS

  OF HIS PITIABLE TRANSFORMATION

  EPISTLE TO CHARLES BAXTER

  THE SUSQUEHANNAH AND THE DELAWARE

  EPISTLE TO ALBERT DEW-SMITH

  ALCAICS TO HORATIO F. BROWN

  A LYTLE JAPE OF TUSHERIE

  TO VIRGIL AND DORA WILLIAMS

  BURLESQUE SONNET

  THE FINE PACIFIC ISLANDS

  AULD REEKIE

  THE LESSON OF THE MASTER

  THE CONSECRATION OF BRAILLE

  SONG

  THE LIGHT-KEEPER

  ALPHABETICAL LIST OF POEMS

  A CAMP

  A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES

  A FAMILIAR EPISTLE

  A GOOD BOY

  A GOOD PLAY

  A LEGEND OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS

  A LOWDEN SABBATH MORN

  A LYTLE JAPE OF TUSHERIE

  A MILE AN’ A BITTOCK

  A PORTRAIT

  A SONG OF THE ROAD

  A THOUGHT

  A VISIT FROM THE SEA

  ALCAICS TO HORATIO F. BROWN

  AN END OF TRAVEL

  ARMIES IN THE FIRE

  AT THE SEA-SIDE

  AULD REEKIE

  AUNTIE’S SKIRTS

  AUTUMN FIRES

  BED IN SUMMER

  BLOCK CITY

  BOOK I

  BOOK II

  BURLESQUE SONNET

  CHRISTMAS AT SEA

  DEDICATION

  DINNER CLUB

  EMBRO HIE KIRK

  ENVOY

  ENVOYS

  EPISTLE TO ALBERT DEW-SMITH

  EPISTLE TO CHARLES BAXTER

  ESCAPE AT BEDTIME

  ET TU IN ARCADIA VIXISTI

  EVENSONG

  FAIRY BREAD

  FAREWELL TO THE FARM

  FOREIGN CHILDREN

  FOREIGN LANDS

  FROM A RAILWAY CARRIAGE

  GARDEN DAYS

  GOOD AND BAD CHILDREN

  HAPPY THOUGHT

  HEATHER ALE

  HENRY JAMES

  HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS

  IF THIS WERE FAITH

  ILLE TERRARUM

  IN A LETTER FROM MR. THOMSON TO MR. JOHNSTONE

  IN MEMORIAM E.H.

  IN MEMORIAM F.A.S.

  IN SCOTS

  IN THE STATES

  KATHARINE

  KEEPSAKE MILL

  LOOKING FORWARD

  LOOKING-GLASS RIVER

  MARCHING SONG

  MARQUESAN MANNERS

  MATER TRIUMPHANS

  MY BED IS A BOAT

  MY CONSCIENCE!

  MY KINGDOM

  MY SHADOW

  MY SHIP AND I

  MY TREASURES

  MY WIFE

  NEST EGGS

  NIGHT AND DAY

  NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

  OF HIS PITIABLE TRANSFORMATION

  OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS

  PICTURE-BOOKS IN WINTER

  PIRATE STORY

  RAHÉRO

  RAIN

  REQUIEM

  RONDELS

  SINGING

  SKERRYVORE

  SKERRYVORE

  SONG

  SONGS OF TRAVEL

  SUMMER SUN

  SYSTEM

  TABLE OF COMMON SCOTTISH VOWEL SOUNDS

  THE BLAST —

  THE CANOE SPEAKS

  THE CELESTIAL SURGEON

  THE CHILD ALONE

  THE CONSECRATION OF BRAILLE

  THE COUNTERBLAST —

  THE COUNTERBLAST IRONICAL

  THE COUNTRY OF THE CAMISARDS

  THE COW

  THE DUMB SOLDIER

  THE FEAST

  THE FEAST OF FAMINE

  THE FINE PACIFIC ISLANDS

  THE FLOWERS

  THE GARDENER

  THE HAYLOFT

  THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

  THE HOUSE OF TEMBINOKA

  THE LAMPLIGHTER

  THE LAND OF COUNTERPANE

  THE LAND OF NOD

  THE LAND OF STORY-BOOKS

  THE LESSON OF THE MASTER

  THE LIGHT-KEEPER

  THE LITTLE LAND

  THE LOVERS

  THE MAKER TO POSTERITY

  THE MIRROR SPEAKS

  THE MOON

  THE PARALLEL

  THE PLACE OF THE NAME

  THE PRIEST’S VIGIL

  THE RAID

  THE SAYING OF THE NAME

  THE SCOTSMAN’S RETURN FROM ABROAD

  THE SEEKING OF THE NAME

  THE SICK CHILD

  THE SLAYING OF TÁMATÉA

  THE SONG

  THE SONG OF RAHÉRO: A LEGEND OF TAHITI

  THE SPAEWIFE

  THE SUN TRAVELS

  THE SUSQUEHANNAH AND THE DELAWARE

  THE SWING

  THE UNSEEN PLAYMATE

  THE VAGABOND

  THE VENGING OF TÁMATÉA

  THE WIND

  THE WOODMAN

  THEIR LAUREATE TO AN ACADEMY CLASS

  TICONDEROGA

  TICONDEROGA

  TIME TO RISE

  TO — —

  TO A GARDENER

  TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM

  TO AN ISLAND PRINCESS

  TO ANDREW LANG

  TO ANY READER

  TO AUNTIE

  TO DOCTOR JOHN BROWN

  TO DR. HAKE

  TO F. J. S.

  TO H. F. BROWN

  TO K. de M.

  TO KALAKAUA

  TO MINNIE

  TO MINNIE

  TO MOTHER MARYANNE