Poems (Hinchman)/Playing with color!

by Anne Hinchman

XXXII SONGS OF COLOR

Playing with color! How else had I foundAll this new boldness? Hark to the sound,

The cry of gay orange; Come into my hand.See how I hold it, Unflinchingly stand.

Oh, could I touch it, That glowing red!Then I might glory When æons are dead.

Yet with thy wonder, O thou gentle blue!Soothe my burnt spirit With thy tender hue.

I

GOLD

Victor over cloudy night,Phœbus in thy amber car,Bring us now thy goodly light,Drive away each pale-fac'd star.

Dart thy beams on every side,Kindle glade and field of grain,Set aglow great rivers wide,Gild the clouds, thy princely train.

Now thy worship, given of old,Is corrupt, and hollow needHides thy power in coin of gold;Cramp'd thy power by crooked greed.

Come with blaze of power and, splendid,Smite thy harp and, smiting, singHow thou hast the world befriended,Thou of light and color king!

Victor over cloudy night,Phœbus in thy amber car,Bring us now thy goodly light,Drive away each pale-fac'd star.

II

WHITE

In the delicate dawnWhen the wind, astir,Through the drift of mistThe sea has kiss'd,And the fluttering whirrOut of nests is drawn;

The petals frailOf the wind-flower,The anemone,In their purityLike a snowy showerAre toss'd by the gale.

And the gods withdrawnIn the fragrant grove,With limbs that are brightIn the fading nightAs the wings of a dove,Are whiter than dawn.

III

AZURE

Frail as the dreams that are strayingIn the shadowy borders of sleep,Pale as the mists that are playingIn the dawn on the face of the deep;Thou spreadest thy veil over heavenTranslucent and azure; at evenLo! the hills in thy magical keep.

Then, on the shadowy margentWith the sea and the heavens to view,There, in a glimmer of argentMy soul is awaken'd anew. Where thy wonderful radiance bendethEcstatic, alone, it ascendethEnwrapp'd in thy magical hue.

IV

SAPPHIRE

Fenc'd in with white a garden growsFair flowers of every kind one knows;Bright as the sun across our viewA bird of brilliant sapphire hueWith flash of sudden color goes.The loveliest garden! How its rowsOf bud on bud it gaily throws,All rivals to the larkspur's blue,     Fenc'd in with white.O air flower-sweet within the close,Still sweet and sweeter thy breath blowsWith breeze as fresh as morning dew.Lo! where beyond in color, too,The sea a summer garden shows     Fenc'd in with white.

V

VIOLET

The voices of nightFrom the pearly westAre a circling flight. Fluttering and brightThe voices of night!They are dreams in my breast,The voices of nightFrom the pearly west.

VI

GREEN

When tearful April's smiles appearAnd liquid birds are carolling,Thy feet touch meadows far and near,And youth grows fair with marvelling.

Thou frolic and inconstant green!That, with new humor travelling,Pauseth awhile on broider'd screenAnd languid maid's apparelling;

Soon thou art woven in a shadeOf summer boughs, where, murmuring,Amid lush fans and shelter laid,A snake-like stream is wandering.

There to escape the fiery sunTumultuous hearts find comforting;Quiet and shadow there are oneIn thy deep verdure slumbering.

 

VII

SCARLET

CRIMSON

 When dazzling passion cometh in his hour,With naked sword of terror, unafraid,He strikes the trampler of the wine of life;And he who treadeth out the grape sinks down.Across the walled city falls his scream,His heart is stain'd as all his raiment is.

 O heart split through and burnt as with a flame,Undaunted, take the fire between thy handsAnd fashion from thy torment diadems:That thou, establish'd, may be cloth'd with strength,Adorn'd with purple, crown'd with amethystAnd ruby, drink what thou hast gather'd and rejoice.