Eric Mackay

Eric Mackay, born on June 1, 1851, was a noted English poet whose work gained recognition in the late 19th century. He is best known for his sonnets and lyrical poetry, which were celebrated for their emotional depth and technical mastery. His most famous work, 'Love Letters of a Violinist,' was well-received during his lifetime. Mackay's contributions to English literature have been acknowledged for their artistic merit. He passed away on June 8, 1898.

June 1, 1851

June 8, 1898

English

Eric Mackay

Page 1 of 5

A Ballad Of Kisses.

I.

    There are three kisses that I call to mind,
    And I will sing their secrets as I go.
    The first, a kiss too courteous to be kind,
    Was such a kiss as monks and maidens know;
    As sharp as frost, as blameless as the snow.


II.

    The second kiss, ah God! I feel it yet,
    And evermore my soul will loathe the same.
    The toys and joys of fate I may forget,
    But not the touch of that divided shame:
    It clove my lips; it burnt me like a flame.


III.

    The third, the final kiss, is one I use
    Morning and noon and night; and not amiss.
    Sorrow be mine if such I do refuse!
    And when I die, be love, enrapt in bliss,
    Re-sanctified in Heaven by such a kiss.

Eric Mackay

A Choral Ode To Liberty.

I.

    O sunlike Liberty, with eyes of flame,
    Mother and maid, immortal, man's delight!
    Fairest and first art thou in name and fame
    And none shall rob thee of thy vested right.
    Where is the man, though fifty times a king,
    Shall stay the tide, or countermand the spring?
    And where is he, though fifty times a knave,
    Shall track thy steps to cast thee in a grave?


II.

    Old as the sun art thou, and young as morn,
    And fresh as April when the breezes blow,
    And girt with glory like the growing corn,
    And undefiled like mountains made of snow.
    Oh, thou'rt the summer of the souls of men,
    And poor men's rights, approved by sword and pen,
    Are made self-certain as the day at noon,
    And fai...

Eric Mackay

A Dirge.



A Dirge.


I.

    Art thou lonely in thy tomb?
    Art thou cold in such a gloom?
    Rouse thee, then, and make me room, -
                        Miserere Domine!


II.

    Phantoms vex thy virgin sleep,
    Nameless things around thee creep,
    Yet be patient, do not weep, -
                        Miserere Domine!


III.

    O be faithful! O be brave!
    Naught shall harm thee in thy grave;
   ...

Eric Mackay

A Hero.

    The warrior knows how fitful is the fight, -
    How sad to live, - how sweet perchance to die.
    Is Fame his joy? He meets her on the height,
    And when he falls he shouts his battle-cry;
    His eyes are wet; our own will not be dry.
    Nor shall we stint his praise, or our delight,
    When he survives to serve his Land aright
    And make his fame the watchword of the sky.
    In all our hopes his love is with us still;
    He tends our faith, he soothes us when we grieve.
    His acts are just; his word we must believe,
    And none shall spurn him, though his blood they spill
    To pierce the heart whose pride they cannot kill. -
    Death dies for him whose fame is his reprieve!

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Eighth Litany. Domina Exaudi.

i.

It seems a year, and more, since last we met,
    Since roseate spring repaid, in part, its debt
To thy bright eyes, and o'er the lowlands fair
Made daffodils so like thy golden hair
That I, poor wretch, have kiss'd them on my knees!
Forget-Me-Nots peep out beneath the trees
    So like thine eyes that I have question'd them,
And thought thee near, though viewless on the breeze.


ii.

It seems a year; and yet, when all is told,
    'Tis but a week since I was re-enroll'd
Among thy friends. How fairy-like the scene!
How gay with lamps! How fraught with tender sheen
Of life and languor! I was thine alone:--
Alert for thee,--intent to catch the tone
    Of thy sweet voice,--and proud to be alive
To call to heart a peace for ever flow...

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Fifth Litany. Salve Regina.

i.

Glory to thee, my Queen! whom far away
    My thoughts aspire to,--as the birds of May
Aspire o' mornings,--as in lonely nooks
The gurgling murmurs of neglected brooks
Aspire to moonlight,--aye! as earth aspires
When through the East, alert with wild desires,
    The rapturous sun surveys the welkin's height,
And flecks the world with witcheries of his fires.


ii.

Oh, I should curb my grief. I should entone
    No plaint to thee; no loss should I bemoan!
I should be patient, I, though full of care,
And not attempt, by bias of a prayer,
To sway thy spirit, or to urge anew
A claim contested. For my days are few;
    My days, I think, are few upon the earth
Since I must shun the joys I would pursue.


iii.

...

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - First Litany. Virgo Dulcis.

i.

O thou refulgent essence of all grace!
    O thou that with the witchery of thy face
Hast made of me thy servant unto death,
I pray thee pause, ere, musical of breath,
And rapt of utterance, thou condemn indeed
My venturous wooing, and the wanton speed
    With which I greet thee, dear and tender soul!
From out the fullness of my passion-creed.


ii.

I am so truly thine that nevermore
    Shall man be found, this side the Stygian shore,
So meek as I, so patient under blame,
And yet, withal, so minded to proclaim
His life-long ardour. For my theme is just:
A heart enslaved, a smile, a broken trust,
    A soft mirage, a glimpse of fairyland,
And then the wreck thereof in tears and dust.


iii.

Thou wast not...

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Fourth Litany. Gratia Plena.

i.

Oh, smile on me, thou syren of my soul!
    That I may curb my thoughts to some control
And not offend thee, as in truth I do,
Morning, and noon and night, when I pursue
My vagrant fancies, unallow'd of thee,
But fraught with such consolement unto me
    As may be felt in homeward-sailing ships
When wind and wave contend upon the sea.


ii.

Dower me with patience and imbue me still
    With some reminder, when the night is chill,
Of thy dear presence, as, in winter-time,
The maiden moon, that tenderly doth climb
The lofty heavens, hath yet a beam to spare
For doleful wretches in their dungeon-lair;
    E'en thus endow me in my chamber dim
With some reminder of thy face so fair!


iii.

Quit thou thy body w...

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Ninth Litany. Lilium inter Spinas.

i.

Dearest and best of maidens, whom the Fates
    have dower'd with beauty, whom the glory-gates
Have shown so splendid in my waking sight,
Is't well, thou syren! thus to haunt the night
And grant no mercy, none from week to week
All through the year? Is't well my soul to seek
    And shun my body? Is't throughout ordain'd
That thou shouldst spurn a love so tender-meek?


ii.

It is my joy to serve thee, 'tis my pride
    To own my follies, though anew denied
The chance of wisdom, and for this, who knows?
I shall be counted, ere the season's close,
A time-perverter. Yes! I shall be shamed,
And frown'd upon, and day by day proclaim'd
    A foe to virtue, though, in seeking thee
I seek the goal that Virtue's self hath named.

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Second Litany. Vox Amorís.[1]

i.

Vouchsafe, my Lady! by the passion-flower,
    And by the glamour of a moonlit hour,
And by the cries and sighs of all the birds
That sing o'nights, to heed again the words
Of my poor pleading! For I swear to thee
My love is deeper than the bounding sea,
    And more conclusive than a wedding-bell,
And freer-voiced than winds upon the lea.

[Footnote 1: This Litany was introduced in the Author's "Gladys the Singer," published by Messrs. Reeves & Turner, London, 1887.]


ii.

In all the world, from east unto the west,
    There is no vantage-ground, and little rest,
And no content for me from dawn to dark,
From set of sun to song-time of the lark,
And yet, withal, there is no man alive
Who for a goodly cause to make it thrive,

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Seventh Litany. Stella Matutina.

i.

Arise, fair Phoebus! and with looks serene
    Survey the world which late the orbèd Queen
Did pave with pearl to please enamour'd swains.
Arise! Arise! The Dark is bound in chains,
And thou'rt immortal, and thy throne is here
To sway the seasons, and to make it clear
    How much we need thee, O thou silent god!
That art the crown'd controller of the year.


ii.

And while the breezes re-construct for thee
    The shimmering clouds; and while, from lea to lea,
The great earth reddens with a maid's delight,
Behold! I bring to thee, as yesternight,
My subject song. Do thou protect apace
My peerless one, my Peri with the face
    That is a marvel to the minds of men,
And like a flower for humbleness of grace.


iii.

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Sixth Litany. Benedicta Tu.

i.

I tell thee Sweet! there lives not on the earth
    A love like mine in all the height and girth
And all the vast completion of the sphere.
I should be proud, to-day, to shed a tear
If I could weep. But tears are most denied
When most besought; and joys are sanctified
    By joys' undoing in this world of ours
From dusk to dawn and dawn to eventide.


ii.

Wert thou a marble maid and I endow'd
    With power to move thee from thy seeming shroud
Of frozen splendour,--all thy whiteness mine
And all the glamour, all the tender shine
Of thy glad eyes,--ah God! if this were so,
And I the loosener, in the summer-glow,
    Of thy long tresses! I were licensed then
To gaze, unchidden, on thy limbs of snow.


iii.

...

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Tenth Litany. Gloria in Excelsis.

i.

O Love! O Lustre of the sunlit earth
    That knows thy step and revels in the worth
Of thy much beauty! Is't thy will anew,
Famed as thou art, to marvel that I sue
With such persistence, and in such unrest
Amid the frenzies of my passion-quest?
    Wilt look ungently, and without a tear,
On all the pangs I bear at thy behest?


ii.

Morning and eve I cease not, when I kneel
    To my Redeemer for my spirit's weal
And for my body's,--as becomes a man,--
Morning and eve I cease not in the span
Of all my days, O thou Unconquer'd One!
To pray for thee, and do what may be done
    To re-acquire the friendship I have lost,
Which is the holiest thing beneath the sun.


iii.

For what is fame that with so loud a v...

Eric Mackay

A Lover's Litanies - Third Litany. Ad Te Clamavi.

i.

Again, O Love! again I make lament,
    And, Arab-like, I pitch my summer-tent
Outside the gateways of the Lord of Song.
I weep and wait, contented all day long
To be the proud possessor of a grief.
It comforts me. It gives me more relief
    Than pleasures give; and, spirit-like in air,
It re-invokes the peace that was so brief.


ii.

It speaks of thee. It keeps me from the lake
    Which else might tempt me; and for thy sweet sake
I shun all evil. I am calmer now
Than when I wooed thee, calmer than the vow
Which made me thine, and yet so fond withal
I start and tremble at the wind's footfall.
    Is it the wind? Or is it mine own past
Come back to life to lure me to its thrall?


iii.

I long to rise and...

Eric Mackay

A Mother's Name.



A Mother's Name.


I.

    I love the sound! The sweetest under Heaven,
    That name of mother, - and the proudest, too.
    As babes we breathe it, and with seven times seven
    Of youthful prayers, and blessings that accrue,
    We still repeat the word, with tender steven.
    Dearest of friends! dear mother! what we do
    This side the grave, in purity of aim,
    Is glorified at last by thy good name.


II.

    But how forlorn the word, how full of woe,
    When she who bears it lies beneath the clod.
    In vain the orphan ch...

Eric Mackay

A Prayer For England.

    Ah, fair Lord God of Heaven, to whom we call, -
    By whom we live, - on whom our hopes are built, -
    Do Thou, from year to year, e'en as Thou wilt,
    Control the Realm, but suffer not to fall
    Its ancient faith, its grandeur, and its thrall!
    Do Thou preserve it, in the hours of guilt,
    When foemen thirst for blood that should be spilt,
    And keep it strong when traitors would appal.
    Uphold us still, O God! and be the screen
    And sword and buckler of our England's might,
    That foemen's wiles, and woes which intervene,
    May fade away, as fades a winter's night.
    Thine ears have heard us, and Thine eyes have seen.
    Wilt Thou not help us, Lord! to find the Light?

Eric Mackay

A Prayer For Light.

I.

    Oh, give me light, to-day, or let me die, -
    The light of love, the love-light of the sky, -
    That I, at length, may see my darling's face
                            One minute's space.


II.

    Have I not wept to know myself so weak
    That I can feel, not see, the dimpled cheek,
    The lips, the eyes, the sunbeams that enfold
                            Her locks of gold?


III.

    Have I not sworn that I will not be wed,
    But mate my soul with hers on my death-bed?
    The soul can see, - for souls are seraphim, -
                            When eyes are dim.


IV.

    Oh, hush! she comes. I know her. She is nigh.
    She brings me death, true heart, and I will die.
    Sh...

Eric Mackay

A Rhapsody Of Death.

I.

        That phantoms fair, with radiant hair,
        May seek at midnight hour
        The sons of men, belov'd again,
        And give them holy power;
    That souls survive the mortal hive, and sinless come and go,
    Is true as death, the prophet saith; and God will have it so.


II.

        For who be ye who doubt and prate?
        O sages! make it clear
        If ye be more than men of fate,
        Or less than men of cheer;
    If ye be less than bird or beast? O brothers! make it plain
    If ye be bankrupts at a feast, or sharers in a gain.


III.

        You say there is no future state;
        The clue ye fail to find.
        The flesh is here, and bones appear
        When graves are underm...

Eric Mackay

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