In the Morning

Chapter 24: THE SUN WAS RED AND LOW.

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About This Book

A sequence of lyric poems that meditates on dawn, nature, and spiritual feeling, often deploying mountain, forest, and seaside imagery to probe grief, consolation, and renewal. Poems move among quiet pastorals, occasional and domestic verse, devotional hymns, translations, and lighter nonsense pieces, following seasonal rhythms and holiday observances. The voice shifts between elegiac introspection and bright affirmation, favoring sensory detail—birdsong, running water, sunlight—and a consolatory outlook that finds moral and emotional sustenance in simple scenes and ritual moments.

THE SUN WAS RED AND LOW.

In her palace porch a Princess—

The sun was red and low—

At her feet a subject kneeling—

Sweet, far-off bells were pealing—

He rose and turned to go.

“I give you my love!” quoth the Princess

To the subject, bending low.

Ah, Goldenhair, what hast thou given!—

The sun is round and red—

As thou standest there in the portal,

A Princess’ love, to a mortal!—

The bells toll for the dead—

A kiss from the lips of the Princess,

But never a word she said.

Still radiant stood the Princess—

The bells no longer tolled—

At her feet the subject kneeling—

The far-off chimes were pealing

Their sweet notes as of old—

“I give you my love!” quoth the Princess;

And the sun was a crown of gold.