Trailing the last gleam after,
In the valleys emptied of light,
Ripples a whimsical laughter
Under the wings of the night,
Mocking the faded west airily,
Meeting the little bats merrily,
Over the mesas it shrills
To the red moon on the hills.
Mournfully rising and waning,
Far through the moon-silvered land
Wails a weird voice of complaining
Over the thorns and the sand.
Out of blue silences eerily,
On to the black mountains wearily,
Till the dim desert is crossed,
Wanders the cry, and is lost.
Here by the fire’s ruddy streamers,
Tired with our hopes and our fears,
We inarticulate dreamers
Hark to the song of our years.
Up to the brooding divinity
Far in that sparkling infinity
Cry our despair and delight,
Voice of the Western night!
_Marguerite Wilkinson_
Marguerite Ogden Bigelow was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, November
15, 1883. She attended Northwestern University and married James G.
Wilkinson in 1909.
_In Vivid Gardens_ (1911) is a mixture of original moods and
derivative manners. The later _Bluestone_ (1920) is a much riper
collection; a book of lyrics in which the author has made many
experiments in the combination of rhythmical tunes and verbal music.
Mrs. Wilkinson is also the author of _New Voices_ (1919), a series
of essays on contemporary verse, reinforced with liberal quotations
from both English and American poets.