American novelist & poet (1869-1954)
I will give you a charm against sorrow: smile at the kisses of Pain.
She is a sensitive lover and likes not to be flouted.
ELSA BARKER
Songs of a Vagrom Angel
In these unquenchable desires we feel
The thirsty future's dominant appeal;
And through the fire of our impassioned dust
A thousand ancestors their loves reveal.
ELSA BARKER
"The Garden of Rose and Rue", The Book of Love
So still is Love he hears the farthest sound:
The footfall of the seasons in their round,
The soft etheric swish of the rushing spheres,
The murmur of the mute things underground.
ELSA BARKER
"The Garden of Rose and Rue", The Book of Love
Wisdom is a tree of slow growth; the rings around its trunk are earthly lives, and the grooves between are the periods between lives. Who grieves that an acorn is slow in becoming an oak?
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man
Bear this in mind: I merely tell you stories, as an earthly traveler would tell, of the things I see. Sometimes my interpretation of them may be wrong.
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man
Do not fear death; but stay on earth as long as you can.
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man
I am strong to-day, because I have been long with one who is stronger.
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man
I lie alone under the mocking sky.
The midnight hours indifferently walk by.
ELSA BARKER
"The Garden of Rose and Rue", The Book of Love
If we could only remember in life that the form which we call ourselves is not our real immortal self at all, we would not give it such an exaggerated importance, though we would nevertheless take needful care of it.
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man
The hospitality of the universe is famous among the comets;
There is always an extra plate for the late-comer and a flower for his buttonhole.
ELSA BARKER
Songs of a Vagrom Angel
We have a bitter power who laugh at pain,
Who laugh and laugh -- for tears are shed in vain.
ELSA BARKER
"The Garden of Rose and Rue", The Book of Love
And after all our toils and dreams and prayers,
'Tis only Love for which the future cares;
Labour and fame are steps along Love's way,
And art is but the garment that he wears.
ELSA BARKER
"The Garden of Rose and Rue", The Book of Love
I saw a bird on a bough and wondered if he were dreaming. And then another came; the two sat long together and not a note they sang. The sun went down in the west, and the shadows wrapt their veils around the shivering earth; the moon arose behind the mountains, the full-faced harvest moon that turns all things to magic. The two birds on the bough were dark against the moon's gold face. And still no note they sang—their silence thrilled the world. And I forgot the meadows and the hills, the trees and the golden harvest; for I knew that those two dreaming birds were the heart of a miracle.
ELSA BARKER
Songs of a Vagrom Angel
If you knew the meaning of light you would yourself be a light in a dark place.
ELSA BARKER
Songs of a Vagrom Angel
Life can be so free here! There is none of that machinery of living which makes people on earth such slaves. In our world a man is held only by his thoughts. If they are free, he is free.
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man
Philosophy will go on being taught in the world and all over the world. Only a few, perhaps, will reach the deeps of it in this life; but a seed sown to-day may bear fruit long hence.
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man
Thy love is like deep waters all around--
Warm pulsing waters, in whose brooding sound
The lone wail of my heart is lulled with dreams,
And the far clamour of the world is drowned.
ELSA BARKER
"The Garden of Rose and Rue", The Book of Love
Time's hidden ways thine eyes reveal to me:
Deep in their vision broods the memory
Of all the myriad lives thy soul has known,
Thou passionate pilgrim of eternity!
ELSA BARKER
"The Garden of Rose and Rue", The Book of Love
I love to love, but I know not jealousy. If you find another fairer than I, I shall weary of you and go love him -- So beware, if you would hold me!
ELSA BARKER
Songs of a Vagrom Angel
I met one man who refused to speak of the earth, and was always talking about "going on." I reminded him that if he went on far enough he would come back to the place from which he started.
ELSA BARKER
Letters from a Living Dead Man