Arthur Upson

Arthur Wheelock Upson (10 January  1877 – 14 August  1908) was an American poet.

Poetry

 * Night-refuge, set aloft this travelled hill, 'Tis deemed by many a lodger but an inn; Others look round them better and scarce fill  Their first cup ere its mystery doth begin, And they are led by some divine desire,  Where, midmost of an inner room, there bends Clear flame on golden altar, to which fire  A wide-eyed vestal changelessly attends. And most, so led, have joy to serve that light  And with the jealous priestess vigil keep; But woe to any wearying neophyte,  And woe to him who serves with eyes of sleep: To such is she more bitter than to those On whom, unlit, her doors forever close!
 * "Life's Tavern" in The City: A Poem Drama: and Other Poems (1905), p. 107


 * Friend of my heart! Among the Autumn trees We walk together baring thought to thought  Of this vast symbol-earth wherein lie wrought Hints of immortal dreams and destinies! And you and I are part of all of these!  Ourselves mysterious emblems, tones half-caught  From voices far, wherein our souls have sought Deep meanings, silent, 'mid earth's melodies.
 * "Springtide of the Soul" in Collected Poems, ed. Richard Burton, Vol. 2 (1909), p. 46


 * Out of the conquered Past Unravishable Beauty; Hearts that are dew and dust  Rebuking the dream of Death; Flower of the clay down-cast  Triumphant in earth’s aroma; Strings that were strained in rust  A-tremble with Music’s breath!Wine that was spilt in haste  Arising in fumes more precious; Garlands that fell forgot  Rooting to wondrous bloom; Youth that would flow to waste  Pausing in pool-green valleys— And Passion that lasted not  Surviving the voiceless Tomb!
 * "After a Dolmetsch Concert" in Collected Poems, ed. Richard Burton, Vol. 2 (1909), p. 3
 * Quoted as an epigraph in W. S. Braithwaite, ed. A Book of Elizabethan Verse (1906)