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The Two Keys

by Victor James Daley

There was a Boy, long years ago,

Who hour by hour awake would lie,

And watch the white moon gliding slow

Along her pathway in the sky.

And every night as thus he lay

Entranced in lonely fantasy,

Borne swiftly on a bright moon-ray

There came to him a Golden Key.

And with that Golden Key the Boy

Oped every night a magic door

That to a melody of Joy

Turned on its hinges evermore.

Then, trembling with delight and awe,

When he the charm'd threshold crossed,

A radiant corridor he saw,

Its end in dazzling distance lost.

Great windows shining in a row

Lit up the wondrous corridor,

And each its own rich light did throw

In stream resplendent on the floor.

One window showed the Boy a scene

Within a forest old and dim,

Where fairies danced upon the green

And kissed their little hands to him.

Sweet strains of elfin harp and horn

He heard so clearly sounding there,

And he to Wonderland was borne

And breathed its soft enchanted air.

Then, passing onward with the years,

He turned his back on Elf and Fay,

And sadly sweet, as if in tears,

The fairy music died away.

The second window held him long:

It looked upon a field of fight

Whereon the countless hordes of Wrong

Fought fiercely with the friends of Right.

And, lo! upon that fateful field,

Where cannon thundered, banners streamed,

And rushing squadrons rocked and reeled,

His sword a star of battle gleamed.

And when the hordes of Wrong lay still,

And that great fight was fought and won,

He stood, bright-eyed, upon a hill,

His white plume shining in the sun.

A glorious vision! yet behind

He left it with its scarlet glow,

And faint and far upon the wind

He heard the martial trumpets blow.

For to his listening ear was borne

A music more entrancing far

Than strains of elfin harp or horn,

More thrilling than the trump of war.

No longer as a dreamy boy

He trod the radiant corridor:

His young man's heart presaged a joy

More dear than all the joys of yore.

To that third window, half in awe,

He moved, and slowly raised his eyes,

And was it earth grown young he saw?

Or was it man's lost Paradise?

For all the flowers that ever bloomed

Upon the earth, and all the rare

Sweet Loveliness by Time entombed,

Seemed blushing, blooming, glowing there.

And every mellow-throated bird

That ever sang the trees among

Seemed singing there, with one sweet word,

'Love! Love!' on every little tongue.

Then he by turns grew rosy-red,

And he by turns grew passion-pale.

'Sweet Love!' the lark sang overhead,

'Sweet Love!' sang Love's own nightingale.

In mid-heart of the hawthorn-tree

The thrush sang all its buds to bloom;

'Love! Love! Love! Love! Sweet Love,' sang he

Amidst the soft green sun-flecked gloom.

. . . . .

She stood upon a lilied lawn,

With dreamful eyes that gazed afar:

A maiden tender as the Dawn

And lovely as the Morning Star.

She stooped and kissed him on the brow,

And in a low, sweet voice said she:

'I am this country's queen, and thou?'

'I am thy vassal,' murmured he.

She hid him with her hair gold-red,

That flowed like sunshine to her knee;

She kissed him on the lips, and said:

'Dear heart! I've waited long for thee.'

And, oh, she was so fair, so fair,

So gracious was her beauty bright,

Around her the enamoured air

Pulsed tremulously with delight.

In passionate melody did melt

Bird-voices, scent of flower and tree,

And he within his bosom felt

The piercing thorn of ecstasy.

. . . . .

The years passed by in dark and light,

In storm and shine; the man grew old,

Yet never more by day or night

There came to him the Key of Gold.

But ever, ere the great sun flowers

In gold above the sky's blue rim,

All in the dark and lonely hours

There comes an Iron Key to him.

And with that key he opes a wide

And gloomy door, the Door of Fate,

That makes, whene'er it swings aside,

A music sad and desolate,

A music sad from saddest source:

He sees beside the doorway set

The chill, gray figure of Remorse,

The pale, cold image of Regret.

For all the glory and the glow

Of Life are passed, and dead, and gone:

The Light and Life of Long Ago

Are memories only, moonlight wan.

. . . . .

There is no man of woman born

So brave, so good, so wise but he

Must sometimes in a night forlorn

Take up and use the Iron Key.