POETS AND POETRY.

BETWEEN CUP AND LIP.*

Mn. ARKWEIGHT'S poems in rhymed free rhythm leave the impression of being set to an intricate measure. This, surely, is as it should be, for in the " near prose " free rhythm it is as difficult to avoid dullness as in ordinary blank verse. But in the controlled wilfulness of many of the poems in Between Cup and Lip we have a very agreeable medium for Mr. Arkwright's often discerning psychology. The reader is led to infer that the poet was wounded in France and came tolerably near • Between Cup and Lip. By B. H. G. Arkwright. London George Allen and tundn. [3s. Od. net.] death. Hence'awe gather, the insight into the psychology of semi-consciousness and the body's distress :— " 0 limpid glance of Death !

The hand that holds the lantern sways, and dips :

Translucent, green.

Cool waters close above me : but the breath I fight for never was so clean As your sweet breathless kiss upon my lips. 0 passionate Death, be kind !

I lie so broken in your arms to-night ; Be not too fierce : For I am also of the self-same mind As you—would even pierce

The veil of the so long withholden Light."

The following is a success metrically as well as possessing insight

" Hovering unseen in the green of a twisted tree

That shades the pool,

I see in a cool

Bed of the shingle a trout Lying idly : and I can see Half in and half out Of the water a little blue star flower peep And they two are alive, and awake—and. I sleep.

Scarcely I woke to the breath of the sunlit air When death befell . .

And now shall I dwell Formless, or lavish a soul On the fish, or the star flower there, Which beckon control ?

Ah, the fish ! Ah, the flower ! Have I died in vain That I yearn for the shadows and sunshine again ? "

" Gtief " and " Largo " are also poems which accomplish what they set out to do. This, indeed, is Mr. Arkwright's forte. He is content to work within strict limits.