The full colour headpiece is centered on the page, above the text of the poem, occupying half of the page. The image is framed with a rectangular black border, in portrait orientation. The image has a pale gold background and black-lined figures, rendered in soft rose, green, gold, and taupe shades. On the right side of the image, a pale-skinned man stands facing left, gazing down towards a group of pixies at his feet. The pixies have trapped him in a woven net, from head to foot, and are pulling on the net as they dance in a procession on green grass. The pixies are naked, with flame-red hair and brown skin. One of the pixies at the front of the procession holds up a red flower. Above the pixies are a waning yellow crescent moon and five pairs of embracing lovers. The lovers wear pink robes and stand atop clouds, scattered across the sky. The artist’s monogram is in the bottom left corner of the frame.

EVENTIDE.

The lonely path that I would tread
At night-fall by the pixies led,
It leadeth to the no-man’s land
Where plighted, linked lovers stand:—
Lips sealing lips, in silence they
Give ear to what the heavens say:—
The evening star to setting sun——
“The day has half its course to run.”

Ernest Radford.

MLA citation:

Radford, Ernest. “Eventide,” illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. The Green Sheaf, No. 3, 1903, p. 5. Green Sheaf Digital Edition, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Yellow Nineties 2.0, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2022. https://1890s.ca/GSV3-radford-eventide/

magazine_texts The Green Sheaf 3 Eventide Ernest Radford 1903 Poetry