Take of the first fruits, Father, of thy care, Wrapped in the fresh leaves of my gratitude Late waked for early gifts ill understood; Claiming in all my harvests rightful share, Whether with song that...

Proudly the youth, sudden with manhood crowned, Went walking by his horses, the first time, That morning, to the plough. No soldier gay Feels at his side the throb of the gold hilt (Knowing the blue b...

Through still, bare streets, and cold moonshine His homeward way he bent; The clocks gave out the midnight sign As lost in thought he went Along the rampart’s ocean-line, Where, high above the tossing...

“If I sit in the dust For lauding good wine, Ha, ha! it is just: So sits the vine!” Abu Midjan sang as he sat in chains, For the blood of the grape ran the juice of his veins. The Prophet had said, “O...

In the ancient house of ages, See, they cannot rest! With a hope, which awe assuages, Tremble all the blest. For the son and heir eternal, To be son yet more, Leaves his stately chair supernal For the...

I lay and dreamed. The Master came, In seamless garment drest; I stood in bonds ’twixt love and shame, Not ready to be blest. He stretched his arms, and gently sought To clasp me to his heart; I shran...

To God and man be simply true; Do as thou hast been wont to do; Bring out thy treasures, old and new⁠— Mean all the same when said to you. I love thee: thou art calm and strong; Firm in the right, mil...

Methinks I see thee, lying straight and low, Silent and darkling, in thy earthy bed, The mighty strength in which I trusted, fled, The long arms lying careless of kiss or blow; On thy tall form I see ...

Upon a rock I sat⁠—a mountain-side, Far, far forsaken of the old sea’s lip; A rock where ancient waters’ rise and dip, Recoil and plunge, eddy, and oscillant tide, Had worn and worn, while races lived...

My gift would find thee fast asleep, And arise a dream in thee; A violet sky o’er the roll and sweep Of a purple and pallid sea; And a crescent moon from my sky should creep In the golden dream to the...

“Thou wanderest in the land of dreams, O man of many songs! To thee what is, but looks and seems; No realm to thee belongs!” “Seest thou those mountains, faint and far, O spirit caged and tame?” “Blue...

Better to smell the violet Than sip the glowing wine; Better to hearken to a brook Than watch a diamond shine. Better to have a loving friend Than ten admiring foes; Better a daisy’s earthy root Than ...

Hark, the rain is on my roof! Every murmur, through the dark, Stings me with a dull reproof Like a half-extinguished spark. Me! ah me! how came I here, Wide awake and wide alone! Caught within a net o...

We doubt the word that tells us: Ask, And ye shall have your prayer; We turn our thoughts as to a task, With will constrained and rare. And yet we have; these scanty prayers Yield gold without alloy: ...

When round the earth the Father’s hands Have gently drawn the dark; Sent off the sun to fresher lands, And curtained in the lark; ’Tis sweet, all tired with glowing day, To fade with fading light, And...

I walked all night: the darkness did not yield. Around me fell a mist, a weary rain, Enduring long. At length the dawn revealed A temple’s front, high-lifted from the plain. Closed were the lofty door...

First-born of the creating Voice! Minister of God’s Spirit, who wast sent Waiting upon him first, what time he went Moving about mid the tumultuous noise Of each unpiloted element Upon the face of the...

When, long ago, the daring of my youth Drew nigh thy greatness with a little thing, Thou didst receive me; and thy sky of truth Has domed me since, a heaven of sheltering, Made homely by the tendernes...

Were I a skilful painter, My pencil, not my pen, Should try to teach thee hope and fear, And who would blame me then?⁠— Fear of the tide of darkness That floweth fast behind, And hope to make thee jou...

If I were a monk, and thou wert a nun, Pacing it wearily, wearily, Twixt chapel and cell till day were done⁠— Wearily, wearily⁠— How would it fare with these hearts of ours That need the sunshine, and...

A quiet heart, submissive, meek, Father, do thou bestow, Which more than granted, will not seek To have, or give, or know. Each little hill then holds its gift Forth to my joying eyes; Each mighty mou...

Behind my father’s cottage lies A gentle grassy height Up which I often ran⁠—to gaze Back with a wondering sight, For then the chimneys I thought high Were down below me quite! All round, where’er I t...

I know what beauty is, for thou Hast set the world within my heart; Of me thou madest it a part; I never loved it more than now. I know the Sabbath afternoons; The light asleep upon the graves: Agains...

I would I were a child, That I might look, and laugh, and say, My Father! And follow thee with running feet, or rather Be led through dark and wild! How I would hold thy hand, My glad eyes often to th...

Look! look there! Send your eyes across the gray By my finger-point away Through the vaporous, fumy air. Beyond the air, you see the dark? Beyond the dark, the dawning day? On its horizon, pray you, m...

Young, as the day’s first-born Titanic brood, Lifting their foreheads jubilant to heaven, Rose the great mountains on my opening dream. And yet the aged peace of countless years Reposed on every crag ...

The monk was praying in his cell, With bowed head praying sore; He had been praying on his knees For two long hours and more. As of themselves, all suddenly, His eyelids opened wide; Before him on the...

Alas, ’tis cold and dark! The wind all night hath sung a wintry tune! Hail from black clouds that swallowed up the moon Beat, beat against my bark. Oh! why delays the spring? Not yet the sap moves in ...

Let your tears flow; let your sad sighs have scope; Only take heed they fan, they water Hope. I sought the long clear twilights of my home, Far in the pale-blue skies and slaty seas, What time the sun...

Night, with her power to silence day, Filled up my lonely room, Quenching all sounds but one that lay Beyond her passing doom, Where in his shed a workman gay Went on despite the gloom. I listened, an...

O do not leave me, mother, lest I weep; Till I forget, be near me in that chair. The mother’s presence leads her down to sleep⁠— Leaves her contented there. O do not leave me, lover, brother, friends,...

Of old, with goodwill from the skies⁠— God’s message to them given⁠— The angels came, a glad surprise, And went again to heaven. But now the angels are grown rare, Needed no more as then; Far lowlier ...

Old fables are not all a lie That tell of wondrous birth, Of Titan children, father Sky, And mighty mother Earth. Yea, now are walking on the ground Sons of the mingled brood; Yea, now upon the earth ...

Sad-hearted, be at peace: the snowdrop lies Buried in sepulchre of ghastly snow; But spring is floating up the southern skies, And darkling the pale snowdrop waits below. Let me persuade: in dull Dece...

My heart is full of inarticulate pain, And beats laborious. Cold ungenial looks Invade my sanctuary. Men of gain, Wise in success, well-read in feeble books, No nigher come, I pray: your air is drear;...

To all who fain Would keep the grain, And cast the husk away⁠— That it may feed The living seed, And serve it with decay⁠— I offer this dim story Whose clouds crack into glory. The times are changed, ...

Heavily slumbered noonday bright Upon the lone field, glory-dight, A burnished grassy sea: The child, in gorgeous golden hours, Through heaven-descended starry flowers, Went walking on the lea. Velvet...

“Hear’st thou that sound upon the window pane?” Said the youth softly, as outstretched he lay Where for an hour outstretched he had lain⁠— Softly, yet with some token of dismay. Answered the maiden: “...

All sights and sounds of day and year, All groups and forms, each leaf and gem, Are thine, O God, nor will I fear To talk to thee of them. Too great thy heart is to despise, Whose day girds centuries ...

Blue sky above, blue sea below, Far off, the old Nile’s mouth, ’Twas a blue world, wherein did blow A soft wind from the south. In great and solemn heaves the mass Of pulsing ocean beat, Unwrinkled as...

’Tis a little room, my friend⁠— Baby walks from end to end; All the things look sadly real This hot noontide unideal; Vaporous heat from cope to basement All you see outside the casement, Save one hou...

Grief held me silent in my seat; I neither moved nor smiled: Joy held her silent at my feet, My shining lily-child. She raised her face and looked in mine; She deemed herself denied; The door was shut...

I have a puppet-jointed child, She’s but three half-years old; Through lawless hair her eyes gleam wild With looks both shy and bold. Like little imps, her tiny hands Dart out and push and take; Chide...

My Lily snatches not my gift; Glad is she to be fed, But to her mouth she will not lift The piece of broken bread, Till on my lips, unerring, swift, The morsel she has laid. This is her grace before h...

Thrice-happy he whose heart, each new-born night, When old-worn day hath vanished o’er earth’s brim, And he hath laid him down in chamber dim, Straightway begins to tremble and grow bright, And loose ...

They say that lonely sorrows do not chance: More gently, I think, sorrows together go; A new one joins the funeral gliding slow With less of jar than when it breaks the dance. Grief swages grief, and ...

“I do beseech thee, God, show me thy face.” “Come up to me in Sinai on the morn! Thou shall behold as much as may be borne.” And on a rock stood Moses, lone in space. From Sinai’s top, the vaporous, t...

If thou hadst been a sculptor, what a race Of forms divine had thenceforth filled the land! Methinks I see thee, glorious workman, stand, Striking a marble window through blind space⁠— Thy face’s refl...

’Tis the midnight hour; I heard The Abbey-bell give out the word. Seldom is the lamp-ray shed On some dwarfed foot-farer’s head In the deep and narrow street Lying ditch-like at my feet Where I stand ...

Away from the city’s herds! Away from the noisy street! Away from the storm of words, Where hateful and hating meet! Away from the vapour grey, That like a boding of ill Is blotting the morning gay, A...

Fair morn, I bring my greeting To lofty skies, and pale, Save where cloud-shreds are fleeting Before the driving gale, The weary branches tossing, Careless of autumn’s grief, Shadow and sunlight cross...

When in the bosom of the eldest night This body lies, cold as a sculptured rest; When through its shaded windows comes no light, And its pale hands are folded on its breast⁠— How shall I fare, who had...

There breathes not a breath of the summer air But the spirit of love is moving there; Not a trembling leaf on the shadowy tree, Flutters with hundreds in harmony, But that spirit can part its tone fro...

Summer is come again. The sun is bright, And the soft wind is breathing. Airy joy Is sparkling in thine eyes, and in their light My soul is shining. Come; our day’s employ Shall be to revel in unlikel...

The weary Old Year is dead at last; His corpse ’mid the ruins of Time is cast, Where the mouldering wrecks of lost Thought lie, And the rich-hued blossoms of Passion die To a withering grass that droo...

I Thank Thee, boundless Giver, That the thoughts Thou givest flow In sounds that like a river All through the darkness go. And though few should swell the pleasure, By sharing this my wine, My heart w...

Mary, to thee the heart was given For infant hand to hold, And clasp thus, an eternal heaven, The great earth in its fold. He seized the world with tender might By making thee his own; Thee, lowly que...

Mary, to thee the heart was given For infant hand to hold, And clasp thus, an eternal heaven, The great earth in its fold. He seized the world with tender might By making thee his own; Thee, lowly que...

Filled with his words of truth and right, Her heart will break or cry: A woman’s cry bursts forth in might Of loving agony. “Blessed the womb, thee, Lord, that bare! The bosom that thee fed!” A moment...

She knelt, she bore a bold request, Though shy to speak it out: Ambition, even in mother’s breast, Before him stood in doubt. “What is it?” “Grant thy promise now, My sons on thy right hand And on thy...

“Grant, Lord, her prayer, and let her go; She crieth after us.” Nay, to the dogs ye cast it so; Serve not a woman thus. Their pride, by condescension fed, He shapes with teaching tongue: “It is not me...

Forth from the city, with the load That makes the trampling low, They walk along the dreary road That dust and ashes go. The other way, toward the gate Their trampling strong and loud, With hope of li...

For years eighteen she, patient soul, Her eyes had graveward sent; Her earthly life was lapt in dole, She was so bowed and bent. What words! To her? Who can be near? What tenderness of hands! Oh! is i...

Near him she stole, rank after rank; She feared approach too loud; She touched his garment’s hem, and shrank Back in the sheltering crowd. A shame-faced gladness thrills her frame: Her twelve years’ f...

Here much and little shift and change, With scale of need and time; There more and less have meanings strange, Which the world cannot rime. Sickness may be more hale than health, And service kingdom h...

Enough he labours for his hire; Yea, nought can pay his pain; But powers that wear and waste and tire, Need help to toil again. They give him freely all they can, They give him clothes and food; In th...

Why came in dreams the low-born man Between thee and thy rest? In vain thy whispered message ran, Though justice was its quest! Did some young ignorant angel dare⁠— Not knowing what must be, Or blind ...

In the hot sun, for water cool She walked in listless mood: When back she ran, her pitcher full Forgot behind her stood. Like one who followed straying sheep, A weary man she saw, Who sat upon the wel...

With wandering eyes and aimless zeal, She hither, thither, goes; Her speech, her motions, all reveal A mind without repose. She climbs the hills, she haunts the sea, By madness tortured, driven; One h...

A still dark joy! A sudden face! Cold daylight, footsteps, cries! The temple’s naked, shining space, Aglare with judging eyes! All in abandoned guilty hair, With terror-pallid lips, To vulgar scorn he...

With joyful pride her heart is high: Her humble house doth hold The man her nation’s prophecy Long ages hath foretold! Poor, is he? Yes, and lowly born: Her woman-soul is proud To know and hail the co...

She sitteth at the Master’s feet In motionless employ; Her ears, her heart, her soul complete Drinks in the tide of joy. Ah! who but she the glory knows Of life, pure, high, intense, In whose eternal ...

His face, his words, her heart awoke; Awoke her slumbering truth; She judged him well; her bonds she broke, And fled to him for ruth. With tears she washed his weary feet; She wiped them with her hair...

I dreamed of a song, I heard it sung; In the ear that sleeps not its music rung. And the tones were upheld by harmonies deep, Where the spirit floated; yea, soared, on their sweep With each wild unear...

A glory on the chamber wall! A glory in the brain! Triumphant floods of glory fall On heath, and wold, and plain. Earth lieth still in hopeless bliss; She has, and seeks no more; Forgets that days com...

A glory on the chamber wall! A glory in the brain! Triumphant floods of glory fall On heath, and wold, and plain. Earth lieth still in hopeless bliss; She has, and seeks no more; Forgets that days com...

The dreary wind of night is out, Homeless and wandering slow; O’er pale seas moaning like a doubt, It breathes, but will not blow. It sighs from out the helpless past, Where doleful things abide; Gray...

We bore him through the golden land, One early harvest morn; The corn stood ripe on either hand⁠— He knew all about the corn. How shall the harvest gathered be Without him standing by? Without him wal...

O night, send up the harvest moon To walk about the fields, And make of midnight magic noon On lonely tarns and wealds. In golden ranks, with golden crowns, All in the yellow land, Old solemn kings in...

The sky has turned its heart away, The earth its sorrow found; The daisies turn from childhood’s play, And creep into the ground. The earth is black and cold and hard; Thin films of dry white ice, Acr...

Back shining from the pane, the fire Seems outside in the snow: So love set free from love’s desire Lights grief of long ago. The dark is thinned with snow-sheen fine, The earth bedecked with moon; Ou...

A gentle wind, of western birth On some far summer sea, Wakes daisies in the wintry earth, Wakes hopes in wintry me. The sun is low; the paths are wet, And dance with frolic hail; The trees⁠—their spr...

The flush of green that dyed the day Hath vanished in the moon; Flower-scents float stronger out, and play An unborn, coming tune. One southern eve like this, the dew Had cooled and left the ground; T...

What shall I be?⁠—I will be a knight Walled up in armour black, With a sword of sharpness, a hammer of might. And a spear that will not crack⁠— So black, so blank, no glimmer of light Will betray my d...

From off the earth the vapours curled, Went up to meet their joy; The boy awoke, and all the world Was waiting for the boy! The sky, the water, the wide earth Was full of windy play⁠— Shining and fair...

Quiet I lay at last, and knew no more Whether I breathed or not, so worn I lay With the death-struggle. What was yet before Neither I met, nor turned from it away; My only conscious being was the rest...

Through the wood the sunny day Glimmered sweetly glad; Through the wood his weary way Rode sir Galahad. All about stood open porch, Long-drawn cloister dim; ’Twas a wavering wandering church Every sid...

Where went the feet that hitherto have come? Here yawns no gulf to quench the flowing past! With lengthening pauses broke, the path grows dumb; The grass floats in; the gazer stands aghast. Tremble no...

“Traveller, what lies over the hill? Traveller, tell to me: Tip-toe-high on the window-sill Over I cannot see.” “My child, a valley green lies there, Lovely with trees, and shy; And a tiny brook that ...

Brother artist, help me; come! Artists are a maimed band: I have words but not a hand; Thou hast hands though thou art dumb. Had I thine, when words did fail⁠— Vassal-words their hasting chief, On the...

“Good morrow, my lord!” in the sky alone Sang the lark as the sun ascended his throne. “Shine on me, my lord: I only am come, Of all your servants, to welcome you home! I have shot straight up, a whol...

Bing, Bim, Bang, Bome! Sang the Bell to himself in his house at home, High in the church-tower, lone and unseen, In a twilight of ivy, cool and green; With his Bing, Bing, Bim, Bing, Bang, Bome! Singi...

Of whispering trees the tongues to hear, And sermons of the silent stone; To read in brooks the print so clear Of motion, shadowy light, and tone⁠— That man hath neither eye nor ear Who careth not for...

The thousand streets of London gray Repel all country sights; But bar not winds upon their way, Nor quench the scent of new-mown hay In depth of summer nights. And here and there an open spot, Still b...

My little boy, with smooth, fair cheeks, And dreamy, large, brown eyes, Not often, little wisehead, speaks, But hearing, weighs and tries. “God is not only in the sky,” His sister said one day⁠— Not o...

My wife contrived a fleecy thing Her husband to infold, For ’tis the pride of woman still To cover from the cold: My daughter made it a new text For a sermon very old. The child came trotting to her s...

When things are holding wonted pace In wonted paths, without a trace Or hint of neighbouring wonder, Sometimes, from other realms, a tone, A scent, a vision, swift, alone, Breaks common life asunder. ...

A child was born in sin and shame, Wronged by his very birth, Without a home, without a name, One over in the earth. No wifely triumph he inspired, Allayed no husband’s fear; Intruder bare, whom none ...

Queen Mary one day Jesus sent To fetch some water, legends tell; The little boy, obedient, Drew a full pitcher from the well; But as he raised it to his head, The water lipping with the rim, The handl...

Father, in the dark I lay, Thirsting for the light, Helpless, but for hope alway In thy father-might. Out of darkness came the morn, Out of death came life, I, and faith, and hope, new-born, Out of mo...

The skies are pale, the trees are stiff, The earth is dull and old; The frost is glittering as if The very sun were cold. And hunger fell is joined with frost, To make men thin and wan: Come, babe, fr...

Babe Jesus lay in Mary’s lap, The sun shone in his hair; And this was how she saw, mayhap, The crown already there. For she sang: “Sleep on, my little king; Bad Herod dares not come; Before thee sleep...

’Tis time to sleep, my little boy: Why gaze thy bright eyes so? At night our children, for new joy Home to thy father go, But thou art wakeful! Sleep, my child; The moon and stars are gone; The wind i...

The infant lies in blessed ease Upon his mother’s breast; No storm, no dark, the baby sees Invade his heaven of rest. He nothing knows of change or death⁠— Her face his holy skies; The air he breathes...

“Rejoice,” said the Sun; “I will make thee gay With glory and gladness and holiday; I am dumb, O man, and I need thy voice!” But man would not rejoice. “Rejoice in thyself,” said he, “O Sun, For thy d...

Had I the grace to win the grace Of some old man in lore complete, My face would worship at his face, And I sit lowly at his feet. Had I the grace to win the grace Of childhood, loving shy, apart, The...

Daylight fades away. Is the Lord at hand In the shadows gray Stealing on the land? Gently from the east Come the shadows gray; But our lowly priest Nearer is than they. It is darkness quite. Is the Lo...

If I might guess, then guess I would That, mid the gathered folk, This gentle Dorcas one day stood, And heard when Jesus spoke. She saw the woven seamless coat⁠— Half envious, for his sake: “Oh, happy...

“They have no more wine!” she said. But they had enough of bread; And the vessels by the door Held for thirst a plenteous store: Yes, enough; but Love divine Turned the water into wine! When should wi...

As Jesus went into Jericho town, ’Twas darkness all, from toe to crown, About blind Bartimeus. He said, “My eyes are more than dim, They are no use for seeing him: No matter⁠—he can see us!” “Cry out,...

Come unto me, the Master says:⁠— But how? I am not good; No thankful song my heart will raise, Nor even wish it could. I am not sorry for the past, Nor able not to sin; The weary strife would ever las...

Our Father, hear our longing prayer, And help this prayer to flow, That humble thoughts, which are thy care, May live in us, and grow. For lowly hearts shall understand The peace, the calm delight Of ...

Speak to our hearts, O Father! Say What we have been to thee; How we have wandered far away, And hardly turned to see. Then lifted hands will hide the face; Then tears our grief will prove That such h...

O son of man⁠—name of thy choice, Our brother-Lord, our life, The story says thy noble voice Was never heard in strife. Loving always, asleep, awake, Talking, or drinking wine⁠— Even uttering woe, thy...

If we were longing for the bread That cometh down from heaven; If for the water that he said To thirsty souls is given; Then boldly should we come to thee, And plead for that we want; For in our souls...

It was an awful hour that gave Thee, Lord, the strength to win Unholy men up from the grave Of darkness and of sin. And is this all thou dost require For thy forgiveness now⁠— That we to loftier bliss...

Father, our bosoms, dark and drear, Are in such evil case With hate, ambition, care, and fear. We cannot see thy face. Cast out our Legion; cleanse thy room. But not to leave it bare; Let Christ into ...

O Lord of life, thy quickening voice Awakes my morning song! In gladsome words I would rejoice That I to thee belong. I see thy light, I feel thy wind; The world, it is thy word; Whatever wakes my hea...

O God, whose daylight leadeth down Into the sunless way, Who with restoring sleep dost crown The labour of the day! What I have done, Lord, make it clean With thy forgiveness dear; That so to-day what...

I love thy skies, thy sunny mists, Thy fields, thy mountains hoar, Thy wind that bloweth where it lists⁠— Thy will, I love it more. I love thy hidden truth to seek All round, in sea, on shore; The art...

It is May, and the moon leans down at night Over a blossomy land; Leans from her window a lady white, With her cheek upon her hand. “Oh, why in the blue so misty, moon? Why so dull in the sky? Thou lo...

“Listen, darling, and tell to me What the murmurer says to thee, Murmuring ’twixt a song and a moan, Changing neither tune nor tone.” “Yes, I hear it⁠—far and faint, Like thin-drawn prayer of drowsy s...

Autumn clouds are flying, flying O’er the waste of blue; Summer flowers are dying, dying, Late so lovely new. Labouring wains are slowly rolling Home with winter grain; Holy bells are slowly tolling O...

Days of old, Ye are not dead, though gone from me; Ye are not cold, But like the summer-birds fled o’er some sea. The sun brings back the swallows fast O’er the sea; When he cometh at the last, The da...

Winter froze both brook and well; Fast and fast the snowflakes fell; Children gathered round the hearth Made a summer of their mirth; When a boy, so lately come That his life was yet one sum Of deligh...

Kiss me: there now, little Neddy, Do you see her staring steady? There again you had a chance of her! Didn’t you catch the pretty glance of her? See her nest! On any planet Never was a sweeter than it...

Content Primroses, With hearts at rest in your thick leaves’ soft care, Peeping as from his mother’s lap the child Who courts shy shelter from his own open air!⁠— Hanging Harebell, Whose blue heaven t...

Nobody knows the world but me. The rest go to bed; I sit up and see. I’m a better observer than any of you all, For I never look out till the twilight fall, And never then without green glasses, And t...

I will sing a song, Said the owl. You sing a song, sing-song Ugly fowl! What will you sing about, Night in and day out? All about the night, When the gray With her cloak smothers bright, Hard, sharp d...

Forth to his study the sculptor goes In a mood of lofty mirth: “Now shall the tongues of my carping foes Confess what my art is worth! In my brain last night the vision arose, To-morrow shall see its ...

Prince Breacan of Denmark was lord of the strand And lord of the billowy sea; Lord of the sea and lord of the land, He might have let maidens be! A maiden he met with locks of gold, Straying beside th...

The witch lady walked along the strand, Heard a roaring of the sea, On the edge of a pool saw a dead man’s hand, Good thing for a witch lady! Lightly she stepped across the rocks, Came where the dead ...

Men sought, ambition’s thirst to slake, The lost elixir old Whose magic touch should instant make The meaner metals gold. A nobler alchymy is thine Which love from pain doth press: Gold in thy hand be...

When at Philippi, he who would have freed Great Rome from tyrants, for the season brief That lay ’twixt him and battle, sought relief From painful thoughts, he in a book did read, That so the death of...

Dead, why defend thee, who in life For thy worst foe hadst died; Who, thy own name a word of strife, Didst silent stand aside? Grand in forgiveness, what to thee The big world’s puny prate! Or thy gre...

Ah, holy midnight of the soul, When stars alone are high; When winds are resting at their goal, And sea-waves only sigh! Ambition faints from out the will; Asleep sad longing lies; All hope of good, a...

I am weary, and very lonely, And can but think⁠—think. If there were some water only That a spirit might drink⁠—drink, And arise, With light in the eyes And a crown of hope on the brow, To walk abroad...

Murmuring, ’twixt a murmur and moan, Many a tune in a single tone, For every ear with a secret true⁠— The sea-shell wants to whisper to you.” “Yes⁠—I hear it⁠—far and faint, Like thin-drawn prayer of ...

A pale green sky is gleaming; The steely stars are few; The moorland pond is steaming A mist of gray and blue. Along the pathway lonely My horse is walking slow; Three living creatures only, He, I, an...

I dreamed of a song⁠—I heard it sung; In the ear of my soul its strange notes rung. What were its words I could not tell, Only the voice I heard right well, For its tones unearthly my spirit bound In ...

’Tis a poor drizzly morning, dark and sad. The cloud has fallen, and filled with fold on fold The chimneyed city; and the smoke is caught, And spreads diluted in the cloud, and sinks, A black precipit...

I have only one foot, but thousands of toes; My one foot stands well, but never goes; I’ve a good many arms, if you count them all, But hundreds of fingers, large and small; From the ends of my finger...

Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the everywhere into here. Where did you get those eyes so blue? Out of the sky as I came through. What makes the light in them sparkle and spin? Some of the ...

The sun is gone down And the moon’s in the sky But the sun will come up And the moon be laid by. The flower is asleep. But it is not dead, When the morning shines It will lift its head. When winter co...

What would you see, if I took you up My little aerie-stair? You would see the sky like a clear blue cup Turned upside down in the air. What would you do, up my aerie-stair In my little nest on the tre...

The lightning and thunder They go and they come: But the stars and the stillness Are always at home....

Little Bo-Peep, she has lost her sheep, And will not know where to find them; They are over the height and out of sight, Trailing their tails behind them! Little Bo-Peep woke out of her sleep, Jump’d ...

Little Boy Blue lost his way in a wood⁠— Sing apples and cherries, roses and honey: He said, “I would not go back if I could, It’s all so jolly and funny!” He sang, “This wood is all my own⁠— Apples a...

Is it wrong, the wish to be great, For I do wish it so? I have asked already my sister Kate; She says she does not know. Yestereve at the gate I stood Watching the sun in the west; When I saw him look...

A little bird sat on the edge of her nest; Her yellow-beaks slept as sound as tops; Day-long she had worked almost without rest, And had filled every one of their gibbous crops; Her own she had filled...

Son, first-born, at home abiding! All without is cold and bare: Hide me from the tempest’s chiding Warm beside the Father’s chair. I am homesick, Lord of splendour! Twilight fills my soul with fright:...

Sweet friends, receive my offering. You will find Against each worded page a white page set:⁠— This is the mirror of each friendly mind Reflecting that. In this book we are met. Make it, dear hearts, ...

Sweet friends, receive my offering. You will find Against each worded page a white page set:⁠— This is the mirror of each friendly mind Reflecting that. In this book we are met. Make it, dear hearts, ...

Lord, what I once had done with youthful might, Had I been from the first true to the truth, Grant me, now old, to do⁠—with better sight, And humbler heart, if not the brain of youth; So wilt thou, in...

I to myself have neither power nor worth, Patience nor love, nor anything right good; My soul is a poor land, plenteous in dearth⁠— Here blades of grass, there a small herb for food⁠— A nothing that w...

The song birds that come to me night and morn, Fly oft away and vanish if I sleep, Nor to my fowling-net will one return: Is the thing ever ours we cannot keep?⁠— But their souls go not out into the d...

Lord, I do choose the higher than my will. I would be handled by thy nursing arms After thy will, not my infant alarms. Hurt me thou wilt⁠—but then more loving still, If more can be and less, in love’...

What though my words glance sideways from the thing Which I would utter in thine ear, my sire! Truth in the inward parts thou dost desire⁠— Wise hunger, not a fitness fine of speech: The little child ...

From thine, as then, the healing virtue goes Into our hearts⁠—that is the Father’s plan. From heart to heart it sinks, it steals, it flows, From these that know thee still infecting those. Here is my ...

Alas, my tent! see through it a whirlwind sweep! Moaning, poor Fancy’s doves are swept away. I sit alone, a sorrow half asleep, My consciousness the blackness all astir. No pilgrim I, a homeless wande...

So shall abundant entrance me be given Into the truth, my life’s inheritance. Lo! as the sun shoots straight from out his tomb, God-floated, casting round a lordly glance Into the corners of his endle...

We are a shadow and a shining, we! One moment nothing seems but what we see, Nor aught to rule but common circumstance⁠— Nought is to seek but praise, to shun but chance; A moment more, and God is all...

Remember, Lord, thou hast not made me good. Or if thou didst, it was so long ago I have forgotten⁠—and never understood, I humbly think. At best it was a crude, A rough-hewn goodness, that did need th...

Thou art of this world, Christ. Thou know’st it all; Thou know’st our evens, our morns, our red and gray; How moons, and hearts, and seasons rise and fall; How we grow weary plodding on the way; Of fu...

I am a little weary of my life⁠— Not thy life, blessed Father! Or the blood Too slowly laves the coral shores of thought, Or I am weary of weariness and strife. Open my soul-gates to thy living flood;...

First, most, to thee, my son, I give this book In which a friend’s and brother’s verses blend With mine; for not son only⁠—brother, friend, Art thou, through sonship which no veil can brook Between th...

First, most, to thee, my son, I give this book In which a friend’s and brother’s verses blend With mine; for not son only⁠—brother, friend, Art thou, through sonship which no veil can brook Between th...

This must be the very night! The moon knows it!⁠—and the trees! They stand straight upright, Each a sentinel drawn up, As if they dared not know Which way the wind might blow! The very pool, with dead...

In the winter, flowers are springing; In the winter, woods are green, Where our banished birds are singing, Where our summer sun is seen! Our cold midnights are coeval With an evening and a morn Where...

I think I might be weary of this day That comes inevitably every year, The same when I was young and strong and gay, The same when I am old and growing sere⁠— I should grow weary of it every year But ...

Be welcome, year! with corn and sickle come; Make poor the body, but make rich the heart: What man that bears his sheaves, gold-nodding, home, Will heed the paint rubbed from his groaning cart! Nor le...

When, in the mid-sea of the night, I waken at thy call, O Lord, The first that troop my bark aboard Are darksome imps that hate the light, Whose tongues are arrows, eyes a blight⁠— Of wraths and cares...

Heart, thou must learn to do without⁠— That is the riches of the poor, Their liberty is to endure; Wrap thou thine old cloak thee about, And carol loud and carol stout; Let thy rags fly, nor wish them...

Lighter and sweeter Let your song be; And for sorrow⁠—oh cheat her With melody!...

Lord, I have laid my heart upon thy altar But cannot get the wood to burn; It hardly flares ere it begins to falter And to the dark return. Old sap, or night-fallen dew, makes damp the fuel; In vain m...

Such guests as you, sir, were not in my mind When I my homely dish with care designed; ’Twas certain humble souls I would have fed Who do not turn from wholesome milk and bread: You came, slow-trottin...

She loves thee, loves thee not! That, that is all, my heart. Why should she take a part In every selfish blot, In every greedy spot That now doth ache and smart Because she loves thee not⁠— Not, not a...

Lord, hear my discontent: all blank I stand, A mirror polished by thy hand; Thy sun’s beams flash and flame from me⁠— I cannot help it: here I stand, there he! To one of them I cannot say, Go, and on ...

Some men there are who cannot spare A single tear until they feel The last cold pressure, and the heel Is stamped upon the outmost layer. And, waking, some will sigh to think The clouds have borrowed ...

O Earth, Earth, Earth, I am dying for love of thee, For thou hast given me birth, And thy hands have tended me. I would fall asleep on thy breast When its swelling folds are bare, When the thrush drea...

Make not of thy heart a casket, Opening seldom, quick to close; But of bread a wide-mouthed basket, Or a cup that overflows....

O Lord, how happy is the time When in thy love I rest! When from my weariness I climb Even to thy tender breast! The night of sorrow endeth there⁠— Thou art brighter than the sun; And in thy pardon an...

O Lord, if on the wind, at cool of day, I heard one whispered word of mighty grace; If through the darkness, as in bed I lay, But once had come a hand upon my face; If but one sign that might not be m...

Methought I floated sightless, nor did know That I had ears until I heard the cry As of a mighty man in agony: “How long, Lord, shall I lie thus foul and slow? The arrows of thy lightning through me g...

What dost thou here, O soul, Beyond thy own control, Under the strange wild sky? O stars, reach down your hands, And clasp me in your silver bands, I tremble with this mystery!⁠— Flung hither by a cha...

Loosener of springs, he died by thee! Softness, not hardness, sent him home; He loved thee⁠—and thou mad’st him free Of all the place thou comest from!...

Are the leaves falling round about The churchyard on the hill? Is the glow of autumn going out? Is that the winter chill? And yet through winter’s noise, no doubt The graves are very still! Are the wo...

Few in joy’s sweet riot Able are to listen: Thou, to make me quiet, Quenchest the sweet riot, Tak’st away my diet, Puttest me in prison⁠— Quenchest joy’s sweet riot That the heart may listen....

Yes, Master, when thou comest thou shalt find A little faith on earth, if I am here! Thou know’st how oft I turn to thee my mind. How sad I wait until thy face appear! Hast thou not ploughed my thorny...

O Lord, my God, how long Shall my poor heart pant for a boundless joy? How long, O mighty Spirit, shall I hear The murmur of Truth’s crystal waters slide From the deep caverns of their endless being, ...

Still am I haunting Thy door with my prayers; Still they are panting Up thy steep stairs! Wouldst thou not rather Come down to my heart, And there, O my Father, Be what thou art?...

The veil hath lifted and hath fallen; and him Who next it stood before us, first so long, We see not; but between the cherubim The light burns clearer: come⁠—a thankful song! Lord, for thy prophet’s c...

My thoughts are like fire-flies, pulsing in moonlight; My heart like a silver cup, filled with red wine; My soul a pale gleaming horizon, whence soon light Will flood the gold earth with a torrent div...

O Lord, at Joseph’s humble bench Thy hands did handle saw and plane; Thy hammer nails did drive and clench, Avoiding knot and humouring grain. That thou didst seem, thou wast indeed, In sport thy tool...

I stood in an ancient garden With high red walls around; Over them grey and green lichens In shadowy arabesque wound. The topmost climbing blossoms On fields kine-haunted looked out; But within were s...

Everything goes to its rest; The hills are asleep in the noon; And life is as still in its nest As the moon when she looks on a moon In the depth of a calm river’s breast As it steals through a midnig...

Who lights the fire⁠—that forth so gracefully And freely frolicketh the fairy smoke? Some pretty one who never felt the yoke⁠— Glad girl, or maiden more sedate than she. Pedant it cannot, villain cann...

Who would have thought that even an idle song Were such a holy and celestial thing That wickedness and envy cannot sing⁠— That music for no moment lives with wrong? I know this, for a very grievous th...

This is the sweetness of an April day; The softness of the spring is on the face Of the old year. She has no natural grace, But something comes to her from far away Out of the Past, and on her old dec...

Beautiful stories wed with lovely days Like words and music:⁠—what shall be the tale Of love and nobleness that might avail To express in action what this sweetness says⁠— The sweetness of a day of ai...

I know not what among the grass thou art, Thy nature, nor thy substance, fairest flower, Nor what to other eyes thou hast of power To send thine image through them to the heart; But when I push the fr...

Now in the dark of February rains, Poor lovers of the sunshine, spring is born, The earthy fields are full of hidden corn, And March’s violets bud along the lanes; Therefore with joy believe in what r...

I envy the tree-tops that shake so high In winds that fill them full of heavenly airs; I envy every little cloud that shares With unseen angels evening in the sky; I envy most the youngest stars that ...

Down a warm alley, early in the year, Among the woods, with all the sunshine in And all the winds outside it, I begin To think that something gracious will appear, If anything of grace inhabit here, O...

Along the tops of all the yellow trees, The golden-yellow trees, the sunshine lies; And where the leaves are gone, long rays surprise Lone depths of thicket with their brightnesses; And through the wo...

Mourner, that dost deserve thy mournfulness, Call thyself punished, call the earth thy hell; Say, “God is angry, and I earned it well⁠— I would not have him smile on wickedness:” Say this, and straigh...

“Show us the Father.” Chiming stars of space, And lives that fit the worlds, and means and powers, A Thought that holds them up reveal to ours⁠— A Wisdom we have been made wise to trace. And, looking ...

When peevish flaws his soul have stirred To fretful tears for crossed desires, Obedient to his mother’s word My child to banishment retires. As disappears the moon, when wind Heaps miles of mist her v...

A pool of broken sunbeams lay Upon the passage-floor, Radiant and rich, profound and gay As ever diamond bore. Small, flitting hands a handkerchief Spread like a cunning trap: Prone lay the gorgeous j...

Oh! is it Death that comes To have a foretaste of the whole? To-night the planets and the stars Will glimmer through my window-bars But will not shine upon my soul! For I shall lie as dead Though yet ...

On the far horizon there Heaps of cloudy darkness rest; Though the wind is in the air There is stupor east and west. For the sky no change is making, Scarce we know it from the plain; Droop its eyelid...

Of the poor bird that cannot fly Kindly you think and mournfully; For prisoners and for exiles all You let the tears of pity fall; And very true the grief should be That mourns the bondage of the free...

Father, I cry to thee for bread With hungred longing, eager prayer; Thou hear’st, and givest me instead More hunger and a half-despair. O Lord, how long? My days decline, My youth is lapped in memorie...

Through the unchanging heaven, as ye have sped, Speed onward still, a strange wild company, Fleet children of the waters! Glorious ye, Whether the sun lift up his shining head, High throned at noontid...

I have not any fearful tale to tell Of fabled giant or of dragon-claw, Or bloody deed to pilfer and to sell To those who feed, with such, a gaping maw; But what in yonder hamlet there befell, Or rathe...

Mourn not, my friends, that we are growing old: A fresher birth brings every new year in. Years are Christ’s napkins to wipe off the sin. See now, I’ll be to you an angel bold! My plumes are ruffled, ...

When the summer gave us a longer day, And the leaves were thickest, I went away: Like an isle, through dark clouds, of the infinite blue, Was that summer-ramble from London and you. It was but one bur...

Come to me, come to me, O my God; Come to me everywhere! Let the trees mean thee, and the grassy sod, And the water and the air! For thou art so far that I often doubt, As on every side I stare, Searc...

O Mother Earth, I have a fear Which I would tell to thee⁠— Softly and gently in thine ear When the moon and we are three. Thy grass and flowers are beautiful; Among thy trees I hide; And underneath th...

Out of thy door I run to do the thing That calls upon me. Straight the wind of words Whoops from mine ears the sounds of them that sing About their work, “My God, my father-king!” I turn in haste to s...

When the cock crows loud from the glen, And the moor-cock chirrs from the heather, What hear ye and see ye then, Ye children of air and ether? 1st Echo: A thunder as of waves at the rising of the moon...

In God alone, the perfect end, Wilt thou find thyself or friend....

They come to thee, the halt, the maimed, the blind, The devil-torn, the sick, the sore; Thy heart their well of life they find, Thine ear their open door. Ah, who can tell the joy in Palestine⁠— What ...

Oh that a wind would call From the depths of the leafless wood! Oh that a voice would fall On the ear of my solitude! Far away is the sea, With its sound and its spirit tone; Over it white clouds flee...

I see thy house, but I am blown about, A wind-mocked kite, between the earth and sky, All out of doors⁠—alas! of thy doors out, And drenched in dews no summer suns can dry. For every blast is passion ...

I honour Nature, holding it unjust To look with jealousy on her designs; With every passing year more fast she twines About my heart; with her mysterious dust Claim I a fellowship not less august Alth...

Would that thou hid me in the grave And kept me with death’s gaoler-care; Until thy wrath away should wear A sentence fixed thy prisoner gave! I would endure with patience brave So thou remembered I w...

I woke at midnight, and my heart, My beating heart, said this to me: Thou seest the moon, how calm and bright! The world is fair by day and night, But what is that to thee? One touch to me, down dips ...

Lord, according to thy words, I have considered thy birds; And I find their life good, And better the better understood: Sowing neither corn nor wheat They have all that they can eat; Reaping no more ...

Chained is the Spring. The Night-wind bold Blows over the hard earth; Time is not more confused and cold, Nor keeps more wintry mirth. Yet blow, and roll the world about⁠— Blow, Time, blow, winter’s W...

Oh holy Sabbath bells, Ye have a pleasant voice! Through all the land your music swells, And man with one commandment tells To rest and to rejoice. As birds rejoice to flee From dark and stormy skies ...

Here is a temple strangely wrought: Within it I can see Two spirits of a diverse thought Contend for mastery. One is an angel fair and bright, Adown the aisle comes he, Adown the aisle in raiment whit...

I have long enough been working down in my cellar, Working spade and pick, boring-chisel and drill; I long for wider spaces, airy, clear-dark, and stellar: Successless labour never the love of it did ...

Dead art thou? No more dead than was the maid Over whose couch the saving God did stand⁠— “She is not dead but sleepeth,” said, And took her by the hand! Thee knowledge never from Life’s pathway wiled...

Thou foldest me in sickness; Thou callest through the cloud; I batter with the thickness Of the swathing, blinding shroud: Oh, let me see thy face, The only perfect grace That thou canst show thy chil...

Quiet, quiet dead, Have ye aught to say From your hidden bed In the earthy clay? Fathers, children, mothers, Ye are very quiet; Can ye shout, my brothers? I would know you by it! Have ye any words Tha...

Sometimes, O Lord, thou lightest in my head A lamp that well might pharos all the lands; Anon the light will neither rise nor spread: Shrouded in danger gray the beacon stands! A pharos? Oh dull brain...

When the heart is a cup In the body low lying, And wine, drop by drop Falls into that cup From somewhere high up, It is good to be dying With the heart for a cup In the body low lying....

See how the storm of life ascends Up through the shadow of the world! Beyond our gaze the line extends, Like wreaths of vapour tempest-hurled! Grasp tighter, brother, lest the storm Should sweep us do...

The stars are all watching; God’s angel is catching At thy skirts in the darkness deep! Gold hinges grating, The mighty dead waiting, Why dost thou sleep? Years without number, Ages of slumber, Stiff ...

Seek not my name⁠—it doth no virtue bear; Seek, seek thine own primeval name to find⁠— The name God called when thy ideal fair Arose in deeps of the eternal mind. When that thou findest, thou art stra...

Rich is the fancy which can double back All seeming forms, and from cold icicles Build up high glittering palaces where dwells Summer perfection, moulding all this wrack To spirit symmetry, and doth n...

Dear friend, you love the poet’s song, And here is one for your regard. You know the “melancholy bard,” Whose grief is wise as well as strong; Already something understand For whom he mourns and what ...

They are blind, and they are dead: We will wake them as we go; There are words have not been said, There are sounds they do not know: We will pipe and we will sing⁠— With the Music and the Spring Set ...

When the storm was proudest, And the wind was loudest, I heard the hollow caverns drinking down below; When the stars were bright, And the ground was white, I heard the grasses springing underneath th...

Tumultuous rushing o’er the outstretched plains; A wildered maze of comets and of suns; The blood of changeless God that ever runs With quick diastole up the immortal veins; A phantom host that moves ...

If thou art tempted by a thought of ill, Crave not too soon for victory, nor deem Thou art a coward if thy safety seem To spring too little from a righteous will; For there is nightmare on thee, nor u...

And must I ever wake, gray dawn, to know Thee standing sadly by me like a ghost? I am perplexed with thee that thou shouldst cost This earth another turning! All aglow Thou shouldst have reached me, w...

“And yet it moves!” Ah, Truth, where wert thou then When all for thee they racked each piteous limb? Wert thou in heaven, and busy with thy hymn When those poor hands convulsed that held thy pen? Art ...

If thou wouldst live the Truth in very deed, Thou hast thy joy, but thou hast more of pain. Others will live in peace, and thou be fain To bargain with despair, and in thy need To make thy meal upon t...

Speak, Prophet of the Lord! We may not start To find thee with us in thine ancient dress, Haggard and pale from some bleak wilderness, Empty of all save God and thy loud heart, Nor with like rugged me...

From out a windy cleft there comes a gaze Of eyes unearthly, which go to and fro Upon the people’s tumult, for below The nations smite each other: no amaze Troubles their liquid rolling, or affrays Th...

One do I see and twelve; but second there Methinks I know thee, thou beloved one; Not from thy nobler port, for there are none More quiet-featured: some there are who bear Their message on their brows...

There is not any weed but hath its shower, There is not any pool but hath its star; And black and muddy though the waters are We may not miss the glory of a flower, And winter moons will give them mag...

’Tis not the violent hands alone that bring The curse, the ravage, and the downward doom, Although to these full oft the yawning tomb Owes deadly surfeit; but a keener sting, A more immortal agony wil...

I pray you, all ye men who put your trust In moulds and systems and well-tackled gear, Holding that Nature lives from year to year In one continual round because she must⁠— Set me not down, I pray you...

Nature, to him no message dost thou bear Who in thy beauty findeth not the power To gird himself more strongly for the hour Of night and darkness. Oh, what colours rare The woods, the valleys, and the...

Ah, truant, thou art here again, I see! For in a season of such wretched weather I thought that thou hadst left us altogether, Although I could not choose but fancy thee Skulking about the hill-tops, ...

Summer, sweet Summer, many-fingered Summer! We hold thee very dear, as well we may: It is the kernel of the year to-day⁠— All hail to thee! thou art a welcome comer! If every insect were a fairy drumm...

Whence do ye come, ye creatures? Each of you Is perfect as an angel! wings and eyes Stupendous in their beauty⁠—gorgeous dyes In feathery fields of purple and of blue! Would God I saw a moment as ye d...

Here stands a giant stone from whose far top Comes down the sounding water: let me gaze Till every sense of man and human ways Is wrecked and quenched for ever, and I drop Into the whirl of time, and ...

Above my head the great pine-branches tower; Backwards and forwards each to the other bends, Beckoning the tempest-cloud which hither wends Like a slow-laboured thought, heavy with power: Hark to the ...

I do remember how, when very young, I saw the great sea first, and heard its swell As I drew nearer, caught within the spell Of its vast size and its mysterious tongue. How the floor trembled, and the...

Hears’t thou the dash of water, loud and hoarse, With its perpetual tidings upward climb, Struggling against the wind? Oh, how sublime! For not in vain from its portentous source Thy heart, wild strea...

Lie down upon the ground, thou hopeless one! Press thy face in the grass, and do not speak. Dost feel the green globe whirl? Seven times a week Climbeth she out of darkness to the sun, Which is her Go...

Oft, as I rest in quiet peace, am I Thrust out at sudden doors, and madly driven Through desert solitudes, and thunder-riven Black passages which have not any sky: The scourge is on me now, with all t...

Comes there, O Earth, no breathing time for thee, No pause upon thy many-chequered lands? Now resting on my bed with listless hands I mourn thee resting not. Continually Hear I the plashing borders of...

One is a slow and melancholy maid; I know riot if she cometh from the skies Or from the sleepy gulfs, but she will rise Often before me in the twilight shade, Holding a bunch of poppies and a blade Of...

There is a bellowing in me, as of might Unfleshed and visionless, mangling the air With horrible convulse, as if it bare The cruel weight of worlds, but could not fight With the thick-dropping clods, ...

Cry out upon the crime, and then let slip The dogs of hate, whose hanging muzzles track The bloody secret; let the welkin crack Reverberating, while ye dance and skip About the horrid blaze! or else y...

Now have I grown a sharpness and an edge Unto my future nights, and I will cut Sheer through the ebon gates that yet will shut On every set of day; or as a sledge Drawn over snowy plains; where not a ...

Within each living man there doth reside, In some unrifled chamber of the heart, A hidden treasure: wayward as thou art I love thee, man, and bind thee to my side! By that sweet act I purify my pride ...

O wild and dark! a night hath found me now Wherein I mingle with that element Sent madly loose through the wide staring rent In yon tormented branches! I will bow A while unto the storm, and thencefor...

A power is on me, and my soul must speak To thee, thou grey, grey man, whom I behold With those white-headed children. I am bold To commune with thy setting, and to wreak My doubts on thy grey hair; f...

Methought I stood among the stars alone, Watching a grey parched orb which onward flew Half blinded by the dusty winds that blew, Empty as Death and barren as a stone, The pleasant sound of water all ...

Oh, melancholy fragment of the night Drawing thy lazy web against the sun, Thou shouldst have waited till the day was done With kindred glooms to build thy fane aright, Sublime amid the ruins of the l...

First came the red-eyed sun as I did wake; He smote me on the temples and I rose, Casting the night aside and all its woes; And I would spurn my idleness, and take My own wild journey even like him, a...

An angel saw me sitting by a brook, Pleased with the silence, and the melodies Of wind and water which did fall and rise: He gently stirred his plumes and from them shook An outworn doubt, which fell ...

Is there a secret Joy, that may not weep, For every flower that ends its little span, For every child that groweth up to man, For every captive bird a cage doth keep, For every aching eye that went to...

I missed him when the sun began to bend; I found him not when I had lost his rim; With many tears I went in search of him, Climbing high mountains which did still ascend, And gave me echoes when I cal...

She comes! again she comes, the bright-eyed moon! Under a ragged cloud I found her out, Clasping her own dark orb like hope in doubt! That ragged cloud hath waited her since noon, And he hath found an...

I came upon a fountain on my way When it was hot, and sat me down to drink Its sparkling stream, when all around the brink I spied full many vessels made of clay, Whereon were written, not without dis...

I said, I will arise and work some thing, Nor be content with growth, but cause to grow A life around me, clear as yes from no, That to my restless hand some rest may bring, And give a vital power to ...

There may be seeming calm above, but no!⁠— There is a pulse below which ceases not, A subterranean working, fiery hot, Deep in the million-hearted bosom, though Earthquakes unlock not the prodigious s...

Power that is not of God, however great, Is but the downward rushing and the glare Of a swift meteor that hath lost its share In the one impulse which doth animate The parent mass: emblem to me of fat...

Yes, there is one who makes us all lay down Our mushroom vanities, our speculations, Our well-set theories and calculations, Our workman’s jacket or our monarch’s crown! To him alike the country and t...

They all were looking for a king To slay their foes, and lift them high: Thou cam’st a little baby thing That made a woman cry. O son of man, to right my lot Nought but thy presence can avail; Yet on ...

The homely words how often read! How seldom fully known! “Which father of you, asked for bread, Would give his son a stone?” How oft has bitter tear been shed, And heaved how many a groan, Because tho...

It’s all very well, Said the Bell, To be the big Organ below! But the folk come and go, Said the Bell, And you never can tell What sort of person the Organ will blow! And, besides, it is much at the m...

O wind of God, that blowest in the mind, Blow, blow and wake the gentle spring in me; Blow, swifter blow, a strong warm summer wind, Till all the flowers with eyes come out to see; Blow till the fruit...

I cannot praise thee. By his instrument The master sits, and moves nor foot nor hand; For see the organ-pipes this, that way bent, Leaning, o’erthrown, like wheat-stalks tempest-fanned! I well could p...

I have a fellowship with every shade Of changing nature: with the tempest hour My soul goes forth to claim her early dower Of living princedom; and her wings have stayed Amidst the wildest uproar undi...

Sighing above, Rustling below, Thorough the woods The winds go. Beneath, dead crowds; Above, life bare; And the besom tempest Sweeps the air: Heart, leave thy woe: Let the dead things go. Through the ...

Why do the houses stand When they that built them are gone; When remaineth even of one That lived there and loved and planned Not a face, not an eye, not a hand, Only here and there a bone? Why do the...

The miser lay on his lonely bed; Life’s candle was burning dim. His heart in an iron chest was hid Under heaps of gold and an iron lid; And whether it were alive or dead It never troubled him. Slowly ...

Satan, avaunt! Nay, take thine hour, Thou canst not daunt, Thou hast no power; Be welcome to thy nest, Though it be in my breast. Burrow amain; Dig like a mole; Fill every vein With half-burnt coal; P...

Lord, what is man That thou art mindful of him! Though in creation’s van, Lord, what is man! He wills less than he can, Lets his ideal scoff him! Lord, what is man That thou art mindful of him!...

All things are shadows of thee, Lord; The sun himself is but thy shade; My spirit is the shadow of thy word, A thing that thou hast said. Diamonds are shadows of the sun, They gleam as after him they ...

Come through the gloom of clouded skies, The slow dim rain and fog athwart; Through east winds keen with wrong and lies Come and lift up my hopeless heart. Come through the sickness and the pain, The ...

Roses all the rosy way! Roses to the rosier west Where the roses of the day Cling to night’s unrosy breast! Thou who mak’st the roses, why Give to every leaf a thorn? On thy rosy highway I Still am by...

I am a bubble Upon thy ever-moving, resting sea: Oh, rest me now from tossing, trespass, trouble! Take me down into thee. Give me thy peace. My heart is aching with unquietness: Oh, make its inharmoni...

Mercy to thee, O Lord, belongs, For as his work thou giv’st the man. From us, not thee, come all our wrongs; Mercy to thee, O Lord, belongs: With small-cord whips and scorpion thongs Thou lay’st on ev...

The stars are spinning their threads, And the clouds are the dust that flies, And the suns are weaving them up For the day when the sleepers arise. The ocean in music rolls, The gems are turning to ey...

Great-hearted child, thy very being The Son, Who know’st the hearts of all us prodigals;⁠— For who is prodigal but he who has gone Far from the true to heart it with the false?⁠— Who, who but thou, th...

I do not know thy final will, It is too good for me to know: Thou willest that I mercy show, That I take heed and do no ill, That I the needy warm and fill, Nor stones at any sinner throw; But I know ...

O Lord, I cannot but believe The birds do sing thy praises then, when they sing to one another, And they are lying seed-sown land when the winter makes them grieve, Their little bosoms breeding songs ...

A thousand houses of poesy stand around me everywhere; They fill the earth and they fill my thought, they are in and above the air; But to-night they have shut their doors, they have shut their shinin...

I shall be satisfied With the seeing of thy face. When I awake, wide-eyed, I shall be satisfied With what this life did hide, The one supernal grace! I shall be satisfied With the seeing of thy face....

Every time would have its song If the heart were right, Seeing Love all tender-strong Fills the day and night. Weary drop the hands of Prayer Calling out for peace; Love always and everywhere Sings an...

A dim, vague shrinking haunts my soul, My spirit bodeth ill⁠— As some far-off restraining bank Had burst, and waters, many a rank, Were marching on my hill; As if I had no fire within For thoughts to ...

In his arms thy silly lamb, Lo, he gathers to his breast! See, thou sadly bleating dam, See him lift thy silly lamb! Hear it cry, “How blest I am! Here is love, and love is rest!” In his arms thy sill...

I say! hey! cousin there! I mustn’t call you brother! Yet you have a tail behind, and I have another! You pull, and I pull, though we don’t pull together: You have less hardship, and I have more weath...

Strait is the path? He means we must not roam? Yes; but the strait path leads into a boundless home....

Close her eyes: she must not peep! Let her little puds go slack; Slide away far into sleep: Sis will watch till she comes back! Mother’s knitting at the door, Waiting till the kettle sings; When the k...

Close her eyes: she must not peep! Let her little puds go slack; Slide away far into sleep: Sis will watch till she comes back! Mother’s knitting at the door, Waiting till the kettle sings; When the k...

Sweep and sweep and sweep the floor, Sweep the dust, pick up the pin; Make it clean from fire to door, Clean for father to come in! Mother said that God goes sweeping, Looking, sweeping with a broom, ...

This is the way we wash the clo’es Free from dirt and smoke and clay! Through and through the water flows, Carries Ugly right away! This is the way we bleach the clo’es: Lay them out upon the green; T...

Dark, as if it would not tell, Lies the water, still and cool: Dip the bucket in the well, Lift it from the precious pool! Up it comes all brown and dim, Telling of the twilight sweet: As it rises to ...

Wash the window; rub it dry; Make the ray-door clean and bright: He who lords it in the sky Loves on cottage floors to light! Looking over sea and beck, Mountain-forest, orchard-bloom, He can spy the ...

Said the Wind to the Moon, “I will blow you out! You stare In the air As if crying “Beware,” Always looking what I am about: I hate to be watched; I will blow you out!” The Wind blew hard, and out wen...

A harebell hung her wilful head: “I am tired, so tired! I wish I was dead.” She hung her head in the mossy dell: “If all were over, then all were well!” The Wind he heard, and was pitiful, And waved h...

I was very cold In the summer weather; The sun shone all his gold, But I was very cold⁠— Alas, we were grown old, Love and I together! Oh, but I was cold In the summer weather! Sudden I grew warmer Th...

The stars cleave the sky. Yet for us they rest, And their race-course high Is a shining nest! The hours hurry on. But where is thy flight, Soft pavilion Of motionless night? Earth gives up her trees T...

No bird can sing in tune but that the Lord Sits throned in equity above the heaven, And holds the righteous balance always even; No heart can true response to love afford Wherein from one to eight not...

What human form is this? what form divine? And who are these that gaze upon his face Mild, beautiful, and full of heavenly grace, With whose reflected light the gazers shine? Saviour, who does not kno...

I cannot write old verses here, Dead things a thousand years away, When all the life of the young year Is in the summer day. The roses make the world so sweet, The bees, the birds have such a tune, Th...

A fresh young voice that sings to me So often many a simple thing, Should surely not unanswered be By all that I can sing. Dear voice, be happy every way A thousand changing tones among, From little c...

Out of the gulf into the glory, Father, my soul cries out to be lifted. Dark is the woof of my dismal story, Thorough thy sun-warp stormily drifted!⁠— Out of the gulf into the glory, Lift me, and save...

Come Home....

In that high country whither thou art gone, Right noble friend, thou walkest with thy peers, The gathered great of many a hundred years! Few are left like thee⁠—few, I say, not none, Else were thy Eng...

Lawrence, what though the world be growing dark, And twilight cool thy potent day enclose! The sun, beneath the round earth sunk, still glows All the night through, sleepless and young and stark. Oh, ...

Ray of the Dawn of Truth, Aubrey de Vere, Forgive my play fantastic with thy name, Distilling its true essence by the flame Which Love ’neath Fancy’s limbeck lighteth clear. I know not what thy sembla...

Victorious through failure! faithful Lord, Who for twelve angel legions wouldst not pray From thine own country of eternal day, To shield thee from the lanterned traitor horde, Making thy one rash ser...

Shepherd, on before thy sheep, Hear thy lamb that bleats behind! Scarce the track I stumbling keep! Through my thin fleece blows the wind! Turn and see me, Son of Man! Turn and lift thy Father’s child...

Christmas-Days are still in store:⁠— Will they change⁠—steal faded hither? Or come fresh as heretofore, Summering all our winter weather? Surely they will keep their bloom All the countless pacing age...

Though in my heart no Christmas glee, Though my song-bird be dumb, Jesus, it is enough for me That thou art come. What though the loved be scattered far, Few at the board appear, In thee, O Lord, they...

Hark, in the steeple the dull bell swinging Over the furrows ill ploughed by Death! Hark the bird-babble, the loud lark singing! Hark, from the sky, what the prophet saith! Hark, in the pines, the fre...

It is no winter night comes down Upon our hearts, dear friends of old; But a May evening, softly brown, Whose wind is rather cold. We are not, like yon sad-eyed West, Phantoms that brood o’er Time’s d...

Well for youth to seek the strong, Beautiful, and brave! We, the old, who walk along Gently to the grave, Only pay our court to thee, Child of all Eternity! We are old who once were young, And we grow...

He who by a mother’s love Made the wandering world his own, Every year comes from above, Comes the parted to atone, Binding Earth to the Father’s throne. Nay, thou comest every day! No, thou never did...

The brother knew well the castle old, Every closet, each outlook fair, Every turret and bartizan bold, Every chamber, garnished or bare. The brother was out in the heavenly air; Little ones lost the s...

Cold my heart, and poor, and low, Like thy stable in the rock; Do not let it orphan go, It is of thy parent stock! Come thou in, and it will grow High and wide, a fane divine; Like the ruby it will gl...

Merry, merry we well may be, For Jesus Christ is come down to see: Long before, at the top of the stair, He set our angels a waiting there, Waiting hither and thither to fly, Tending the children of t...

Star high, Baby low: ’Twixt the two Wise men go; Find the baby, Grasp the star⁠— Heirs of all things Near and far!...

I follow, tottering, in the funeral train That bears my body to the welcoming grave. As those I mourn not, that entomb the brave, But smile as those that lay aside the vain; To me it is a thing of poo...

When I look back upon my life nigh spent, Nigh spent, although the stream as yet flows on, I more of follies than of sins repent, Less for offence than Love’s shortcomings moan. With self, O Father, l...

A tattered soldier, gone the glow and gloss, With wounds half healed, and sorely trembling knee, Homeward I come, to claim no victory-cross: I only faced the foe, and did not flee....

Gray clouds my heaven have covered o’er; My sea ebbs fast, no more to flow; Ghastly and dry, my desert shore Parched, bare, unsightly things doth show. ’Tis thou, Lord, cloudest up my sky; Stillest th...

If I did seem to you no more Than to myself I seem, Not thus you would fling wide the door, And on the beggar beam! You would not don your radiant best, Or dole me more than half! Poor palmer I, no an...

They were parted then at last? Was it duty, or force, or fate? Or did a worldly blast Blow-to the meeting-gate? An old, short story is this! A glance, a trembling, a sigh, A gaze in the eyes, a kiss⁠—...

Heaven and the sea attend the dying day, And in their sadness overflow and blend⁠— Faint gold, and windy blue, and green and gray: Far out amid them my pale soul I send. For, as they mingle, so mix li...

When God’s own child came down to earth, High heaven was very glad; The angels sang for holy mirth; Not God himself was sad! Shall we, when ours goes homeward, fret? Come, Hope, and wait on Sorrow! Th...

In the desert by the bush, Moses to his heart said “Hush.” David on his bed did pray; God all night went not away. From his heap of ashes foul Job to God did lift his soul, God came down to see him th...

Little one, you must not fret That I take your clothes away; Better sleep you so will get, And at morning wake more gay⁠— Saith the children’s mother. You I must unclothe again, For you need a better ...

My to-morrow is but a flitting Fancy of the brain; God’s to-morrow an angel sitting, Ready for joy or pain. My to-morrow has no soul, Dead as yesterdays; God’s⁠—a brimming silver bowl Of life that gle...

Waking in the night to pray, Sleeping when the answer comes, Foolish are we even at play⁠— Tearfully we beat our drums! Cast the good dry bread away, Weep, and gather up the crumbs! “Evermore,” while ...

Love is the part, and love is the whole; Love is the robe, and love is the pall; Ruler of heart and brain and soul, Love is the lord and the slave of all! I thank thee, Love, that thou lov’st me; I th...

Earth, if aught should check thy race, Rushing through unfended space, Headlong, stayless, thou wilt fall Into yonder glowing ball!” “Beggar of the universe, Faithless as an empty purse! Sent abroad t...

I waited for the Master In the darkness dumb; Light came fast and faster⁠— My light did not come! I waited all the daylight, All through noon’s hot flame: In the evening’s gray light, Lo, the Master c...

Had I a great ship coming home, With big plunge o’er the sea, What bright things, hid from star and foam, Lay in her heart for thee! The stormy billows heave and dip, The wild winds veer and play; But...

Why dost thou want to sing When thou hast no song, my heart? If there be in thee a hidden spring, Wherefore will no word start? On its way thou hearest no song, Yet flutters thy unborn joy! The years ...

Were thou and I the white pinions On some eager, heaven-born dove, Swift would we mount to the old dominions, To our rest of old, my love! Were thou and I trembling strands In music’s enchanted line, ...

Come, children, put away your toys; Roll up that kite’s long line; The day is done for girls and boys⁠— Look, it is almost nine! Come, weary foot, and sleepy head, Get up, and come along to bed.” The ...

Thou who mad’st the mighty clock Of the great world go; Mad’st its pendulum swing and rock, Ceaseless to and fro; Thou whose will doth push and draw Every orb in heaven, Help me move by higher law In ...

Lord Jesus, Oh, ease us Of Self that oppresses, Annoys and distresses Body and brain With dull pain! Thou never, Since ever, Save one moment only, Wast left, or wast lonely: We are alone, And make moa...

Her mother, Elfie older grown, One evening, for adieu, Said, “You’ll not mind being left alone, For God takes care of you!” In child-way her heart’s eye did see The correlation’s node: “Yes,” she said...

Trust my father, saith the eldest-born; I did trust him ere the earth began; Not to know him is to be forlorn; Not to love him is⁠—not to be man. He that knows him loves him altogether; With my father...

How shall he sing who hath no song? He laugh who hath no mirth? Will cannot wake the sleeping song! Yea, Love itself in vain may long To sing with them that have a song, Or, mirthless, laugh with Mirt...

Thy world is made to fit thine own, A nursery for thy children small, The playground-footstool of thy throne, Thy solemn school-room, Father of all! When day is done, in twilight’s gloom, We pass into...

O Peter, wherefore didst thou doubt? Indeed the spray flew fast about, But he was there whose walking foot Could make the wandering hills take root; And he had said, “Come down to me,” Else hadst thou...

To whom the heavy burden clings, It yet may serve him like a staff; One day the cross will break in wings, The sinner laugh a holy laugh. The dwarfed Zacchaeus climbed a tree, His humble stature set h...

Who follows Jesus shall not walk In darksome road with danger rife; But in his heart the Truth will talk, And on his way will shine the Life. So, on the story we must pore Of him who lives for us, and...

The silence of traitorous feet! The silence of close-pent rage! The roar, and the sudden heart-beat! And the shot through the true heart going, The truest heart of the age! And the Nile serenely flowi...

Gordon, the self-refusing, Gordon, the lover of God, Gordon, the good part choosing, Welcome along the road! Thou knowest the man, O Father! To do thy will he ran; Men’s praises he did not gather: The...

Farewell, O Arm of the Lord! Man who hated the sword, Yet struck and spared not the thing abhorred! Farewell, O word of the Word! Man who knew no failure But the failure of the Lord!...

A broken tale of endless things, Take, lady: thou art not of those Who in what vale a fountain springs Would have its journey close. Countless beginnings, fair first parts, Leap to the light, and shin...

The sun is sinking in the west, Long grow the shadows dim; Have patience, sister, to be blest, Wait patiently for Him. Thou knowest love, much love hast had, Great things of love mayst tell, Ought’st ...

The mountain-stream may humbly boast For her the loud waves call; The hamlet feeds the nation’s host, The home-farm feeds the hall; And unto earth heaven’s Lord doth lend The right, of high import, Th...

The croak of a raven hoar! A dog’s howl, kennel-tied! Loud shuts the carriage-door: The two are away on their ghastly ride To Death’s salt shore! Where are the love and the grace? The bridegroom is th...

A brown bird sang on a blossomy tree, Sang in the moonshine, merrily, Three little songs, one, two, and three, A song for his wife, for himself, and me. He sang for his wife, sang low, sang high, Fill...

Love, the baby, Crept abroad to pluck a flower: One said, Yes, sir; one said, Maybe; One said, Wait the hour. Love, the boy, Joined the youngsters at their play: But they gave him little joy, And he w...

In the air why such a ringing? On the earth why such a droning? In the air the lark is singing; On the earth the wind is moaning. “I am blest, in sunlight swinging!” “Sad am I: the world lies groaning...

When the clock hath ceased to tick Soul-like in the gloomy hall; When the latch no more doth click Tongue-like in the red peach-wall; When no more come sounds of play, Mice nor children romping roam, ...

“Who is this little one lying,” Said Time, “at my garden-gate, Moaning and sobbing and crying, Out in the cold so late?” “They lurked until we came near, Master and I,” the child said, “Then caught me...

A clock aeonian, steady and tall, With its back to creation’s flaming wall, Stands at the foot of a dim, wide stair. Swing, swang, its pendulum goes, Swing⁠—swang⁠—here⁠—there! Its tick and its tack l...

Within my heart a worm had long been hid. I knew it not when I went down and chid Because some servants of my inner house Had not, I found, of late been doing well, But then I spied the horror hideous...

O ye months of the year, Are ye a march of wolves? Lycabas! Lycabas! twelve to growl and slay? Men hearken at night, and lie in fear, Some men hearken all day! Lycabas, verily thou art a gallop of wol...

As to her child a mother calls, “Come to me, child; come near!” Calling, in silent intervals, The Master’s voice I hear. But does he call me verily? To have me does he care? Why should he seek my pove...

To give a thing and take again Is counted meanness among men; To take away what once is given Cannot then be the way of heaven! But human hearts are crumbly stuff, And never, never love enough, Theref...

Would-be prophets tell us We shall not re-know Them that walked our fellows In the ways below! Smoking, smouldering Tophets Steaming hopeless plaints! Dreary, mole-eyed prophets! Mean, skin-pledging s...

O Thou that walkest with nigh hopeless feet Past the one harbour, built for thee and thine. Doth no stray odour from its table greet, No truant beam from fire or candle shine? At his wide door the hos...

When thou turn’st away from ill, Christ is this side of thy hill. When thou turnest toward good, Christ is walking in thy wood. When thy heart says, “Father, pardon!” Then the Lord is in thy garden. W...

Bands of dark and bands of light Lie athwart the homeward way; Now we cross a belt of Night, Now a strip of shining Day! Now it is a month of June, Now December’s shivering hour; Now rides high loved ...

Love alone is great in might, Makes the heavy burden light, Smooths rough ways to weary feet, Makes the bitter morsel sweet: Love alone is strength! Might that is not born of Love Is not Might born fr...

When the snow is on the earth Birds and waters cease their mirth; When the sunlight is prevailing Even the night-winds drop their wailing. On the earth when deep snows lie Still the sun is in the sky,...

With us there is no gray fearing, With us no aching for lack! For the morn it is always nearing, And the night is at our back. At times a song will fall dumb, A thought-bell burst in a sigh, But no on...

Trust him in the common light; Trust him in the awesome night; Trust him when the earth doth quake: Trust him when thy heart doth ache; Trust him when thy brain doth reel And thy friend turns on his h...

I would I were an angel strong, An angel of the sun, hasting along! I would I were just come awake, A child outbursting from night’s dusky brake! Or lark whose inward, upward fate Mocks every wall tha...

When I am dead unto myself, and let, O Father, thee live on in me, Contented to do nought but pay my debt, And leave the house to thee, Then shall I be thy ransomed⁠—from the cark Of living, from the ...

“My life is drear; walking I labour sore; The heart in me is heavy as a stone; And of my sorrows this the icy core: Life is so wide, and I am all alone!” Thou did’st walk so, with heaven-born eyes dow...

Came of old to houses lonely Men with wings, but did not show them: Angels come to our house, only, For their wings, they do not know them!...

’Tis we, not in thine arms, who weep and pray; The children in thy bosom laugh and play....

Who know thee, love: thy life be such That, ere the year be o’er, Each one who loves thee now so much, Even God, may love thee more!...

Go not forth to call Dame Sorrow From the dim fields of Tomorrow; Let her roam there all unheeded, She will come when she is needed; Then, when she draws near thy door, She will find God there before....

Lie, little cow, and chew thy cud, The farmer soon will shift thy tether; Chirp, linnet, on the frozen mud, Sun and song will come together; Wait, soul, for God, and thou shalt bud, He waits thy waiti...

Lost the little one roams about, Pathway or shelter none can find; Blinking stars are coming out; No one is moving but the wind; It is no use to cry or shout, All the world is still as a mouse; One th...

When thy heart, love-filled, grows graver, And eternal bliss looks nearer, Ask thy heart, nor show it favour, Is the gift or giver dearer? Love, love on; love higher, deeper; Let love’s ocean close ab...

An unborn bird lies crumpled and curled, A-dreaming of the world. Round it, for castle-wall, a shell Is guarding it well. Hope is the bird with its dim sensations; The shell that keeps it alive is Pat...

I took it for a bird of prey that soared High over ocean, battled mount, and plain; ’Twas but a bird-moth, which with limp horns gored The invisibly obstructing window-pane! Better than eagle, with fa...

The hinges are so rusty The door is fixed and fast; The windows are so dusty The sun looks in aghast: Knock out the glass, I pray, Or dash the door away, Or break the house down bodily, And let my sou...

Imagination cannot rise above thee; Near and afar I see thee, and I love thee; My misery away from me I thrust it, For thy perfection I behold, and trust it....

When, with all the loved around thee, Still thy heart says, “I am lonely,” It is well; the truth hath found thee: Rest is with the Father only....

Oh how oft I wake and find I have been forgetting thee! I am never from thy mind: Thou it is that wakest me....

Oh that men would praise the Lord For his goodness unto men! Forth he sends his saving word, —Oh that men would praise the Lord!⁠— And from shades of death abhorred Lifts them up to light again: Oh th...

Where the bud has never blown Who for scent is debtor? Where the spirit rests unknown Fatal is the letter. In thee, Jesus, Godhead-stored, All things we inherit, For thou art the very Word And the ver...

Thou art my thought, my heart, my being’s fortune, The search for thee my growth’s first conscious date; For nought, for everything, I thee importune; Thou art my all, my origin and fate!...

“Where is thy crown, O tree of Love? Flowers only bears thy root! Will never rain drop from above Divine enough for fruit?” “I dwell in hope that gives good cheer, Twilight my darkest hour; For seest ...

God gives his child upon his slate a sum⁠— To find eternity in hours and years; With both sides covered, back the child doth come, His dim eyes swollen with shed and unshed tears; God smiles, wipes cl...

O Father, I am in the dark, My soul is heavy-bowed: I send my prayer up like a lark, Up through my vapoury shroud, To find thee, And remind thee I am thy child, and thou my father, Though round me dea...

If in my arms I bore my child, Would he cry out for fear Because the night was dark and wild And no one else was near? Shall I then treat thee, Father, as My fatherhood would grieve? I will be hopeful...

Beautiful mother is busy all day, So busy she neither can sing nor say; But lovely thoughts, in a ceaseless flow, Through her eyes, and her ears, and her bosom go⁠— Motion, sight, and sound, and scent...

King Cole he reigned in Aureoland, But the sceptre was seldom in his hand Far oftener was there his golden cup⁠— He ate too much, but he drank all up! To be called a king and to be a king, That is one...

Said the boy as he read, “I too will be bold, I will fight for the truth and its glory!” He went to the playground, and soon had told A very cowardly story! Said the girl as she read, “That was grand,...

My little dog, who blessed you With such white toothy-pegs? And who was it that dressed you In such a lot of legs? Perhaps he never told you! Perhaps you know quite well, And beg me not to scold you F...

There was a girl that lost things⁠— Nor only from her hand; She lost, indeed⁠—why, most things, As if they had been sand! She said, “But I must use them, And can’t look after all! Indeed I did not los...

I will think as thinks the rabbit:⁠— Oh, delight In the night When the moon Sets the tune To the woods! And the broods All run out, Frisk about, Go and come, Beat the drum⁠— Here in groups, There in t...

“Little one, who straight hast come Down the heavenly stair, Tell us all about your home, And the father there.” “He is such a one as I, Like as like can be. Do his will, and, by and by, Home and him ...

Loving looks the large-eyed cow, Loving stares the long-eared ass At Heaven’s glory in the grass! Child, with added human birth Come to bring the child of earth Glad repentance, tearful mirth, And a s...

There is a river whose waters run asleep run run ever singing in the shallows dumb in the hollows sleeping so deep and all the swallows that dip their feathers in the hollows or in the shallows are th...

In a lovely garden walking Two lovers went hand in hand; Two wan, worn figures, talking They sat in the flowery land. On the cheek they kissed one another, On the mouth with sweet refrain; Fast held t...