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The Philosopher.
Enough of thought, philosopher!Too long hast thou been dreamingUnlightened, in this chamber drear,While summer's sun is beaming!Space-sweeping soul, what sad refrainConcludes thy musings once again?"Oh, for the time when I shall sleepWithout identity.And never care how rain may steep,Or snow may cover me!No promised heaven, these wild desiresCould all, or half fulfil;No threatened hell, with quenchless fires,Subdue this quenchless will!""So said I, and still say the same;Still, to my death, will say,Three gods, within this little frame,Are warring night; and day;Heaven could not hold them all, and yetThey all are held in me;And must be mine till I forgetMy present entity!Oh, for the time, when in ...
Emily Bronte
One By One
Little by little and one by one, Out of the ether, were worlds created;Star and planet and sea and sun, All in the nebulous Nothing waitedTill the Nameless One Who has many a nameCalled them to being and forth they came.All things mighty and all things small, Stone and flower and sentient being,Each is an answer to that one call, A part of Himself that His will is freeing -Freeing to go on the long, long wayThat winds back home at the end of the day.Little by little does mortal man Build his castles for joy and glory,And one by one time shatters each plan And lowers his palaces, story by story-Story by story, till earth is justA row of graves in the lowly dust.One by one, whatever was called,
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The Disciples
A great king made a feast for Love,And golden was the board and goldThe hundred, wondrous gauds thereof;Soft lights like roses fell aboveRare dishes exquisite and fine;In jeweled goblets shone the wine--A great king made a feast for Love.Yet Love as gladly and full-fed hath faredUpon a broken crust that two have shared;And from scant wine as glorious dreams drawn upSeeing two lovers kissed above the cup.A great king made for Love's delightA temple wonderful whereinServed jeweled priest and acolyte;There fell no darkness day or nightSince there his highest altar shoneWith flaming gems as some white sun,A temple made for Love's delight.Yet Love hath found a temple as complete<...
Theodosia Garrison
Fragments Of College Exercises.
Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus.--JUV.Mark those proud boasters of a splendid line,Like gilded ruins, mouldering while they shine,How heavy sits that weight, of alien show,Like martial helm upon an infant's brow;Those borrowed splendors whose contrasting lightThrows back the native shades in deeper night.Ask the proud train who glory's train pursue,Where are the arts by which that glory grew?The genuine virtues with that eagle-gazeSought young Renown in all her orient blaze!Where is the heart by chymic truth refined,The exploring soul whose eye had read mankind?Where are the links that twined, with heavenly art,His country's interest round the patriot's heart? * * * * ...
Thomas Moore
To-Day
I rake no coffined clay, nor publish wideThe resurrection of departed pride.Safe in their ancient crannies, dark and deep,Let kings and conquerors, saints and soldiers sleep--Late in the world,--too late perchance for fame,Just late enough to reap abundant blame,--I choose a novel theme, a bold abuseOf critic charters, an unlaurelled Muse.Old mouldy men and books and names and landsDisgust my reason and defile my hands.I had as lief respect an ancient shoe,As love old things for age, and hate the new.I spurn the Past, my mind disdains its nod,Nor kneels in homage to so mean a God.I laugh at those who, while they gape and gaze,The bald antiquity of China praise.Youth is (whatever cynic tubs pretend)The fault that boys and nati...
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Th' Little Black Hand.
Ther's a spark just o'th tip o' mi pen,An it may be poetical fire:An suppoase 'at it is'nt - what then?Wod yo bawk a chap ov his desire?Aw'm detarmined to scribble away -Soa's them 'at's a fancy con read;An tho' aw turn neet into day,If aw'm suitin an odd en, ne'er heed!Aw own ther's mich pleasure i' life;But then ther's abundance o' care,An them 'at's contented wi' strifeMay allus mak sure o' ther share.But aw'll laff woll mi galluses braik, -Tho mi bed's net as soft as spun silk;An if butter be aght o' mi raik,Aw'll ma' th' best ov a drop o' churn milk.It's nooan them 'at's getten all th' brass'At's getten all th' pleasure, net it!When aw'm smookin a pipe wi' th' owd lass,Aw con thoil 'em whativver th...
John Hartley
Barbara's Courtship.
'Tis just three months and eke a day,Since in the meadows, raking hay,On looking up I chanced to seeThe manor's lord, young Arnold Lee,With a loose hand on the rein,Riding slowly down the lane.As I gazed with earnest lookOn his face as on a book,As if conscious of the gaze,Suddenly he turned the raysOf his brilliant eyes on me.Then I looked down hastily,While my heart, like caged bird,Fluttered till it might be heard. Foolish, foolish Barbara!We had never met before,He had been so long away,Visiting some foreign shore,I have heard my father say.What in truth was he to me,Rich and handsome Arnold Lee?Fate had placed us far apart;Why, then, did my restless heartFlutter when his careless glance
Horatio Alger, Jr.
The Robin
My old Welsh neighbor over the wayCrept slowly out in the sun of spring,Pushed from her ears the locks of gray,And listened to hear the robin sing.Her grandson, playing at marbles, stopped,And, cruel in sport as boys will be,Tossed a stone at the bird, who hoppedFrom bough to bough in the apple-tree."Nay!" said the grandmother; "have you not heard,My poor, bad boy! of the fiery pit,And how, drop by drop, this merciful birdCarries the water that quenches it?"He brings cool dew in his little bill,And lets it fall on the souls of sinYou can see the mark on his red breast stillOf fires that scorch as he drops it in."My poor Bron rhuddyn! my breast-burned bird,Singing so sweetly from limb to limb,Very dear to the ...
John Greenleaf Whittier
Moss on a Wall
Dim dreams it hath of singing ways,Of far-off woodland water-heads,And shining ends of April daysAmongst the yellow runnel-beds.Stoop closer to the ruined wall,Whereon the wilful wilding sleeps,As if its home were waterfallBy dripping clefts and shadowy steeps.A little waif, whose beauty takesA touching tone because it dwellsSo far away from mountain lakes,And lily leaves, and lightening fells.Deep hidden in delicious flossIt nestles, sister, from the heatA gracious growth of tender mossWhose nights are soft, whose days are sweet.Swift gleams across its petals runWith winds that hum a pleasant tune,Serene surprises of the sun,And whispers from the lips of noon.The evening-coloured apple-tree...
Henry Kendall
To Miss - -
My friend of days, but not of years,With kindly heart these lines I trace,To tell you of a kindly wish,Which I upon this page would place.It is that thou thro' future yearsMay meet with very much of joy,And just a little grief, becauseContinued happiness will cloy.And when, in future years, you readWhat I to you just now have sung,Let others praise or blame, do thouThink pleasantly of T. F. Young.
Thomas Frederick Young
The Drovers
Through heat and cold, and shower and sun,Still onward cheerly driving!There's life alone in duty done,And rest alone in striving.But see! the day is closing cool,The woods are dim before us;The white fog of the wayside poolIs creeping slowly o'er us.The night is falling, comrades mine,Our footsore beasts are weary,And through yon elms the tavern signLooks out upon us cheery.The landlord beckons from his door,His beechen fire is glowing;These ample barns, with feed in store,Are filled to overflowing.From many a valley frowned acrossBy brows of rugged mountains;From hillsides where, through spongy moss,Gush out the river fountains;From quiet farm-fields, green and low,And bright with blooming clover;From vales...
Nothing Free-Cost
Nothing comes free-cost here; Jove will not letHis gifts go from him, if not bought with sweat.
Robert Herrick
He "Had Not Where To Lay His Head."
The conies had their hiding-place, The wily fox with stealthy treadA covert found, but Christ, the Lord, Had not a place to lay his head.The eagle had an eyrie home, The blithesome bird its quiet rest,But not the humblest spot on earth Was by the Son of God possessed.Princes and kings had palaces, With grandeur could adorn each tomb,For Him who came with love and life, They had no home, they gave no room.The hands whose touch sent thrills of joy Through nerves unstrung and palsied frame,The feet that travelled for our need, Were nailed unto the cross of shame.How dare I murmur at my lot, Or talk of sorrow, pain and loss,When Christ was in a manger laid, And died in anguish ...
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
To My Father (Upon His Retirement)
(See Note 42)In all the land our race was once excelling.In richer regions it e'en now possessesBroad seats and fruitful; but by fate's hard stressesOur branch was bent and bowed to blows compelling.Now toward the light again it lifts aloftIts top, and fresh buds crown it, fair and soft.The flowing fountain of your faith has laved it,To life's late evening thus your strength has saved it.As rests the race in time of chill and rigor,And from the deeps that lie within its beingDraws to it what alone can nourish, freeingIts powers to full prophecy of vigor, -So I divined the unseen stir in youOf nature's might that you could not subdue;It was so strong, from sire to son surviving,In mystery mute descends this power's stri...
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson
The Angels Of Buena Vista
Speak and tell us, our Ximena, looking northward far away,O'er the camp of the invaders, o'er the Mexican array,Who is losing? who is winning? are they far or come they near?Look abroad, and tell us, sister, whither rolls the storm we hear.Down the hills of Angostura still the storm of battle rolls;Blood is flowing, men are dying; God have mercy on their souls!"Who is losing? who is winning?" Over hill and over plain,I see but smoke of cannon clouding through the mountain rain."Holy Mother! keep our brothers! Look, Ximena, look once more."Still I see the fearful whirlwind rolling darkly as before,Bearing on, in strange confusion, friend and foeman, foot and horse,Like some wild and troubled torrent sweeping down its mountain course."Look forth once m...
The Disappointment.
"Ah, where can he linger?" said Doll, with a sigh,As bearing her milk-burthen home:"Since he's broken his vow, near an hour has gone by,So fair as he promis'd to come."-She'd fain had him notice the loudly-clapt gate,And fain call'd him up to her song;But while her stretch'd shade prov'd the omen too late,Heavy-hearted she mutter'd along.She look'd and she listen'd, and sigh follow'd sigh,And jealous thoughts troubled her head;The skirts of the pasture were losing the eye,As eve her last finishing spread;And hope, so endearing, was topmost to see,As 'tween-light was cheating the view,Every thing at a distance--a bush, or a tree,Her love's pleasing picture it drew.The pasture-gate creak'd, pit-a-pat her heart went,Fond thrillin...
John Clare
Poetry.
God to his untaught children sentLaw, order, knowledge, art, from high,And ev'ry heav'nly favour lent,The world's hard lot to qualify.They knew not how they should behave,For all from Heav'n stark-naked came;But Poetry their garments gave,And then not one had cause for shame.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Voices Of The City
The voices of the city - merged and swelledInto a mighty dissonance of sound,And from the medley rose these broken strainsIn changing time and ever-changing keys.IPleasure seekers, silken clad, Led by cherub Day,Ours the duty to be glad, Ours the toil of play.Sleep has bound the commonplace, Pleasure rules the dawn.Small hours set the merry pace And we follow on.We must use the joys of earth, All its cares we'll keep;Night was made for youth and mirth, Day was made for sleep.Time has cut his beard, and lo! He is but a boy,Singing, on with him we go, Ah! but life is joy.IIWe are the vendors of beauty, We the purveyors for hell;The...