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Translations. - Part Ii. Sonnet Lxxv. (From Petrarch.)
The elect angels and the souls in bliss,The citizens of heaven, when, that first day,My lady passed from me and went their way,Of marvel and pity full, did round her press."What light is this, and what new loveliness?"They said among them; "for such sweet displayDid never mount, that from the earth did strayTo this high dwelling, all this age, we guess!"[1]She, well content her lodging chang'd to find,Shows perfect, by her peers most perfect placed;And now and then half turning looks behindTo see if I walk in the way she traced:Hence I lift heavenward all my heart and mindBecause I hear her pray me to make haste.
George MacDonald
Letter From A Missionary Of The Methodist Episcopal Church South, In Kansas, To A Distinguished Politician. Douglas Mission 1854.
Last week the Lord be praised for all His merciesTo His unworthy servant! I arrivedSafe at the Mission, via Westport; whereI tarried over night, to aid in formingA Vigilance Committee, to send back,In shirts of tar, and feather-doublets quiltedWith forty stripes save one, all Yankee comers,Uncircumcised and Gentile, aliens fromThe Commonwealth of Israel, who despiseThe prize of the high calling of the saints,Who plant amidst this heathen wildernessPure gospel institutions, sanctifiedBy patriarchal use. The meeting openedWith prayer, as was most fitting. Half an hour,Or thereaway, I groaned, and strove, and wrestled,As Jacob did at Penuel, till the powerFell on the people, and they cried 'Amen!'"Glory to God!" and stamped and clapped their...
John Greenleaf Whittier
An Islesman's Farewell.
Ah! must we part, my darling?O let the days be few,Until your dear returningTo one who loves but you!Where'er your ship be sailing,Think on your own love true;The back of the wave to you, darling,The back of the wave to you!The witch, who oft at midnightAbove Ben Caillach flew,Told me she dreamed no dangerAthwart your vessel drew;For you she said the breezesAye strong and fairly blew;The back of the wave to you, darling,The back of the wave to you!Ah! waiting here, and tremblingWhen dark the water's hue,I'll long for the dear pleasureThat in your glance I knew;And pray to Him who neverCan lose you from His view.The back of the wave to you, darling,The back of the wave to you.
John Campbell
Roses Of June.
She sat in the cottage door, and the fair June moon looked downOn a face as pure as its own, an innocent face and sweetAs the roses dewy white that grow so thick at her feet,White royal roses, fit for a monarch's crown.And one is clasped in her slender hand, and one on her bosom lies,And two rare blushing buds loop up her light brown hair,Ah, roses of June, you never looked on a face so white and fair,Such perfectly moulded lips, such sweet and heavenly eyes.This low-walled home is dear to her, she has come to it to-dayFrom the lordly groves of her palace home afar,But not to stay; there's a light on her brow like the light of a star,And her eyes are looking beyond the earth, far, far away.She was born in this cottage home, the sweetest rosebud of sp...
Marietta Holley
Sitting By A Bush In Broad Sunlight
When I spread out my hand here today,I catch no more than a rayTo feel of between thumb and fingers;No lasting effect of it lingers.There was one time and only the oneWhen dust really took in the sun;And from that one intake of fireAll creatures still warmly aspire.And if men have watched a long timeAnd never seen sun-smitten slimeAgain come to life and crawl off,We not be too ready to scoff.God once declared he was trueAnd then took the veil and withdrew,And remember how final a hushThen descended of old on the bush.God once spoke to people by name.The sun once imparted its flame.One impulse persists as our breath;The other persists as our faith.
Robert Lee Frost
Hymn.
Sung by the Children of the City of London School of Instruction and Industry.CHORUS.Sacred, and heart-deep be the soundWhich speaks the Great Redeemer's praise,His mercies every where abound,Let all their grateful voices raise.BOYS.The friendless child, to manhood grown,Will ne'er forget your parent care;You've made each youthful heart your own,Oh! then accept our humble prayer.GIRLS.For ever be that bounty praised,Which every comfort doth impart;In tears of joy the song is raisedFrom minstrels of the glowing heart.CHORUS.Glory to Thee, all-bounteous Power!In notes of thankfulness be given;Sure solace in affliction's hour!Our hope on Earth, our bliss in Heaven....
Thomas Gent
Psal. LXXXVI.
Thy gracious ear, O Lord, encline,O hear me I thee pray,For I am poor, and almost pineWith need, and sad decay.Preserve my soul, for *I have trodThy waies, and love the just,Save thou thy servant O my GodWho still in thee doth trust.Pity me Lord for daily theeI call; O make rejoyceThy Servants Soul; for Lord to theeI lift my soul and voice,For thou art good, thou Lord art proneTo pardon, thou to allArt full of mercy, thou aloneTo them that on thee call.Unto my supplication LordGive ear, and to the crieOf my incessant praiers affordThy hearing graciously.I in the day of my distressWill call on thee for aid;For thou wilt grant me free accessAnd answer, what I pray'd.Like thee among the go...
John Milton
Twopenny Post-Bag, Intercepted Letters, Etc. Letter VIII.
FROM COLONEL THOMAS TO ---- SKEFFINGTON, ESQ.Come to our Fête and bring with theeThy newest, best embroidery.Come to our Fête and show againThat pea-green coat, thou pink of men,Which charmed all eyes that last surveyed it;When Brummel's self inquired "who made it?"--When Cits came wondering from the EastAnd thought thee Poet Pye at least! Oh! come, (if haply 'tis thy weekFor looking pale,) with paly cheek;Tho' more we love thy roseate days,When the rich rouge-pot pours its blazeFull o'er thy face and amply spread,Tips even thy whisker-tops with red--Like the last tints of dying DayThat o'er some darkling grove delay. Bring thy best lace, thou gay Philander,(That lace, like Harry Alexander,...
Thomas Moore
Mighty Eagle. Supposed To Be Addressed To William Godwin.
Mighty eagle! thou that soarestO'er the misty mountain forest,And amid the light of morningLike a cloud of glory hiest,And when night descends defiestThe embattled tempests' warning!
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Two Centuries
Two centuries' winter storms have lashed the changing sands of Falmouth's shore,Deep-voiced, the winds, swift winged, wild, have echoed there the ocean's roar.But though the north-east gale unleashed, rage-blind with power, relentless beat,The sturdy light-house sheds its beam on waves churned white beneath the sleet.And still when cold and fear are past, and fields are sweet with spring-time showers,Mystic, the gray age-silent hills breathe out their souls in fair mayflowers.And where the tawny saltmarsh lies beyond the sand dunes' farthest reach,The undulous grass grown russet green, skirts the white crescent of the beach.Above the tall elms' green-plumed tops, etched against low-hung, gray-hued skies,Straight as the heaven-kissing pine, the home-bound mariner descries
Katharine Lee Bates
The Old Garden
I.I stood in an ancient gardenWith high red walls around;Over them grey and green lichensIn shadowy arabesque wound.The topmost climbing blossomsOn fields kine-haunted looked out;But within were shelter and shadow,With daintiest odours about.There were alleys and lurking arbours,Deep glooms into which to dive.The lawns were as soft as fleeces,Of daisies I counted but five.The sun-dial was so agedIt had gathered a thoughtful grace;'Twas the round-about of the shadowThat so had furrowed its face.The flowers were all of the oldestThat ever in garden sprung;Red, and blood-red, and dark purpleThe rose-lamps flaming hung.Along the borders fringedWith broad thick edges of box
To Mæcenas
Mæcenas, thou of royalty's descent,Both my protector and dear ornament,Among humanity's conditions areThose who take pleasure in the flying car,Whirling Olympian dust, as on they roll,And shunning with the glowing wheel the goal;While the ennobling palm, the prize of worth,Exalts them to the gods, the lords of earth.Here one is happy if the fickle crowdHis name the threefold honor has allowed;And there another, if into his storesComes what is swept from Libyan threshing-floors.He who delights to till his father's lands,And grasps the delving-hoe with willing hands,Can never to Attalic offers hark,Or cut the Myrtoan Sea with Cyprian bark.The merchant, timorous of Afric's breeze,When fiercely struggling with Icarian seasPraises ...
Eugene Field
Sonnets II.
Inscribed to S.F.S., about her father.I went to listen to my teacher friend.O Friend above, thanks for the friend below!Who having been made wise, deep things to know,With brooding spirit over them doth bend,Until they waken words, as wings, to sendTheir seeds far forth, seeking a place to grow.The lesson past, with quiet foot I go,And towards his silent room, expectant wend,Seeking a blessing, even leave to dwellFor some eternal minutes in his eyes.And he smiled on me in his loving wise;His hand spoke friendship, satisfied me well;My presence was some pleasure, I could tell.Then forth we went beneath the smoky skies.
Desire.
Who never wanted, -- maddest joyRemains to him unknown:The banquet of abstemiousnessSurpasses that of wine.Within its hope, though yet ungraspedDesire's perfect goal,No nearer, lest realityShould disenthrall thy soul.
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
Discovery
What is it now that I shall seekWhere woods dip downward, in the hills;A mossy nook, a ferny creek,And May among the daffodils.Or in the valley's vistaed glow,Past rocks of terraced trumpet-vines,Shall I behold her coming slow,Sweet May, among the columbines?With red-bud cheeks and bluet eyes,Big eyes, the homes of happiness,To meet me with the old surprise,Her hoiden hair all bonnetless.Who waits for me, where, note for note,The birds make glad the forest trees?A dogwood blossom at her throat,My May among th' anemones.As sweetheart breezes kiss the blooms,And dewdrops drink the moonlight's gleam,My soul shall kiss her lips' perfumes,And drink the magic of her dreams.
Madison Julius Cawein
Sonnets. XVII
Lawrence of vertuous Father vertuous Son,Now that the Fields are dank, and ways are mire,Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fireHelp wast a sullen day; what may be WonFrom the hard Season gaining: time will runOn smoother, till Favonius re-inspireThe frozen earth; and cloth in fresh attireThe Lillie and Rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,Of Attick tast, with Wine, whence we may riseTo hear the Lute well toucht, or artfull voiceWarble immortal Notes and Tuskan Ayre?He who of those delights can judge, and spareTo interpose them oft, is not unwise.
Chuld Name. - Book Of Paradise. The Seven Sleepers.
Six among the courtiers favour'dFly before the Caesar's fury,Who would as a god be worshipp'd,Though in truth no god appearing,For a fly prevents him everFrom enjoying food at table.Though with fans his servants scare it,They the fly can never banish.It torments him, stings, and troubles,And the festal board perplexes,Then returning like the heraldOf the olden crafty Fly-God."What!" the striplings say together"Shall a fly a god embarrass?Shall a god drink, eat at table,Like us mortals? No, the Only,Who the sun and moon created,And the glowing stars arch'd o'er us,He is God, we'll fly!" The gentle,Lightly shod, and dainty striplingsDid a shepherd meet, and hide them,With himself, within a cavern.An...
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Flood-tide below me! I watch you face to face;Clouds of the west! sun there half an hour high! I see you also face to face.Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes! how curious you are to me!On the ferry-boats, the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose;And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence, are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.The impalpable sustenance of me from all things, at all hours of the day;The simple, compact, well-join'd scheme--myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated, yet part of the scheme:The similitudes of the past, and those of the future;The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings--on the walk in the street, and the pas...
Walt Whitman