Why shouldst thou fear the beautiful angel, Death,Who waits thee at the portals of the skies,Ready to kiss away thy struggling breath,Ready with gentle hand to close thine eyes? How many a tranquil soul has passed away,Fled gladly from fierce pain and pleasures dim,To the eternal splendour of the day;And many a troubled heart still […]

A smiling look she had, a figure slight,With cheerful air, and step both quick and light;A strange and foreign look the maiden bore,That suited the quaint Belgian dress she woreYet the blue fearless eyes in her fair face,And her soft voice told her of English race;And ever, as she flitted to and fro,She sang, (or […]

Strive; yet I do not promiseThe prize you dream of to-dayWill not fade when you think to grasp it,And melt in your hand away;But another and holier treasure,You would now perchance disdain,Will come when your toil is over,And pay you for all your pain. Wait; yet I do not tell youThe hour you long for […]

Mourn, O rejoicing heart!The hours are flying;Each one some treasure takes,Each one some blossom breaks,And leaves it dying;The chill dark night draws near,Thy sun will soon depart,And leave thee sighing;Then mourn, rejoicing heart,The hours are flying! Rejoice, O grieving heart!The hours fly fast;With each some sorrow dies,With each some shadow flies,Until at lastThe red dawn […]

A little past the villageThe Inn stood, low and white;Green shady trees behind it,And an orchard on the right;Where over the green palingThe red-cheeked apples hung,As if to watch how wearilyThe sign-board creaked and swung. The heavy-laden branches,Over the road hung low,Reflected fruit or blossomFrom the wayside well below;Where children, drawing water,Looked up and paused […]

With echoing steps the worshippersDeparted one by one;The organ’s pealing voice was stilled,The vesper hymn was done;The shadows fell from roof and arch,Dim was the incensed air,One lamp alone with trembling ray,Told of the Presence there! In the dark church she knelt alone;Her tears were falling fast;“Help, Lord,” she cried, “the shades of deathUpon my […]

No name to bid us knowWho rests below,No word of death or birth,Only the grass’s wave,Over a mound of earth,Over a nameless grave. Did this poor wandering heartIn pain depart?Longing, but all too late,For the calm home again,Where patient watchers wait,And still will wait in vain. Did mourners come in scorn,And thus forlorn,Leave him, with […]

Moan, oh ye Autumn Winds!Summer has fled,The flowers have closed their tender leaves and die;The Lily’s gracious headAll low must lie,Because the gentle Summer now is dead. Grieve, oh ye Autumn Winds!Summer lies low;The rose’s trembling leaves will soon be shed,For she that loved her so,Alas, is dead!And one by one her loving children go. […]

Why wilt thou make bright musicGive forth a sound of pain?Why wilt thou weave fair flowersInto a weary chain? Why turn each cool grey shadowInto a world of fears?Why say the winds are wailing?Why call the dewdrops tears? The voices of happy nature,And the Heaven’s sunny gleam,Reprove thy sick heart’s fancies,Upbraid thy foolish dream. Listen, […]

Arise! this day shall shine,For evermore,To thee a star divine,On Time’s dark shore. Till now thy soul has beenAll glad and gay:Bid it awake, and lookAt grief to-day! No shade has come betweenThee and the sun;Like some long childish dreamThy life has run: But now the stream has reachedA dark, deep sea,And Sorrow, dim and […]

Thou hast done well, perhaps,To lift the bright disguise,And lay the bitter truthBefore our shrinking eyes;When evil crawls belowWhat seems so pure and fair,Thine eyes are keen and trueTo find the serpent there:And yet–I turn away;Thy task is not divine–The evil angels lookOn earth with eyes like thine. Thou hast done well, perhaps,To show how […]

You wonder that my tears should flowIn listening to that simple strain;That those unskilful sounds should fillMy soul with joy and pain–How can you tell what thoughts it stirsWithin my heart again? You wonder why that common phrase,So all unmeaning to your ear,Should stay me in my merriest mood,And thrill my soul to hear–How can […]

The way is long and dreary,The path is bleak and bare;Our feet are worn and weary,But we will not despair.More heavy was Thy burthen,More desolate Thy way;–Oh Lamb of God who takestThe sin of the world away,Have mercy on us. The snows lie thick around usIn the dark and gloomy night;And the tempest wails above […]

The bond that links our souls together;Will it last through stormy weather?Will it moulder and decayAs the long hours pass away?Will it stretch if Fate divide us,When dark and weary hours have tried us?Oh, if it look too poor and slightLet us break the links to-night! It was not forged by mortal hands,Or clasped with […]

It is a dreary evening;The shadows rise and fall:With strange and ghostly changes,They flicker on the wall. Make the charred logs burn brighter;I will show you, by their blaze,The half-forgotten recordOf bygone things and days. Bring here the ancient volume;The clasp is old and worn,The gold is dim and tarnished,And the faded leaves are torn. […]

See the rivers flowingDownwards to the sea,Pouring all their treasuresBountiful and free–Yet to help their givingHidden springs arise;Or, if need be, showersFeed them from the skies! Watch the princely flowersTheir rich fragrance spread,Load the air with perfumes,From their beauty shed–Yet their lavish spendingLeaves them not in dearth,With fresh life replenishedBy their mother earth! Give thy […]

Sow with a generous hand;Pause not for toil or pain;Weary not through the heat of summer,Weary not through the cold spring rain;But wait till the autumn comesFor the sheaves of golden grain. Scatter the seed, and fear not,A table will be spread;What matter if you are too wearyTo eat your hard-earned bread:Sow, while the earth […]

Girt round with rugged mountainsThe fair Lake Constance lies;In her blue heart reflectedShine back the starry skies;And, watching each white cloudletFloat silently and slow,You think a piece of HeavenLies on our earth below! Midnight is there: and Silence,Enthroned in Heaven, looks downUpon her own calm mirror,Upon a sleeping town:For Bregenz, that quaint cityUpon the Tyrol […]

Nothing resting in its own completenessCan have worth or beauty: but aloneBecause it leads and tends to farther sweetness,Fuller, higher, deeper than its own. Spring’s real glory dwells not in the meaning,Gracious though it be, of her blue hours;But is hidden in her tender leaningTo the Summer’s richer wealth of flowers. Dawn is fair, because […]

You have taken back the promiseThat you spoke so long ago;Taken back the heart you gave me–I must even let it go.Where Love once has breathed, Pride dieth:So I struggled, but in vain,First to keep the links together,Then to piece the broken chain. But it might not be–so freelyAll your friendship I restore,And the heart […]