I am footsore and very weary,But I travel to meet a Friend:The way is long and dreary,But I know that it soon must end. He is travelling fast like the whirlwind,And though I creep slowly on,We are drawing nearer, nearer,And the journey is almost done. Through the heat of many summers,Through many a springtime rain,Through […]

Do you grieve no costly offeringTo the Lady you can make?One there is, and gifts less worthyQueens have stooped to take. Take a Heart of virgin silver,Fashion it with heavy blows,Cast it into Love’s hot furnaceWhen it fiercest glows. With Pain’s sharpest point transfix it,And then carve in letters fair,Tender dreams and quaint devices,Fancies sweet […]

The feast is spread through EnglandFor rich and poor to-day;Greetings and laughter may be there,But thoughts are far away;Over the stormy ocean,Over the dreary track,Where some are gone, whom EnglandWill never welcome back. Breathless she waits, and listensFor every eastern breezeThat bears upon its bloody wingsNews from beyond the seas.The leafless branches stirringMake many a […]

Loud roared the Tempest,Fast fell the sleet;A little Child AngelPassed down the street,With trailing pinions,And weary feet. The moon was hidden;No stars were bright;So she could not shelterIn heaven that night,For the Angels’ laddersAre rays of light. She beat her wingsAt each window pane,And pleaded for shelter,But all in vain:–“Listen,” they said,“To the pelting rain!” […]

Yes, I was sad and anxious,But now, dear, I am gay;I know that it is wisestTo put all hope away:-Thank God that I have done soAnd can be calm to-day. For hope deferred–you know it,Once made my heart so sick:Now, I expect no longer;It is but the old trickOf hope, that makes me tremble,And makes […]

Many, if God should make them kings,Might not disgrace the throne He gave;How few who could as well fulfilThe holier office of a slave. I hold him great who, for Love’s sakeCan give, with generous, earnest will,–Yet he who takes for Love’s sweet sake,I think I hold more generous still. I prize the instinct that […]

There is a deep and subtle snareWhose sure temptation hardly fails,Which, just because it looks so fair,Only a noble heart assails. So all the more we need be strongAgainst this false and seeming Right;Which none the less is deadly wrong,Because it glitters clothed in light. When duties unfulfilled remain,Or noble works are left unplanned,Or when […]

The lights extinguished, by the hearth I leant,Half weary with a listless discontent.The flickering giant-shadows, gathering near,Closed round me with a dim and silent fear.All dull, all dark; save when the leaping flame,Glancing, lit up a Picture’s ancient frame.Above the hearth it hung. Perhaps the night,My foolish tremors, or the gleaming light,Lent power to that […]

He was the first always: FortuneShone bright in his face.I fought for years; with no effortHe conquered the place:We ran; my feet were all bleeding,But he won the race. Spite of his many successesMen loved him the same;My one pale ray of good fortuneMet scoffing and blame.When we erred, they gave him pity,But me–only shame. […]

Like dreary prison wallsThe stern grey mountains rise,Until their topmost cragsTouch the far gloomy skies:One steep and narrow pathWinds up the mountain’s crest,And from our valley leadsOut to the golden West. I dwell here in content,Thankful for tranquil days;And yet, my eyes grow dim,As still I gaze and gazeUpon that mountain pass,That leads–or so it […]

From this fair point of present bliss,Where we together stand,Let me look back once more, and traceThat long and desert land,Wherein till now was cast my lot, and I could live, and thou wert not. Strange that my heart could beat, and knowAlternate joy and pain,That suns could roll from east to west,And clouds could […]

So you think you love me, do you?Well, it may be so;But there are many ways of lovingI have learnt to know.Many ways, and but one true way,Which is very rare;And the counterfeits look brightest,Though they will not wear. Yet they ring, almost, quite truly,Last (with care) for long;But in time must break, may shiverAt […]

Some words are played on golden strings,Which I so highly rate,I cannot bear for meaner thingsTheir sound to desecrate. For every day they are not meet,Or for a careless tone;They are for rarest, and most sweet,And noblest use alone. One word is POET: which is flungSo carelessly away,When such as you and I have sung,We […]

When the weariness of Life is ended,And the task of our long day is done,And the props, on which our hearts depended,All have failed or broken, one by one;Evening and our Sorrow’s shadow blendedTelling us that peace is now begun. How far back will seem the sun’s first dawning,And those early mists so cold and […]

“I can scarcely hear,” she murmured,“For my heart beats loud and fast,But surely, in the far, far distance,I can hear a sound at last.”“It is only the reapers singing,As they carry home their sheaves,And the evening breeze has risen,And rustles the dying leaves.” “Listen! there are voices talking.”Calmly still she strove to speak,Yet her voice […]

When the bright stars came out last night,And the dew lay on the flowers,I had a vision of delight–A dream of by-gone hours. Those hours that came and fled so fast,Of pleasure or of pain,As phantoms rose from out the pastBefore my eyes again. With beating heart did I beholdA train of joyous hours,Lit with […]

“The clouds are fleeting by, father,Look in the shining west,The great white clouds sail onwardUpon the sky’s blue breast.Look at a snowy eagle,His wings are tinged with red,And a giant dolphin follows him,With a crown upon his head!” The father spake no word, but watchedThe drifting clouds roll by;He traced a misty vision tooUpon the […]

What is it you ask me, darling?All my stories, child, you know;I have no strange dreams to tell you,Pictures I have none to show. Tell you glorious scenes of travel?Nay, my child, that cannot be,I have seen no foreign countries,Marvels none on land or sea. Yet strange sights in truth I witness,And I gaze until […]

Two stranger youths in the Far West,Beneath the ancient forest trees,Pausing, amid their toil to rest,Spake of their home beyond the seas;Spake of the hearts that beat so warmly,Of the hearts they loved so well.In their chilly northern country.“Would,” they cried, “some voice could tellWhere they are, our own beloved ones!”They looked up to the […]

As strangers, you and I are here;We both as aliens stand,Where once, in years gone by, I dweltNo stranger in the land.Then while you gaze on park and stream,Let me remain apart,And listen to the awakened soundOf voices in my heart. Here, where upon the velvet lawnThe cedar spreads its shade,And by the flower-beds all […]