When silence flees before the voice of Love,Of what expression does that god approve?Is dulcet song or flowing verse his choice,Or stately prose, made regal by his voice?Speaks Love in couplets, or in epics grand?And is Love humble, or does he command? There is no language that Love does not speak:To-day commanding and to-morrow meek,One […]

You who are loudly crying out for peace,You who are wanting love to vanquish hate,How is it in the four walls of your homeThe while you wait? Do those who form your household welcome your approach in the morningAs the earth welcomes the presence of dawn,Or do they dread your coming lest you censure and […]

(THE CHILD OF ABELARD AND HELOISE) I wrenched from a passing comet in its flight,By that great force of two mad hearts aflame,A soul incarnate, back to earth you came,To glow like star-dust for a little night.Deep shadows hide you wholly from our sight;The centuries leave nothing but your name,Tinged with the lustre of a […]

When I shall meet God’s generous dispensersOf all the riches in the heavenly store,Those lesser gods, who act as RecompensersFor loneliness and loss upon this shore,Methinks abashed, and somewhat hesitating,My soul its wish and longing will declare.Lest they reply: ‘Here are no bounties waiting:We gave on earth, your portion and your share.’ Then shall I […]

‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.’–St. John the Divine. The Spirit says unto the churches,‘Ere ever the churches beganI lived in the centre of Being –The life of the Purpose and Plan;I flowed from the mind of the MakerThrough nature to man. ‘I sleep in the […]

What is the end of each man’s toil,Brother, O Brother?A handful of dust in a bit of soil –His name forgotten as centuries roll,Though blazoned to-day on Glory’s scroll;For the lordliest work of brain or handIs only an imprint made on sand;When the tidal wave sweeps over the shoreIt is there no more,Brother, my Brother. […]

I Sailing away on a summer sea,Out of the bleak March weather;Drifting away for a loaf and play,Just you and I together;And it’s good-bye worry and good-bye hurryAnd never a care have we;With the sea below and the sun aboveAnd nothing to do but dream and love,Sailing away together. Sailing away from the grim old […]

In the dawn of the day when the sea and the earthReflected the sunrise above,I set forth with a heart full of courage and mirthTo seek for the Kingdom of Love.I asked of a Poet I met on the wayWhich cross-road would lead me aright;And he said “Follow me, and ere long you shall seeIts […]

You are here, and you are wanted,Though a waif upon life’s stair;Though the sunlit hours are hauntedWith the shadowy shapes of care.Still the Great One, the All-SeeingCalled your spirit into being –Gave you strength for any fate.Since your life by Him was needed,All your ways by Him are heeded –You can trust and you can […]

Whatever the strength of our foes is now,Whatever it may have been,This is our slogan, and this our vow –They shall not win, they shall not win. Though out of the darkness they call the aidOf the evil forces of Sin,We utter our slogan unafraid –They shall not win, they shall not win. We know […]

In the face of the sun are great thunderbolts hurled,And the storm-clouds have shut out its light;But a Rainbow of Promise now shines on the world,And the universe thrills at the sight. ‘Tis the flag of our Union, the red, white, and blue,Our Star-spangled Banner–our pride;Fair symbol of all that is noble and true,Flung out […]

Lais when young, and all her charms in flower,Lais, whose beauty was the fateful lightThat led great ships to anchor in the nightAnd bring their priceless cargoes to her bower,Lais yet found her cup of sweet turned sour.Great Plato’s pupil, from his lofty height,Zenocrates, unmoved, had seen the whiteSweet wonder of her, and defied her […]

There are not many sins when once we sift them.In actions of evolving human soulsStriving to reach high goalsAnd falling backward into dust and mire,Some element we find that seems to lift themAbove our condemnation–even higherInto the realm of pity and compassion.So beauteous a thing as love itself can fashionA chain of sins; descending to […]

Lais, when old and all her beauty gone,Lais, the erstwhile courted pleasure queen,Walked homeless through Corinth.One mocked her mien –One tossed her coins; she took them and passed on.Down by the harbour sloped a terraced lawn,Where fountains played; she paused to view the scene.A marble palace stood in bowers of green‘Twas here of old she […]

God finished woman in the twilight hourAnd said, ‘To-morrow thou shalt find thy place:Man’s complement, the mother of the race –With love the motive power –The one compelling power.’ All night she dreamed and wondered. With the lightHer lover came–and then she understoodThe purpose of her being. Life was goodAnd all the world seemed right […]

Be not dismayed, be not dismayed when deathSets its white seal upon some worshipped face.Poor human nature for a little spaceMust suffer anguish, when that last drawn breathLeaves such long silence; but let not thy faithFail for a moment in God’s boundless grace.But know, oh know, He has prepared a placeFairer for our dear dead […]

I have been down in the darkest water –Deep, deep down where no light could pierce;Alone with the things that are bent on slaughter,The mindless things that are cruel and fierce.I have fought with fear in my wave-walled prison,And begged for the beautiful boon of death;But out of the billows my soul has risenTo glorify […]

(FROM THE DRAMA OF MIZPAH) AHASUERAS What were thy thoughts, sweet Esther? Something passedAcross thy face, that for a moment veiledThy soul from mine, and left me desolate.Thy thoughts were not of me? ESTHER Ay, ALL of thee!I wondered, if in truth, thou wert contentWith me–thy choice. Was there no other oneOf all who passed […]

Lord, let us pray. Give us the open mind, O God,The mind that dares believeIn paths of thought as yet untrod;The mind that can conceiveLarge visions of a wider wayThan circumscribes our world to-day. May tolerance temper our own faith,However great our zeal;When others speak of life and death,Let us not plunge a steelInto the […]

(FROM THE DRAMA OF MIZPAH) AHASUERAS Is this the way to greet thy loving spouse,But now returned from scenes of blood and strife?I pray thee raise thy veil and let me gazeUpon that beauty which hath greater powerTo conquer me than all the arts of war! VASHTI My beauty! Ay, my BEAUTY! I do hold,In […]