The passion you forbade my lips to utterWill not be silenced. You must hear it inThe sullen thunders when they roll and mutter:And when the tempest nears, with wail and din,I know your calm forgetfulness is broken,And to your heart you whisper, “He has spoken.” All nature understands and sympathisesWith human passion. When the restless […]

She’s the jauntiest of creatures, she’s the daintiest of misses,With her pretty patent leathers or her alligator ties,With her eyes inviting glances and her lips inviting kisses,As she wanders by the ocean or strolls under country skies. She’s a captivating dresser, and her parasols are stunning;Her fads will take your breath away, her hats are […]

What a terrible night! Does the Night, I wonder–The Night, with her black veil down to her feetLike an ordained nun, know what lies underThat awful, motionless, snow-white sheet?The winds seem crazed, and, wildly howling,Over the sad earth blindly go.Do they and the dark clouds over them scowling,Do they dream or know? Why, here in […]

“Dying? I am not dying? Are you mad?You think I need to ask for heavenly grace?I think you are a fiend, who would be gladTo see me struggle in death’s cold embrace. “But, man, you lie! for I am strong–in truthStronger than I have been in years; and soonI shall feel young again as in […]

[This recitation is intended to be given with an accompaniment of waltz music, introducing dance-steps at the refrain “With one, two, three,” etc.] A giddy young maiden with nimble feet,Heigh-ho! alack and alas!Declared she would far rather dance than eat,And the truth of it came to pass.For she danced all day and she danced all […]

We plucked a red rose, you and I,All in the summer weather;Sweet its perfume and rare its bloom,Enjoyed by us together.The rose is dead, the summer fled,And bleak winds are complaining;We dwell apart, but in each heartWe find the thorn remaining. We sipped a sweet wine, you and I,All in the summer weather.The beaded draught […]

In Vanity Fair, as we bow and smile,As we talk of the opera after the weather,As we chat of fashion and fad and style,We know we are playing a part together.You know that the mirth she wears, she borrows;She knows you laugh but to hide your sorrows;We know that under the silks and laces,And back […]

One night Nurse Sleep held out her handTo tired little May.“Come, go with me to Wonderland,”She said, “I know the way.Just rock-a-by–hum-m-m,And lo! we comeTo the place where the dream-girls play.” But naughty May, she wriggled awayFrom Sleep’s soft arms, and said:“I must stay awake till I eat my cake,And then I will go to […]

PART IV “Maurine, Maurine, ’tis ten o’clock! arise,My pretty sluggard, open those dark eyesAnd see where yonder sun is! Do you knowI made my toilet just four hours ago?” ‘Twas Helen’s voice: and Helen’s gentle kissFell on my cheek. As from a deep abyss,I drew my weary self from that strange sleepThat rests not nor […]

PART II To little birds that never tire of hummingAbout the garden in the summer weather,Aunt Ruth compared us, after Helen’s coming,As we two roamed, or sat and talked together.Twelve months apart, we had so much to sayOf school days gone–and time since passed away;Of that old friend, and this; of what we’d done;Of how […]

PART III One golden twelfth-part of a checkered year;One summer month, of sunlight, moonlight, mirth,With not a hint of shadows lurking near,Or storm-clouds brewing. ‘Twas a royal day:Voluptuous July held her lover, Earth,With her warm arms, upon her glowing breast,And twined herself about him, as he laySmiling and panting in his dream-stirred rest.She bound him […]

PART I I sat and sewed, and sang some tender tune,Oh, beauteous was that morn in early June!Mellow with sunlight, and with blossoms fair:The climbing rose-tree grew about me there,And checked with shade the sunny porticoWhere, morns like this, I came to read, or sew. I heard the gate click, and a firm, quick treadUpon […]

Oh! not for the great departed,Who formed our country’s laws,And not for the bravest-hearted,Who died in freedom’s cause,And not for some living heroTo whom all bend the knee,My muse would raise her song of praise–But for the man to be. For out of the strife which womanIs passing through to-day,A man that is more than […]

Oh! I know a certain woman who is reckoned with the good,But she fills me with more terror than a raging lion could.The little chills run up and down my spine whene’er we meet,Though she seems a gentle creature and she’s very trim and neat. And she has a thousand virtues and not one acknowledged […]

PART VII With much hard labour and some pleasure fraught,The months rolled by me noiselessly, that taughtMy hand to grow more skilful in its art,Strengthened my daring dream of fame, and broughtSweet hope and resignation to my heart. Brief letters came from Helen, now and then:She was quite well–oh yes! quite well, indeed!But still so […]

PART VI There was a week of bustle and of hurry;A stately home echoed to voices sweet,Calling, replying; and to tripping feetOf busy bridesmaids, running to and fro,With all that girlish fluttering and flurryPreceding such occasions. Helen’s roomWas like a lily-garden, all in bloom,Decked with the dainty robes of her trousseau.My robe was fashioned by […]

PART V A visit to a cave some miles awayWas next in order. So, one sunny day,Four prancing steeds conveyed a laughing loadOf merry pleasure-seekers o’er the road.A basket picnic, music, and croquetWere in the programme. Skies were blue and clear,And cool winds whispered of the Autumn near.The merry-makers filled the time with pleasure:Some floated […]

I know not wherefore, but mine eyesSee bloom, where other eyes see blight.They find a rainbow, a sunrise,Where others but discern deep night. Men call me an enthusiast,And say I look through gilded haze:Because where’er my gaze is cast,I see something that calls for praise. I say, “Behold those lovely eyes –That tinted cheek of […]

I must do as you do? Your way I ownIs a very good way. And still,There are sometimes two straight roads to a town,One over, one under the hill. You are treading the safe and the well-worn way,That the prudent choose each time;And you think me reckless and rash to-day,Because I prefer to climb. Your […]

All roads that lead to God are good.What matters it, your faith, or mine?Both centre at the goal divineOf love’s eternal Brotherhood. The kindly life in house or street –The life of prayer and mystic rite –The student’s search for truth and light –These paths at one great Junction meet. Before the oldest book was […]