Think not some knowledge rests with thee alone;Why, even God’s stupendous secret, Death,We one by one, with our expiring breath,Do pale with wonder seize and make our own;The bosomed treasures of the earth are shown,Despite her careful hiding; and the airYields its mysterious marvels in despairTo swell the mighty store-house of things known.In vain the […]

Over the banisters bends a face,Daringly sweet and beguiling.Somebody stands in careless graceAnd watching the picture, smiling. The light burns dim in the hall below,Nobody sees her standing,Saying good-night again, soft and low,Halfway up to the landing. Nobody only the eyes of brown,Tender and full of meaning,That smile on the fairest face in town,Over the […]

I hold it one of the sad certain lawsWhich makes our failures sometime seem more kindThan that success which brings sure loss behind –True greatness dies, when sounds the world’s applauseFame blights the object it would bless, becauseWeighed down with men’s expectancy, the mindCan no more soar to those far heights, and findThat freedom which […]

Lean down and lift me higher, Josephine!From the Eternal Hills hast thou not seenHow I do strive for heights? but lacking wings,I cannot grasp at once those better thingsTo which I in my inmost soul aspire.Lean down and lift me higher. I grope along–not desolate or sad,For youth and hope and health all keep me […]

Thou Christ of mine, Thy gracious ear low bendingThrough these glad New Year days,To catch the countless prayers to heaven ascending –For e’en hard hearts do raiseSome secret wish for fame, or gold, or power,Or freedom from all care –Dear, patient Christ, who listeneth hour on hour,Hear now a Christian’s prayer. Let this young year […]

Let the old snow be covered with the new:The trampled snow, so soiled, and stained, and sodden.Let it be hidden wholly from our viewBy pure white flakes, all trackless and untrodden.When Winter dies, low at the sweet Spring’s feet,Let him be mantled in a clean, white sheet.Let the old life be covered by the new:The […]

Is anyone sad in the world, I wonder?Does anyone weep on a day like this,With the sun above and the green earth under?Why, what is life but a dream of bliss? With the sun and the skies and the birds above me,Birds that sing as they wheel and fly –With the winds to follow and […]

Oh, I am sick of love reciprocated,Of hopes fulfilled, ambitions gratified.Life holds no thing to be anticipated,And I am sad from being satisfied. The eager joy felt climbing up a mountainHas left me now the highest point is gained.The crystal spray that fell from Fame’s fair fountainWas sweeter than the waters were when drained. The […]

Now we must part, my Lippo. Even so,I grieve to see thy sudden pained surprise;Gaze not on me with such accusing eyes –‘Twas thine own hand which dealt dearLove’s death-blow. I loved thee fondly yesterday. Till thenThy heart was like a covered golden cupAlways above my eager lip held up.I fancied thou wert not as […]

The highest culture is to speak no ill,The best reformer is the man whose eyesAre quick to see all beauty and all worth;And by his own discreet, well-ordered life,Alone reproves the erring. When thy gazeTurns in on thine own soul, be most severe.But when it falls upon a fellow-manLet kindliness control it; and refrainFrom that […]

When was it that love died? We were so fond,So very fond a little while ago.With leaping pulses, and blood all aglow,We dreamed about a sweeter life beyond, When we should dwell together as one heart,And scarce could wait that happy time to come.Now side by side we sit with lips quite dumb,And feel ourselves […]

(Vers de Societe) We’ll cover Love with roses,And sweet sleep he shall takeNone but a fool supposesLove always keeps awake.I’ve known loves without number –True loves were they, and tried;And just for want of slumberThey pined away and died. Our love was bright and cheerfulA little while agone;Now he is pale and tearful,And–yes, I’ve seen […]

Last night I knelt low at my lady’s feet.One soft, caressing hand played with my hair,And one I kissed and fondled. Kneeling there,I deemed my meed of happiness complete. She was so fair, so full of witching wiles –Of fascinating tricks of mouth and eye;So womanly withal, but not too shy –And all my heaven […]

After the fierce midsummer all ablazeHas burned itself to ashes, and expiresIn the intensity of its own fires,There come the mellow, mild, St. Martin days,Crowned with the calm of peace, but sad with haze.So after Love has led us, till he tiresOf his own throes and torments and desires,Comes large-eyed friendship: with a restful gazeHe […]

It is a common fate–a woman’s lot–To waste on one the riches of her soul,Who takes the wealth she gives him, but cannotRepay the interest, and much less the whole. As I look up into your eyes and waitFor some response to my fond gaze and touch,It seems to me there is no sadder fateThan […]

O yes, I love you, and with all my heart;Just as a weaker woman loves her own,Better than I love my beloved art,Which, till you came, reigned royally, alone,My king, my master. Since I saw your faceI have dethroned it, and you hold that place. I am as weak as other women are:Your frown can […]

How can I wait until you come to me?The once fleet mornings linger by the way,Their sunny smiles touched with malicious gleeAt my unrest; they seem to pause, and playLike truant children, while I sigh and say,How can I wait? How can I wait? Of old, the rapid hoursRefused to pause or loiter with me […]

When my blood flows calm as a purling river,When my heart is asleep and my brain has sway,It is then that I vow we must part forever,That I will forget you, and put you awayOut of my life, as a dream is banishedOut of the mind when the dreamer awakes;That I know it will be, […]

How does Love speak?In the faint flush upon the tell-tale cheek,And in the pallor that succeeds it; byThe quivering lid of an averted eye–The smile that proves the patent to a sigh–Thus doth Love speak. How does Love speak?By the uneven heart-throbs, and the freakOf bounding pulses that stand still and ache,While new emotions, like […]

They drift down the hall together;He smiles in her lifted eyes;Like waves of that mighty river,The strains of the “Danube” rise.They float on its rhythmic measureLike leaves on a summer-stream;And here, in this scene of pleasure,I bury my sweet, dead dream. Through the cloud of her dusky tresses,Like a star, shines out her face,And the […]