Why art thou sad, my Beppo? But last eve,Here at my feet, thy dear head on my breast,I heard thee say thy heart would no more grieveOr feel the olden ennui and unrest. What troubles thee? Am I not all thine own?–I, so long sought, so sighed for and so dear?And do I not live […]

I am tired to-night, and something,The wind maybe, or the rain,Or the cry of a bird in the copse outside,Has brought back the past and its pain.And I feel, as I sit here thinking,That the hand of a dead old JuneHas reached out hold of my heart’s loose strings,And is drawing them up in tune. […]

The band was playing a waltz-quadrille,I felt as light as a wind-blown feather,As we floated away, at the caller’s will,Through the intricate, mazy dance together.Like mimic armies our lines were meeting,Slowly advancing, and then retreating,All decked in their bright array;And back and forth to the music’s rhymeWe moved together, and all the timeI knew you […]

Not quite the same the spring-time seems to me,Since that sad season when in separate waysOur paths diverged. There are no more such daysAs dawned for us in that lost time when weDwelt in the realm of dreams, illusive dreams;Spring may be just as fair now, but it seemsNot quite the same. Not quite the […]

When the first sere leaves of the year were falling,I heard, with a heart that was strangely thrilled,Out of the grave of a dead Past calling,A voice I fancied forever stilled. All through winter and spring and summer,Silence hung over that grave like a pall,But, borne on the breath of the last sad comer,I listen […]

Nay, nay, Antonio! nay, thou shalt not blame her,My Gracia, who hath so deserted me.Thou art my friend, but if thou dost defame herI shall not hesitate to challenge thee. “Curse and forget her?” So I might another,One not so bounteous-natured or so fair;But she, Antonio, she was like no other–I curse her not, because […]

On the white throat of the’ useless passionThat scorched my soul with its burning breathI clutched my fingers in murderous fashion,And gathered them close in a grip of death;For why should I fan, or feed with fuel,A love that showed me but blank despair?So my hold was firm, and my grasp was cruel–I meant to […]

The meadow and the mountain with desireGazed on each other, till a fierce unrestSurged ‘neath the meadow’s seemingly calm breast,And all the mountain’s fissures ran with fire. A mighty river rolled between them there.What could the mountain do but gaze and burn?What could the meadow do but look and yearn,And gem its bosom to conceal […]

Long have the poets vaunted, in their lays,Old times, old loves, old friendship, and old wine.Why should the old monopolize all praise?Then let the new claim mine. Give me strong new friends when the old prove weakOr fail me in my darkest hour of need;Why perish with the ship that springs a leakOr lean upon […]

All perfect things are saddening in effect.The autumn wood robed in its scarlet clothes,The matchless tinting on the royal roseWhose velvet leaf by no least flaw is flecked,Love’s supreme moment, when the soul uncheckedSoars high as heaven, and its best rapture knows–These hold a deeper pathos than our woes,Since they leave nothing better to expect. […]

Though critics may bow to art, and I am its own true lover,It is not art, but heart, which wins the wide world over. Though smooth be the heartless prayer, no ear in Heaven will mind it,And the finest phrase falls dead if there is no feeling behind it. Though perfect the player’s touch, little, […]

She had looked for his coming as warriors come,With the clash of arms and the bugle’s call:But he came instead with a stealthy tread,Which she did not hear at all. She had thought how his armor would blaze in the sun,As he rode like a prince to claim his bride:In the sweet dim light of […]

There was a fair green garden slopingFrom the south-east side of the mountain-ledge;And the earliest tint of the dawn came gropingDown through its paths, from the day’s dim edge.The bluest skies and the reddest rosesArched and varied its velvet sod;And the glad birds sang, as the soul supposesThe angels sing on the hills of God. […]

(Suggested by the “Clarimonde” OF Theophile Gautier.) Adieu, Romauld! But thou canst not forget me.Although no more I haunt thy dreams at night,Thy hungering heart forever must regret me,And starve for those lost moments of delight. Naught shall avail thy priestly rites and duties,Nor fears of Hell, nor hopes of Heaven beyond:Before the Cross shall […]

We love but once. The great gold orb of lightFrom dawn to even-tide doth cast his ray;But the full splendor of his perfect mightIs reached but once throughout the livelong day. We love but once. The waves, with ceaseless motion,Do day and night plash on the pebbled shore;But the strong tide of the resistless oceanSweeps […]

You will forget me. The years are so tender,They bind up the wounds which we think are so deep;This dream of our youth will fade out as the splendorFades from the skies when the sun sinks to sleep;The cloud of forgetfulness, over and overWill banish the last rosy colors away,And the fingers of time will […]

If all the year was summer time,And all the aim of lifeWas just to lilt on like a rhyme,Then I would be your wife. If all the days were August days,And crowned with golden weather,How happy then through green-clad waysWe two could stray together! If all the nights were moonlit nights,And we had naught to […]

Whoever was begotten by pure love,And came desired and welcome into life,Is of immaculate conception. HeWhose heart is full of tenderness and truth,Who loves mankind more than he loves himself,And cannot find room in his heart for hate,May be another Christ. We all may beThe Saviours of the world if we believeIn the Divinity which […]

Dear Love, where the red lilies blossomed and grewThe white snows are falling;And all through the woods where I wandered with youThe loud winds are calling;And the robin that piped to us tune upon tune,Neath the oak, you remember,O’er hill-top and forest has followed the JuneAnd left us December. He has left like a friend […]

Why do we pity those who weep? The painThat finds a ready outlet in the flowOf salt and bitter tears is blessed woe,And does not need our sympathies. The rainBut fits the shorn field for new yield of grain;While the red, brazen skies, the sun’s fierce glow,The dry, hot winds that from the tropics blowDo […]