In the still jungle of the senses layA tiger soundly sleeping, till one dayA bold young hunter chanced to come that way. “How calm,” he said, “that splendid creature lies!I long to rouse him into swift surprise.”The well aimed arrow shot from amorous eyes, And lo! the tiger rouses up and turns,A coal of fire […]

The hurry of the times affects us soIn this swift rushing hour, we crowd and pressAnd thrust each other backward as we go,And do not pause to lay sufficient stressUpon that good, strong, true word, Earnestness.In our impetuous haste, could we but knowIts full, deep meaning, its vast import, oh,Then might we grasp the secret […]

The year outgrows the spring it thought so sweet,And clasps the summer with a new delight,Yet wearied, leaves her languors and her heatWhen cool-browed autumn dawns upon his sight. The tree outgrows the bud’s suggestive grace,And feels new pride in blossoms fully blown.But even this to deeper joy gives placeWhen bending boughs ‘neath blushing burdens […]

Through rivers of veins on the nameless questThe tide of my life goes hurriedly sweeping,Till it reaches that curious wheel o’ the breast,The human heart, which is never at rest.Faster, faster, it cries, and leaping,Plunging, dashing, speeding away,The wheel and the river work night and day. I know not wherefore, I know not whither,This strange […]

Let me lean hard upon the Eternal Breast:In all earth’s devious ways I sought for restAnd found it not. I will be strong, said I,And lean upon myself. I will not cryAnd importune all heaven with my complaint.But now my strength fails, and I fall, I faint:Let me lean hard. Let me lean hard upon […]

Because of the fullness of what I hadAll that I have seems void and vain.If I had not been happy I were not sad;Though my salt is savorless, why complain? From the ripe perfection of what was mine,All that is mine seems worse than naught;Yet I know as I sit in the dark and pine,No […]

(Written on the day of President McKinley’s death) In the midst of sunny waters, lo! the mighty Ship of StateStaggers, bruised and torn and wounded by a derelict of fate,One that drifted from its moorings in the anchorage of hate. On the deck our noble Pilot, in the glory of his prime,Lies in woe-impelling silence, […]

(Written on the day of Queen Victoria’s funeral) The Queen is taking a drive to-day,They have hung with purple the carriage-way,They have dressed with purple the royal trackWhere the Queen goes forth and never comes back. Let no man labour as she goes byOn her last appearance to mortal eye:With heads uncovered let all men […]

A curious vision on mine eyes unfurledIn the deep night. I saw, or seemed to see,Two Centuries meet, and sit down vis-a-visAcross the great round table of the world:One with suggested sorrows in his mien,And on his brow the furrowed lines of thought;And one whose glad expectant presence broughtA glow and radiance from the realms […]

In the dark night, from sweet refreshing sleepI wake to hear outside my window-paneThe uncurbed fury of the wild spring rain,And weird winds lashing the defiant deep,And roar of floods that gather strength and leapDown dizzy, wreck-strewn channels to the main.I turn upon my pillow and againCompose myself for slumber.Let them sweep;I once survived great […]

Some cawing Crows, a hooting Owl,A Hawk, a Canary, an old Marsh-Fowl,One day all meet togetherTo hold a caucus and settle the fateOf a certain bird (without a mate),A bird of another feather. “My friends,” said the Owl, with a look most wise,“The Eagle is soaring too near the skies,In a way that is quite […]

He who possesses virtue at its best,Or greatness in the true sense of the word,Has one day started even with that herdWhose swift feet now speed but at sin’s behest.It is the same force in the human breastWhich makes men gods or demons. If we girdThose strong emotions by which we are stirredWith might of […]

We two make home of any place we go;We two find joy in any kind of weather;Or if the earth is clothed in bloom or snow,If summer days invite, or bleak winds blow,What matters it if we two are together?We two, we two, we make our world, our weather. We two make banquets of the […]

What is the explanation of the strange silence of American poets concerning American triumphs on sea and land? Literary Digest. Why should the poet of these pregnant timesBe asked to sing of war’s unholy crimes? To laud and eulogize the trade which thrivesOn horrid holocausts of human lives? Man was a fighting beast when earth […]

I know not whence I came,I know not whither I go;But the fact stands clear that I am hereIn this world of pleasure and woe.And out of the mist and murkAnother truth shines plain –It is my power each day and hourTo add to its joy or its pain. I know that the earth exists,It […]

Do you wish the world were better?Let me tell you what to do:Set a watch upon your actions,Keep them always straight and true;Rid your mind of selfish motives;Let your thoughts be clean and high.You can make a little EdenOf the sphere you occupy. Do you wish the world were wiser?Well, suppose you make a start,By […]

I am serenity. Though passions beatLike mighty billows on my helpless heart,I know beyond them lies the perfect sweetSerenity, which patience can impart.And when wild tempests in my bosom rage,“Peace, peace,” I cry, “it is my heritage.” I am good health. Though fevers rack my brainAnd rude disorders mutilate my strength,A perfect restoration after pain,I […]

God and I in space aloneAnd nobody else in view.“And where are the people, O Lord,” I said,“The earth below, and the sky o’er head,And the dead whom once I knew?” “That was a dream,” God smiled and said –“A dream that seemed to be true.There were no people, living or dead,There was no earth, […]

As the funeral train with its honoured deadOn its mournful way went sweeping,While a sorrowful nation bowed its headAnd the whole world joined in weeping,I thought, as I looked on the solemn sight,Of the one fond heart despairing,And I said to myself, as in truth I might,“How sad must be this SHARING.” To share the […]

A lovely little keeper of the home,Absorbed in menu books, yet eruditeWhen I need counsel; quick at reparteeAnd slow to anger. Modest as a flower,Yet scintillant and radiant as a star.Unmercenary in her mould of mind,While opulent and dainty in her tastes.A nature generous and free, albeitThe incarnation of economy.She must be chaste as proud […]