The voices of the city–merged and swelledInto a mighty dissonance of sound,And from the medley rose these broken strainsIn changing time and ever-changing keys. I Pleasure seekers, silken clad,Led by cherub Day,Ours the duty to be glad,Ours the toil of play. Sleep has bound the commonplace,Pleasure rules the dawn.Small hours set the merry paceAnd we […]

The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer;The headstones thicken along the way,And life grows sadder, but love grows stronger,For those who walk with us day by day. The tear comes quicker, the laugh comes slower;The courage is lesser to do and dare;And the tide of joy in the heart falls lower,And seldom covers the […]

Death! I know not what room you are abiding in,But I will go my way,Rejoicing day by day,Nor will I flee or stayFor fear I tread the path you may be hiding in. Death! I know not, if my small barque be nearing you;But if you are at sea,Still there my sails float free;‘What is […]

Wherever the white man’s feet have trod(Oh far does the white man stray)A bold road rifles the virginal sod,And the forest wakes out of its dream of God,To yield him the right of way.For this is the law: BY THE POWER OF THOUGHT,FOR WORSE, OR FOR BETTER, ARE MIRACLES WROUGHT. Wherever the white man’s pathway […]

Above her veil a shrouded Moorish maidShowed melting eyes, as limpid as a lake;A brow untouched by care; a band of jetty hair,And nothing more. The all-concealing haikFell to her high arched instep. At her sideAn old duenna walked; her withered faceHalf covered only, since no lingering graceBespoke the beauty once her master’s pride. Above […]

I Arise, O master artist of the age,And paint the picture which at once shall beImmortal art and bless’d prophecy.The bruised vision of the world assuage;To earth’s dark book add one illumined page,So scintillant with truth, that all who seeShall break from superstition and stand free.Now let this wondrous work thy hand engage.The mortal sorrow […]

Time has made conquest of so many thingsThat once were mine. Swift-footed, eager youthThat ran to meet the years; bold brigand health,That broke all laws of reason unafraid,And laughed at talk of punishment. Close ties of blood and friendship, joy of life,Which reads its music in the major keyAnd will not listen to a minor […]

I have listened to the sighing of the burdened and the bound,I have heard it change to crying, with a menace in the sound;I have seen the money-getters pass unheeding on the way,As they went to forge new fetters for the people day by day. Then the voice of Labour thundered forth its purpose and […]

I am the voice of the voiceless;Through me the dumb shall speak;Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hearThe cry of the wordless weak.From street, from cage, and from kennel,From jungle and stall, the wailOf my tortured kin proclaims the sinOf the mighty against the frail. I am a ray from the centre;And I […]

‘Be not attached.’ So runs the great commandFor those who seek to ‘know’ and ‘understand.’Who sounds the waters of the deeper seaMust first draw up his anchor and go free. But not for me, that knowledge. I must waitUntil again I enter through life’s gate.I am not brave enough to sail awayTo farther seas, and […]

Along the narrow Moorish streetA blue-eyed soldier strode.(Ah, well-a-day)Veiled from her lashes to her feetShe stepped from her abode,(Ah, lack-a-day). Now love may guard a favoured wifeWho leaves the harem door;(Ah, well-a-day)But hungry hearted is her lifeWhen she is one of four.(Ah, lack-a-day.) If black eyes glow with sudden fireAnd meet warm eyes of blue […]

A beautiful great lady, past her prime,Behold her dreaming in her easy chair;Gray robed, and veiled; in laces old and rare,Her smiling eyes see but the vanished time,Of splendid prowess, and of deeds sublime.Self satisfied she sits, all unawareThat peace has flown before encroaching care,And through her halls stalks hunger, linked with crime. England, awake! […]

In books I read, how men have lived and died,With hopeless love deep in their bosoms hidden.While she for whom they long in secret sighed,Went on her way, nor guessed this flame unbidden. In real life, I never chanced to seeThe woman who was loved, and did not know it,And observation proves this fact to […]

If Christ came questioning His world to-day,(If Christ came questioning,)‘What hast thou done to glorify thy God,Since last My feet this lower earth plane trod?’How could I answer Him; and in what wayOne evidence of my allegiance bring;If Christ came questioning. If Christ came questioning, to me alone,(If Christ came questioning,)I could not point to […]

Oh! by and by we shall hear the cry,‘This is the way to Mars.’Come take a trip, on the morning Ship;It sails by the Isle of Stars. ‘A glorious view of planets newWe promise by night and day.Past dying suns our good ship runs,And we pause at the Milky Way.’ I am almost sure we […]

Now ere I slept, my prayer had been that I might see my wayTo do the will of Christ, our Lord and Master, day by day;And with this prayer upon my lips, I knew not that I dreamed,But suddenly the world of night a pandemonium seemed.From forest, and from slaughter house, from bull ring, and […]

All in the time when Earth did most deploreThe cold, ungracious aspect of young May,Sweet Summer came, and bade him smile once more;She wove bright garlands, and in winsome playShe bound him willing captive. Day by dayShe found new wiles wherewith his heart to please;Or bright the sun, or if the skies were gray,They laughed […]

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 writ,Full many a […]

With brooding mien and sultry eyes,Outside the gates of ParadiseEve sat, and fed the faggot flameThat lit the path whence Adam came.(Strange are the workings of a woman’s mind.) His giant shade preceded him,Along the pathway green, and dim;She heard his swift approaching tread,But still she sat with drooping head.(Dark are the jungles of unhappy […]

WIFE Reach out your arms, and hold me close and fast.Tell me there are no memories of your pastThat mar this love of ours, so great, so vast. HUSBAND Some truths are cheapened when too oft averred.Does not the deed speak louder than the word?(Dear God, that old dream woke again and stirred.) WIFE As […]