If all the ships I have at seaShould come a-sailing home to me,Ah, well! the harbour could not holdSo many sails as there would beIf all my ships came in from sea. If half my ships came home from sea,And brought their precious freight to me,Ah, well! I should have wealth as greatAs any king […]

The sands upon the ocean sideThat change about with every tide,And never true to one abide,A woman’s love I liken to. The summer zephyrs, light and vain,That sing the same alluring strainTo every grass blade on the plain –A woman’s love is nothing more. The sunshine of an April dayThat comes to warm you with […]

The mighty conflict, which we call existence,Doth wear upon the body and the soul,Our vital forces wasted in resistance,So much there is to conquer and control. The rock which meets the billows with defiance,Undaunted and unshaken day by day,In spite of its unyielding self-reliance,Is by the warfare surely worn away. And there are depths and […]

O Science, reaching backward through the distance,Most earnest child of God,Exposing all the secrets of existence,With thy divining rod,I bid thee speed up to the heights supernal,Clear thinker, ne’er sufficed;Go seek and bind the laws and truths eternal,But leave me Christ. Upon the vanity of pious sagesLet in the light of day;Break down the superstitions […]

What does our country need? No armies standingWith sabres gleaming ready for the fight;Not increased navies, skilful and commanding,To bound the waters with an iron might;Not haughty men with glutted purses tryingTo purchase souls, and keep the power of place;Not jewelled dolls with one another vyingFor palms of beauty, elegance, and grace. But we want […]

Sirs, when you pity us, I sayYou waste your pity. Let it stay,Well corked and stored upon your shelves,Until you need it for yourselves. We do appreciate God’s thoughtIn forming you, before He broughtUs into life. His art was crude,But oh! so virile in its rude, Large, elemental strength; and thenHe learned His trade in […]

An artist toiled over his pictures;He laboured by night and by day,He struggled for glory and honourBut the world, it had nothing to say.His walls were ablaze with the splendoursWe see in the beautiful skies;But the world beheld only the coloursThat were made out of chemical dyes. Time sped. And he lived, loved, and suffered;He […]

Life is a privilege. Its youthful daysShine with the radiance of continuous Mays.To live, to breathe, to wonder and desire,To feed with dreams the heart’s perpetual fire,To thrill with virtuous passions, and to glowWith great ambitions–in one hour to knowThe depths and heights of feeling–God! in truth,How beautiful, how beautiful is youth! Life is a […]

Love is enough. Let us not ask for gold.Wealth breeds false aims, and pride, and selfishness;In those serene, Arcadian days of oldMen gave no thought to princely homes and dress.The gods who dwelt on fair Olympia’s heightLived only for dear love and love’s delight.Love is enough. Love is enough. Why should we care for fame?Ambition […]

Dear love, if you and I could sail away,With snowy pennons to the winds unfurled,Across the waters of some unknown bay,And find some island far from all the world; If we could dwell there, evermore alone,While unrecorded years slip by apace,Forgetting and forgotten and unknownBy aught save native song-birds of the place; If Winter never […]

Let us clear a little space,And make Love a burial-place. He is dead, dear, as you see,And he wearies you and me. Growing heavier, day by day,Let us bury him, I say. Wings of dead white butterflies,These shall shroud him, as he lies In his casket rich and rare,Made of finest maiden-hair. With the pollen […]

So many gods, so many creeds,So many paths that wind and wind,While just the art of being kind,Is all the sad world needs.

You call me an angel of love and of light,A being of goodness and heavenly fire,Sent out from God’s kingdom to guide you aright,In paths where your spirit may mount and aspire,You say that I glow like a star on its course,Like a ray from the altar, a spark from the source. Now list to […]

All wondering, and eager-eyed, within her porticoI made my plea to Hostess Life, one morning long ago. “Pray show me this great house of thine, nor close a single door;But let me wander where I will, and climb from floor to floor! For many rooms, and curious things, and treasures great and smallWithin your spacious […]

It is easy enough to be pleasantWhen life flows by like a song,But the man worth while is the one who will smileWhen everything goes dead wrong.For the test of the heart is trouble,And it always comes with the years,And the smile that is worth the praises of earthIs the smile that shines through tears. […]

In the fair morning of his life,When his pure heart lay in his breast,Panting, with all that wild unrestTo plunge into the great world’s strife That fills young hearts with mad desire,He saw a sunset. Red and goldThe burning billows surged and rolled,And upward tossed their caps of fire. He looked. And as he looked, […]

Don’t look for the flaws as you go through life;And even when you find them,It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind,And look for the virtue behind them;For the cloudiest night has a hint of lightSomewhere in its shadows hiding;It’s better by far to hunt for a star,Than the spots on the sun abiding. […]

I do not undertake to sayThat literal answers come from Heaven,But I know this–that when I prayA comfort, a support is givenThat helps me rise o’er earthly thingsAs larks soar up on airy wings. In vain the wise philosopherPoints out to me my fabric’s flaws,In vain the scientists averThat “all things are controlled by laws.”My […]

In the long run fame finds the deserving man.The lucky wight may prosper for a day,But in good time true merit leads the vanAnd vain pretence, unnoticed, goes its way.There is no Chance, no Destiny, no Fate,But Fortune smiles on those who work and wait,In the long run. In the long run all godly sorrow […]

In the rapture of life and of living,I lift up my heart and rejoice,And I thank the great Giver for givingThe soul of my gladness a voice.In the glow of the glorious weather,In the sweet-scented, sensuous air,My burdens seem light as a feather –They are nothing to bear. In the strength and the glory of […]