If I were a man, a young man, and knew what I know to-day,I would look in the eyes of Life undauntedBy any Fate that might threaten me.I would give to the world what the world most wanted –Manhood that knows it can do and be;Courage that dares, and faith that can seeClear into the […]

Time with his back against the mighty wall,Which hides from view all future joy and sorrow,Hears, without answer, the impatient callOf puny man, to tell him of to-morrow. Moral, be wise, and to the silence bow,These useless and unquiet ways forsaking;Concern thyself with the Eternal Now –To-day hold all things, ready for thy taking.

Fame writes ever its song and story,For heroes of war, in letters of glory. But where is the story and where is the songFor the heroes of peace and the martyrs of wrong? They fight their battles in shop and mine;They die at their posts and make no sign. They herd like beasts in a […]

It was long, long ago that a soul like a flowerUnfolded, and blossomed, and passed in an hour.It was long, long ago; and the memory seemsLike the pleasures and sorrows that come in our dreams. The kind years have crowned me with many a joySince the going away of my wee little boy;Each one as […]

I am running forth to meet you, O my Master,For they tell me you are surely on the way;Yes, they tell me you are coming back again(While I run, while I run).And I wish my feet were winged to speed on faster,And I wish I might behold you here to-day,Lord of men. I am running, […]

Sad man, Sad man, tell me, pray,What did you see to-day? I saw the unloved and unhappy old, waiting for slow delinquent death to come.Pale little children toiling for the rich, in rooms where sunlight is ashamed to go.The awful alms-house, where the living dead rot slowly in their hideous open graves.And there were shameful […]

Well, you are free;The longed for, lied for, waited for decreeIs yours to-day.I made no protest; and you had your say,And left me with no vestige of repute.Neglect, abuse, and cruelty you chargeWith broken marriage vows. The list is largeBut not to be denied. So I was mute. Now you shall listen to a few […]

Behold the earth swung in among the starsFit home for gods if men were only kind –Do thou thy part to shape it to those ends,By shaping thine own life to perfectness.Seek nothing for thyself or thine own kinThat robs another of one hope or joy,Let no man toil in poverty and painTo give thee […]

When the whole world resounds with rude alarmsOf warring arms,When God’s good earth, from border unto borderShows man’s disorder,Let me not waste my dower of mortal mightIn grieving over wrongs I cannot right.This is my task: amid discordant strifeTo keep a clean sweet centre in my life;And though the human orchestra may bePlaying all out […]

A granite rock in the mountain sideGazed on the world and was satisfied.It watched the centuries come and go,It welcomed the sunlight yet loved the snow,It grieved when the forest was forced to fall,Yet joyed when steeples rose white and tallIn the valley below it, and thrilled to hearThe voice of the great town roaring […]

Fate used me meanly; but I looked at her and laughed,That none might know how bitter was the cup I quaffed.Along came Joy, and paused beside me where I sat,Saying, ‘I came to see what you were laughing at.’

Let us halt now for a space in our hurrying;Let us take time to look up and look out;Let us refuse for a spell to be worrying;Let us decline to both question and doubt.If one goes cavilling,Hair splitting, flaw hunting–ready for strife –All the best pleasure is missed in the travellingOnward through life. Just for […]

Oh! that is a beautiful land I wis,The land of the Gone-Away Souls.Yes, a lovelier region by far than this(Though this is a world most fair),The goodliest goal of all good goals,Else why do our friends stay there?I walk in a world that is sweet with friends,And earth I have ever held dear;Yes, love with […]

Lord of all the Universe, when I think of YOU,Flinging stars out into space, moving suns and tides;Then this little mortal mind gets the larger view,And the carping self of me runs away and hides. Then I see all shadowed paths leading out to Light;See the false things fade away, leaving but the True;See the […]

Great dignity ever attends great grief,And silently walks beside it;And I always know when I see such woeThat Invisible Helpers guide it.And I know deep sorrow is like a tide,It cannot ever be flowing;The high-water mark in the night and the dark –Then dawn, and the outward going. But the people who pull at my […]

Two roadways lead from this land to That, and one is the road of Prayer;And one is the road of Old-time Songs, and every note is a stair. A shabby old man with a music machine on the sordid city street;But suddenly earth seemed Arcady, and life grew young and sweet.For the city street fled, […]

Since early this morning the world has seemed surgingWith unworded rhythm, and rhyme without thought.It may be the Muses take this way of urgingThe patience and pains by which poems are wrought.It may be some singer who passed into glory,With songs all unfinished, is lingering nearAnd trying to tell me the rest of the story,Which […]

HE Let us be friends. My life is sad and lonely,While yours with love is beautiful and bright.Be kind to me: I ask your friendship only.No Star is robbed by lending darkness light. SHE I give you friendship as I understand it,A sentiment I feel for all mankind. HE Oh, give me more; may not […]

WHEN LOVE FOR HIS MAKER AWOKE IN MAN, THE DANCE BEGAN The wave of the ocean, the leaf of the wood,In the rhythm of motion proclaim life is good.The stars are all swinging to metres and rhyme,The planets are singing while suns mark the time.The moonbeams and rivers float off in a trance,The Universe quivers–on, […]

SPRING A sudden softness in the wind;A glint of song, a-wing;A fragrant sound that trails behind,And joy in everything. A sudden flush upon the cheek,The teardrop quick to start;A hope too delicate to speak,And heaven within the heart. SUMMER A riotous dawn and the sea’s great wonder;The red, red heart of a rose uncurled;And beauty […]