There was once a little comet who lived near the Milky Way!She loved to wander out at night and jump about and play.The mother of the comet was a very good old star –She used to scold her reckless child for venturing out too far;She told her of the ogre, Sun, who loved on stars […]

Amidst applauding cheers I won a prize.A cynic watched me, with ironic eyes;An open foe, in open hatred, sneered;I cared for neither. Then my friend appeared.Eager, I listened for his glad ‘Well done.’But sudden shadow seemed to shroud my sun.He praised me: yet each slow, unwilling wordForced from its sheath base Envy’s hidden sword,Two-edged, it […]

For ‘Mabel Brown’ I never cared(My rightful name by birth),But when the name of Smith I shared,I seemed to own the earth,(I wrote it without ‘y’ or ‘e’ –Plain ‘Mrs. Jack Smith’ suited me.) My happiest hour, as I look backOn times of great content,Was when folks called me ‘Mrs. Jack,’Though ‘Mrs. Smith’ was meant.It […]

All day, all day in a calm like deathThe harp hung waiting the sea wind’s breath. When the western sky flushed red with shameAt the sun’s bold kiss, the sea wind came. Said the harp to the breeze, Oh, breathe as softAs the ring-dove cooes from its nest aloft. I am full of a song […]

Now what were the words of Jesus,And what would He pause and say,If we were to meet in home or streetThe Lord of the world to-day?Oh, I think He would pause and say,‘Go on with your chosen labour;Speak only good of your neighbour;Widen your farms, and lay down your arms,Or dig up the soil with […]

My Flower Room is such a little place,Scarce twenty feet by nine; yet in that spaceI have met God; yea, many a radiant hourHave talked with Him, the All-Embracing-Cause,About His laws.And He has shown me, in each vine and flowerSuch miracles of powerThat day by day this Flower Room of mineHas come to be a […]

It is easy to stand in the pulpit, or in the closet to kneel,And say: ‘God do this; God do that! –Make the world better; relieve the sorrows of man; for the sake of Thy Son,Oh, forgive all sin!’ Then, having planned out God’s work, to feel Our duty is done.It is easy to be […]

How will Christ come back again,How will He be seen, and where,Where His chosen way?Will He come in dead of night,Shining in His robes of light,Or at dawn of day? Will it be at Christmas time,When the bells are all achime,That He is re-born?Or will He return and bringWide and wondrous wakeningOn some Easter morn? […]

For he who climbs to say his prayerMeets half way the descending Grace. ELSA BARKER, in British Review. This is the secret of all prayersThat in God’s sight have worth,They must be uttered from the stairsThat wind away from earth;And he who mounts to speak the word,He shall be heard. He shall be heard. And […]

Up to the gates of gleaming Pearl,There came the spirit of a girl,And to the white-robed Guard she said:‘Dear Angel, am I truly dead?Just yonder, lying on my bed,I heard them say it; and they wept.And after that, methinks I slept.Then when I woke, I saw your face,And suddenly was in this place.It seems a […]

Whatever is a cruel wrong,Whatever is unjust,The honest years that speed alongWill trample in the dust.In restless youth I railed at fateWith all my puny might,But now I know if I but waitIt all will come out right. Though Vice may don the judge’s gownAnd play the censor’s part,And Fact be cowed by Falsehood’s frownAnd […]

I know two women, and one is chasteAnd cold as the snows on a winter waste,Stainless ever in act and thought(As a man, born dumb, in speech errs not).But she has malice toward her kind,A cruel tongue and a jealous mind.Void of pity and full of greed,She judges the world by her narrow creed;A brewer […]

Whatever your work and whatever its worth,No matter how strong or clever,Some one will sneer if you pause to hear,And scoff at your best endeavour.For the target art has a broad expanse,And wherever you chance to hit it,Though close be your aim to the bull’s-eye fame,There are those who will never admit it. Though the […]

A wild Pink nestled in a garden bed,A rich Carnation flourished high above her,One day he chanced to see her pretty headAnd leaned and looked again, and grew to love her. The Moss (her humble mother) saw with fearThe ardent glances of the princely stranger;With many an anxious thought and dewy tearShe sought to hide […]

A soul immortal, Time, God everywhere,Without, within–how can a heart despair,Or talk of failure, obstacles, and doubt?(What proofs of God? The little seeds that sprout,Life, and the solar system, and their laws.Nature? Ah, yes; but what was Nature’s cause?) All mighty words are short: God, life, and death,War, peace, and truth, are uttered in a […]

On great cathedral window I have seenA summer sunset swoon and sink away,Lost in the splendours of immortal art.Angels and saints and all the heavenly hosts,With smiles undimmed by half a thousand years,From wall and niche have met my lifted gaze.Sculpture and carving and illumined page,And the fair, lofty dreams of architects,That speak of beauty […]

The sun may be clouded, yet ever the sunWill sweep on its course till the cycle is run.And when into chaos the systems are hurled,Again shall the Builder reshape a new world. Your path may be clouded, uncertain your goal;Move on, for the orbit is fixed for your soul.And though it may lead into darkness […]

I am coming, coming to thee,My strong-armed lover, the Sea!On thy great broad breast I will lie and rest,And thou shalt talk to me. I have come to thee, all unsought,I have stolen an hour from thought,And peace and power thou canst give in that hour,Which thy rival Earth gives not. Alone here, under the […]

About a holy shrine or sacred place,Where many hearts have bowed in earnest prayer,The loveliest spirits congregate from space,And bring their sweet, uplifting influence there. If in your chamber you pray oft and well,Soon will these angel-messengers arriveAnd make their home with you, and where they dwellAll worthy toil and purposes shall thrive. I know […]

She gave her soul and body for a carriage,And livened lackey with a vacant grin,And all the rest–house, lands–and called it marriage:The bargain made, a husband was thrown in. And now, despite her luxury, she’s faded,Gone is the bloom that was so fresh and bright;She has the dark-rimmed eye, the countenance jaded,Of one who watches […]