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269 Works of Henry Van Dyke

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A City of Refuge

Story type: Literature

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In the dark autumn of 1914 the City sprang up almost in a night, as if by enchantment. It was white magic that called it into being–the deep, quiet, strong impulse of compassion and protection that moved the motherly heart of Holland when she saw the hundreds of thousands of Belgian fugitives pouring out of […]

Antwerp Road

Story type: Literature

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Along the straight, glistening road, through a dim arcade of drooping trees, a tunnel of faded green and gold, dripping with the misty rain of a late October afternoon, a human tide was flowing, not swiftly, but slowly, with the patient, pathetic slowness of weary feet, and numb brains, and heavy hearts. Yet they were […]

A Remembered Dream

Story type: Literature

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This is the story of a dream that came to me some five-and-twenty years ago. It is as vivid in memory as anything that I have ever seen in the outward world, as distinct as any experience through which I have ever passed. Not all dreams are thus remembered. But some are. In the records […]

Ashes of Vengeance

Story type: Literature

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Dun was a hard little city, proud and harsh; but impregnable because it was built upon a high rock. The host of the Visigoths had besieged it for months in vain. Then came a fugitive from the city, at midnight, to the tent of Alaric, the Chief of the besiegers. The man was haggard and […]

Justice of the Elements

Story type: Literature

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So the Criminal with a Crown came to the end of his resources. He had told his last lie, but not even his servants would believe it. He had made his last threat, but no living soul feared it. He had put forth his last stroke of violence and cruelty, but it fell short. When […]

The Guest, who came from beyond the lake, had lived in the house for years and had the freedom of it, so that he had become quite like a member of the family. He was friendly treated and well lodged. Indeed, some thought he had the best room of all, for though it was in […]

The King’s High Way

Story type: Literature

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In the last remnant of Belgium, a corner yet unconquered by the German horde, I saw a tall young man walking among the dunes, between the sodden lowland and the tumbling sea. The hills where he trod were of sand heaped high by the western winds; and the growth over them was wire-grass and thistles, […]

A Sanctuary of Trees

Story type: Literature

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The Baron d’Azan was old–older even than his seventy years. His age showed by contrast as he walked among his trees. They were fresh and flourishing, full of sap and vigor, though many of them had been born long before him. The tracts of forest which still belonged to his diminished estate were crowded with […]

The Hearing Ear

Story type: Literature

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There were three American boys from the region of Philadelphia in the dugout, “Somewhere in France”; and they found it a snug habitation, considering the circumstances. The central heating system–a round sheet-iron stove, little larger than a “topper” hat–sent out incredible quantities of acrid smoke at such times as the rusty stovepipe refused to draw. […]

I THE MEETING AT THE SPRING Along the old Roman road that crosses the rolling hills from the upper waters of the Marne to the Meuse a soldier of France was passing in the night. In the broader pools of summer moonlight he showed as a hale and husky fellow of about thirty years, with […]

Sketches of Quebec

Story type: Literature

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If you love a certain country, for its natural beauty, or for the friends you have made there, or for the happy days you have passed within its borders, you are troubled and distressed when that country comes under criticism, suspicion, and reproach. It is just as it would be if a woman who had […]

The Commandant of the Marine Hospital was at his desk, working hard, when the door of the room was flung open and the Officer of the Day rushed in. “Sir,” he exploded, “the New Era has come.” “Very likely, Mr. Corker,” answered the Commandant. “It has been coming continually since the world began. But is […]

A Classic Instance

Story type: Literature

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“Latin and Greek are dead,” said Hardman, lean, eager, absolute, a fanatic of modernity. “They have been a long while dying, and this war has finished them. We see now that they are useless in the modern world. Nobody is going to waste time in studying them. Education must be direct and scientific. Train men […]

On December twenty-fifth, 1918, that little white house in the park was certainly the happiest dwelling in Calvinton. It was simply running over with Christmas. You see, there had come to it a most wonderful present, a surprise full of tears and laughter. Captain Walter Mayne reached home on Christmas Eve. For a while they […]

Diana And The Lions

Story type: Literature

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In the darkest hour before the dawn, Diana floated away from her Garden Tower and came down between the Lions on the Library Steps. At first, she did not know they were Lions. She thought they were Cats, and so she was afraid. For she was very lightly clad; and (except in Egypt) Cats are […]

There was a Boy in Nazareth long ago whose after-life was wonderful, and whose story is written in the heart of mankind. His birth was predicted in dreams foretelling marvellous things of him, and in later years there were many true visions wherein he played a wondrous part. Did he not also dream, in the […]

“I am sick of all this,” said the Great Author, sweeping his hand over the silver-laden dinner-table. He seemed to include in his gesture the whole house and the broad estate surrounding it. “It bores me, and I don’t believe it can be right.” His wife, at the other end of the table, shining in […]

Salvage Point

Story type: Literature

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The Hermanns built their house at the very end of the island, five or six miles from the more or less violently rustic “summer-cottages” which adorned the hills and bluffs around the native village of Winterport. There was a long point running out to the southward at the mouth of the great bay, rough and […]

The Reward of Virtue

Story type: Literature

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I When the good priest of St. Gerome christened Patrick Mullarkey, he lent himself unconsciously to an innocent deception. To look at the name, you would think, of course, it belonged to an Irishman; the very appearance of it was equal to a certificate of membership in a Fenian society But in effect, from the […]

A Lover of Music

Story type: Literature

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I He entered the backwoods village of Bytown literally on the wings of the wind. It whirled him along like a big snowflake, and dropped him at the door of Moody’s “Sportsmen’s Retreat,” as if he were a New Year’s gift from the North Pole. His coming seemed a mere chance; but perhaps there was […]

The Gentle Life

Story type: Literature

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Do you remember that fair little wood of silver birches on the West Branch of the Neversink, somewhat below the place where the Biscuit Brook runs in? There is a mossy terrace raised a couple of feet above the water of a long, still pool; and a very pleasant spot for a friendship-fire on the […]

A Brave Heart

Story type: Literature

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“That was truly his name, m’sieu’–Raoul Vaillantcoeur–a name of the fine sound, is it not? You like that word,–a valiant heart,– it pleases you, eh! The man who calls himself by such a name as that ought to be a brave fellow, a veritable hero? Well, perhaps. But I know an Indian who is called […]

The White Blot

Story type: Literature

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I The real location of a city house depends upon the pictures which hang upon its walls. They are its neighbourhood and its outlook. They confer upon it that touch of life and character, that power to beget love and bind friendship, which a country house receives from its surrounding landscape, the garden that embraces […]

A Friend of Justice

Story type: Literature

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I It was the black patch over his left eye that made all the trouble. In reality he was of a disposition most peaceful and propitiating, a friend of justice and fair dealing, strongly inclined to a domestic life, and capable of extreme devotion. He had a vivid sense of righteousness, it is true, and […]

A Year of Nobility

Story type: Literature

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I ENTER THE MARQUIS The Marquis sat by the camp-fire peeling potatoes. To look at him, you never would have taken him for a marquis. His costume was a pair of corduroy trousers; a blue flannel shirt, patched at elbows with gray; lumberman’s boots, flat-footed, shapeless, with loose leather legs strapped just below the knee, […]

The Keeper of the Light

Story type: Literature

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At long distance, looking over the blue waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in clear weather, you might think that you saw a lonely sea-gull, snow-white, perching motionless on a cobble of gray rock. Then, as your boat drifted in, following the languid tide and the soft southern breeze, you would perceive that the […]

The Art Of Leaving Off

Story type: Literature

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It was a hot August Sunday, one of those days on which art itself must not be made too long lest it should shorten life. A little company of us had driven down from our hotel on the comparatively breezy hill to attend church in the village. The majority chose to pay their devotions at […]

Some Remarks On Gulls

Story type: Literature

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WITH A FOOT-NOTE ON A FISH I CITY GULLS The current estimate of the sea-gull as an intellectual force is compressed into the word “gullibility”–a verbal monument of contempt. But when we think how many things the gull does that we cannot do–how he has mastered the arts of flying and floating, so that he […]

Leviathan

Story type: Literature

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The village of Samaria in the central part of the State of Connecticut resembled the royal city of Israel, after which it was named, in one point only. It was perched upon the top of a hill, encircled by gentle valleys which divided it from an outer ring of hills still more elevated, almost mountainous. […]

Little Red Tom

Story type: Literature

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My Uncle Peter was much interested in the war which broke out, not long ago, among the professional nature-writers. He said that it was a civil war, and therefore a philosopher was bound to be regardful of it, because a civil war always involved subtle problems of psychology. He also said that it was a […]

Notions About Novels

Story type: Literature

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“You must write a novel,” said my Uncle Peter to the young Man of Letters. “The novel is the literary form in which the psychological conditions of interest are most easily discovered and met. It appeals directly to the reader’s self-consciousness, and invites him to fancy how fine a figure he would cut in more […]

My little Dorothea was the only one of the merry crowd who cared to turn aside with me from the beaten tourist-track, and give up the sight of another English cathedral for the sake of a quiet day among the Quantock Hills. Was it the literary association of that little corner of Somersetshire with the […]

No other time of the year, on our northern Atlantic seaboard, is so alluring, so delicate and subtle in its charm, as that which follows the fading of the bright blue lupins in the meadows and along the banks of the open streams, and precedes the rosy flush of myriad laurels in full bloom on […]

His Other Engagement

Story type: Literature

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Among the annals of the Petrine Club, which has for its motto the wise words of St. Peter, “I go a-fishing,” there are several profitable tales. Next to the story of Beekman De Peyster’s fatal success in transforming a fairly good wife into a ferocious angler, probably the most instructive is the singular adventure that […]

“It is one thing,” said my Uncle Peter, “to be perfectly honest. But it is quite another thing to tell the truth.” “Are you honest in that remark,” I asked, “or are you merely telling the truth?” “Both,” he answered, with twinkling eyes, “for that is an abstract remark, in which species of discourse truth-telling […]

Days Off

Story type: Literature

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“A day off” said my Uncle Peter, settling down in his chair before the open wood-fire, with that air of complacent obstinacy which spreads over him when he is about to confess and expound his philosophy of life,–“a day off is a day that a man takes to himself.” “You mean a day of luxurious […]

A Holiday In A Vacation

Story type: Literature

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It was really a good little summer resort where the boy and I were pegging away at our vacation. There were the mountains conveniently arranged, with pleasant trails running up all of them, carefully marked with rustic but legible guide-posts; and there was the sea comfortably besprinkled with islands, among which one might sail around […]

It was the hour of rest in the Country Beyond the Stars. All the silver bells that swing with the turning of the great ring of light which lies around that land were softly chiming; and the sound of their commotion went down like dew upon the golden ways of the city, and the long […]

I The custom of exchanging presents on a certain day in the year is very much older than Christmas, and means very much less. It has obtained in almost all ages of the world, and among many different nations. It is a fine thing or a foolish thing, as the case may be; an encouragement […]

ROMANS, xiv, 6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common […]

Father of all men, look upon our family, Kneeling together before Thee, And grant us a true Christmas. With loving heart we bless Thee: For the gift of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, For the peace He brings to human homes, For the good-will He teaches to sinful men, For the glory of Thy goodness […]

Lord God of the solitary, Look upon me in my loneliness. Since I may not keep this Christmas in the home, Send it into my heart. Let not my sins cloud me in, But shine through them with forgiveness in the face of the child Jesus. Put me in loving remembrance of the lowly lodging […]

Silverhorns

Story type: Literature

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THE railway station of Bathurst, New Brunswick, did not look particularly merry at two o’clock of a late September morning. There was an easterly haze driving in from the Baie des Chaleurs and the darkness was so saturated with chilly moisture that an honest downpour of rain would have been a relief. Two or three […]

Wordsworth

Story type: Poetry

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Wordsworth, thy music like a river rolls Among the mountains, and thy song is fed By living springs far up the watershed; No whirling flood nor parching drought controls The crystal current: even on the shoals It murmurs clear and sweet; and when its bed Deepens below mysterious cliffs of dread, Thy voice of peace […]

Music

Story type: Poetry

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I PRELUDE 1 Daughter of Psyche, pledge of that wild night When, pierced with pain and bitter-sweet delight, She knew her Love and saw her Lord depart, Then breathed her wonder and her woe forlorn Into a single cry, and thou wast born! Thou flower of rapture and thou fruit of grief; Invisible enchantress of […]

War Music

Story type: Poetry

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Break off! Dance no more! Danger is at the door. Music is in arms. To signal war’s alarms, Hark, a sudden trumpet calling Over the hill Why are you calling, trumpet, calling? What is your will? Men, men, men! Men who are ready to fight For their country’s life, and the right. Of a liberty-loving […]

THE CAMP-FIRES OF MY FRIEND Thou hast taken me into thy tent of the world, O God, Beneath thy blue canopy I have found shelter, Therefore thou wilt not deny me the right of a guest. Naked and poor I arrived at thy door before sunset: Thou hast refreshed me with beautiful bowls of milk, […]

The Good Teacher

Story type: Poetry

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The Lord is my teacher, I shall not lose the way. He leadeth me in the lowly path of learning, He prepareth a lesson for me every day; He bringeth me to the clear fountains of instruction, Little by little he showeth me the beauty of truth. The world is a great book that he […]

The lizard rested on the rock while I sat among the ruins, And the pride of man was like a vision of the night. Lo, the lords of the city have disappeared into darkness, The ancient wilderness hath swallowed up all their work. There is nothing left of the city but a heap of fragments; […]

The ways of the world are full of haste and turmoil; I will sing of the tribe of the helpers who travel in peace. He that turneth from the road to rescue another, Turneth toward his goal: He shall arrive in time by the foot-path of mercy, God will be his guide. He that taketh […]

The rivers of God are full of water, They are wonderful in the renewal of their strength, He poureth them out from a hidden fountain. They are born among the hills in the high places, Their cradle is in the bosom of the rocks, The mountain is their mother and the forest is their father. […]

I will sing of the bounty of the big trees, They are the green tents of the Almighty, He hath set them up for comfort and for shelter. Their cords hath he knotted in the earth, He hath driven their stakes securely, Their roots take hold of the rocks like iron. He sendeth into their […]

The Welcome Tent

Story type: Poetry

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This is the thanksgiving of the weary, The song of him that is ready to rest. It is good to be glad when the day is declining, And the setting of the sun is like a word of peace. The stars look kindly on the close of a journey, The tent says welcome when the […]

The Distant Road

Story type: Poetry

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Blessed is the man that beholdeth the face of a friend in a far country, The darkness of his heart is melted by the dawning of day within him, It is like the sound of a sweet music heard long ago and half forgotten: It is like the coming back of birds to a wood […]

Many a tree is found in the wood And every tree for its use is good: Some for the strength of the gnarled root, Some for the sweetness of flower or fruit; Some for shelter against the storm, And some to keep the hearth-stone warm; Some for the roof, and some for the beam, And […]

Two Schools

Story type: Poetry

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I put my heart to school In the world, where men grow wise, “Go out,” I said, “and learn the rule; “Come back when you win a prize.” My heart came back again: “Now where is the prize?” I cried.– “The rule was false, and the prize was pain, “And the teacher’s name was Pride.” […]

Who knows how many thousand years ago The twelvefold Zodiac was made to show The course of stars above and men below? The great sun plows his furrow by its “lines”: From all its “houses” mystic meaning shines: Deep lore of life is written in its “signs.” Aries–Sacrifice. Snow-white and sacred is the sacrifice That […]

Francis Makemie

Story type: Poetry

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(Presbyter of Christ in America, 1683-1708) To thee, plain hero of a rugged race, We bring the meed of praise too long delayed! Thy fearless word and faithful work have made For God’s Republic firmer path and place In this New World: thou hast proclaimed the grace And power of Christ in many a forest […]

Late Spring

Story type: Poetry

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I Ah, who will tell me, in these leaden days, Why the sweet Spring delays, And where she hides,–the dear desire Of every heart that longs For bloom, and fragrance, and the ruby fire Of maple-buds along the misty hills, And that immortal call which fills The waiting wood with songs? The snow-drops came so […]

I love the hour that comes, with dusky hair And dewy feet, along the Alpine dells To lead the cattle forth. A thousand bells Go chiming after her across the fair And flowery uplands, while the rosy flare Of sunset on the snowy mountain dwells, And valleys darken, and the drowsy spells Of peace are […]

‘Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down Among the famous palaces and cities of renown, To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,– But now I think I’ve had enough of antiquated things. So it’s home again, and home again, America for me I My heart is […]

For Archie Rutledge Here’s a half-a-dozen flies, Just about the proper size For the trout of Dickey’s Run,– Luck go with them every one! Dainty little feathered beauties, Listen now, and learn your duties: Not to tangle in the box; Not to catch on logs or rocks, Boughs that wave or weeds that float, Nor […]

I never seen no “red gods”; I dunno wot’s a “lure”; But if it’s sumpin’ takin’, then Spring has got it sure; An’ it doesn’t need no Kiplins, ner yet no London Jacks, To make up guff about it, w’ile settin’ in their shacks. It’s sumpin’ very simple ‘at happens in the Spring, But it […]

Oh, the angler’s path is a very merry way, And his road through the world is bright; For he lives with the laughing stream all day, And he lies by the fire at night. Sing hey nonny, ho nonny And likewise well-a-day! The angler’s life is a very jolly life And that’s what the anglers […]

Ars Agricolaris

Story type: Poetry

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An Ode for the “Farmer’s Dinner,” University Club, New York, January 23, 1913 All hail, ye famous Farmers! Ye vegetable-charmers, Who know the art of making barren earth Smile with prolific mirth And bring forth twins or triplets at a birth! Ye scientific fertilizers of the soil, And horny-handed sons of toil! To-night from all […]

For the St. Nicholas Society of New York Among the earliest saints of old, before the first Hegira, I find the one whose name we hold, St. Nicholas of Myra: The best-beloved name, I guess, in sacred nomenclature,– The patron-saint of helpfulness, and friendship, and good-nature. A bishop and a preacher too, a famous theologian, […]

Recited at the Century Club, New York: Twelfth Night. 1906 Come all ye good Centurions and wise men of the times, You’ve made a Poet Laureate, now you must hear his rhymes. Extend your ears and I’ll respond by shortening up my tale:– Man cannot live by verse alone, he must have cakes and ale. […]

A Fairy Tale

Story type: Poetry

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For the Mark Twain Dinner, December 5, 1905 Some three-score years and ten ago A prince was born at Florida, Mo.; And though he came incognito, With just the usual yells of woe, The watchful fairies seemed to know Precisely what the row meant; For when he was but five days old, (December fifth as […]

A modern verse-sequence, showing how a native American subject, strictly realistic, may be treated in various manners adapted to the requirements of different magazines, thus combining Art-for-Art’s-Sake with Writing-for-the-Market. Read at the First Dinner of the American Periodical Publishers’ Association, in Washington, April, 1904. I THE ANTI-TRUST CLAM For McClure’s Magazine The clam that once, […]

TO OLIVE WHEELER Winter on Mount Shasta, April down below; Golden hours of glowing sun, Sudden showers of snow! Under leafless thickets Early wild-flowers cling; But, oh, my dear, I’m fain to hear The first bird o’ Spring! Alders are in tassel, Maples are in bud; Waters of the blue McCloud Shout in joyful flood; […]

The Old Flute

Story type: Poetry

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The time will come when I no more can play This polished flute: the stops will not obey My gnarled fingers; and the air it weaves In modulations, like a vine with leaves Climbing around the tower of song, will die In rustling autumn rhythms, confused and dry. My shortened breath no more will freely […]

Oh, what do you know of the song, my dear, And how have you made it your own? You have caught the turn of the melody clear, And you give it again with a golden tone, Till the wonder-word and the wedded note Are flowing out of your beautiful throat With a liquid charm for […]

Great Nature had a million words, In tongues of trees and songs of birds, But none to breathe the heart of man, Till Music filled the pipes o’ Pan. 1909.

Master Of Music

Story type: Poetry

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(In memory of Theodore Thomas, 1905) Glory architect, glory of painter, and sculptor, and bard, Living forever in temple and picture and statue and song,– Look how the world with the lights that they lit is illumined and starred; Brief was the flame of their life, but the lamps of their art burn long! Where […]

The grief that is but feigning, And weeps melodious tears Of delicate complaining From self-indulgent years; The mirth that is but madness, And has no inward gladness Beneath its laughter straining, To capture thoughtless ears; The love that is but passion Of amber-scented lust; The doubt that is but fashion; The faith that has no […]

IN MEMORIAM Soul of a soldier in a poet’s frame, Heart of a hero in a body frail; Thine was the courage clear that did not quail Before the giant champions of shame Who wrought dishonour to the city’s name; And thine the vision of the Holy Grail Of Love, revealed through Music’s lucid veil, […]

ON HIS “BOOK OF JOYOUS CHILDREN” Yours is a garden of old-fashioned flowers; Joyous children delight to play there; Weary men find rest in its bowers, Watching the lingering light of day there. Old-time tunes and young love-laughter Ripple and run among the roses; Memory’s echoes, murmuring after, Fill the dusk when the long day […]

(Read at His Funeral, January 21, 1908) Oh, quick to feel the lightest touch Of beauty or of truth, Rich in the thoughtfulness of age, The hopefulness of youth, The courage of the gentle heart, The wisdom of the pure, The strength of finely tempered souls To labour and endure! The blue of springtime in […]

I BIRTHDAY VERSES, 1906 Dear Aldrich, now November’s mellow days Have brought another Festa round to you, You can’t refuse a loving-cup of praise From friends the fleeting years have bound to you. Here come your Marjorie Daw, your dear Bad Boy, Prudence, and Judith the Bethulian, And many more, to wish you birthday joy, […]

Longfellow

Story type: Poetry

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In a great land, a new land, a land full of labour and riches and confusion, Where there were many running to and fro, and shouting, and striving together, In the midst of the hurry and the troubled noise, I heard the voice of one singing. “What are you doing there, O man, singing quietly […]

Victor Hugo

Story type: Poetry

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1802-1902 Heart of France for a hundred years, Passionate, sensitive, proud, and strong, Quick to throb with her hopes and fears, Fierce to flame with her sense of wrong! You, who hailed with a morning song Dream-light gilding a throne of old: You, who turned when the dream grew cold, Singing still, to the light […]

Tennyson

Story type: Poetry

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In Lucem Transitus, October, 1892 From the misty shores of midnight, touched with splendours of the moon, To the singing tides of heaven, and the light more clear than noon, Passed a soul that grew to music till it was with God in tune. Brother of the greatest poets, true to nature, true to art; […]

"In Memoriam"

Story type: Poetry

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The record of a faith sublime, And hope, through clouds, far-off discerned; The incense of a love that burned Through pain and doubt defying Time: The story of a soul at strife That learned at last to kiss the rod, And passed through sorrow up to God, From living to a higher life: A light […]

Robert Browning

Story type: Poetry

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How blind the toil that burrows like the mole, In winding graveyard pathways underground, For Browning’s lineage! What if men have found Poor footmen or rich merchants on the roll Of his forbears? Did they beget his soul? Nay, for he came of ancestry renowned Through all the world,–the poets laurel-crowned With wreaths from which […]

Keats

Story type: Poetry

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The melancholy gift Aurora gained From Jove, that her sad lover should not see The face of death, no goddess asked for thee, My Keats! But when the scarlet blood-drop stained Thy pillow, thou didst read the fate ordained,– Brief life, wild love, a flight of poesy! And then,–a shadow fell on Italy: Thy star […]

Shelley

Story type: Poetry

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Knight-errant of the Never-ending Quest, And Minstrel of the Unfulfilled Desire; For ever tuning thy frail earthly lyre To some unearthly music, and possessed With painful passionate longing to invest The golden dream of Love’s immortal fire With mortal robes of beautiful attire, And fold perfection to thy throbbing breast! What wonder, Shelley, that the […]

Milton

Story type: Poetry

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I Lover of beauty, walking on the height Of pure philosophy and tranquil song; Born to behold the visions that belong To those who dwell in melody and light; Milton, thou spirit delicate and bright! What drew thee down to join the Roundhead throng Of iron-sided warriors, rude and strong, Fighting for freedom in a […]

FOR THE UNNAMED SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN FRANCE Universal approval has been accorded the proposal made in the French Chamber that the ashes of an unnamed French soldier, fallen for his country, shall be removed with solemn ceremony to the Pantheon. In this way it is intended to honor by a symbolic ceremony the memory […]

Mother Earth

Story type: Poetry

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Mother of all the high-strung poets and singers departed, Mother of all the grass that weaves over their graves the glory of the field, Mother of all the manifold forms of life, deep-bosomed, patient, impassive, Silent brooder and nurse of lyrical joys and sorrows! Out of thee, yea, surely out of the fertile depth below […]

In the blue heaven the clouds will come and go, Scudding before the gale, or drifting slow As galleons becalmed in Sundown Bay: And through the air the birds will wing their way Soaring to far-off heights, or flapping low, Or darting like an arrow from the bow; And when the twilight comes the stars […]

Ship after ship, and every one with a high-resounding name, From the robber-nest of Heligoland the German war-fleet came; Not victory or death they sought, but a rendezvous of shame. Sing out, sing out, A joyful shout, Ye lovers of the sea! The “Kaiser” and the “Kaiserin,” The “Koenig” and the “Prinz,” The potentates of […]

Golden Stars

Story type: Poetry

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I It was my lot of late to travel far Through all America’s domain, A willing, gray-haired servitor Bearing the Fiery Cross of righteous war. And everywhere, on mountain, vale and plain, In crowded street and lonely cottage door, I saw the symbol of the bright blue star. Millions of stars! Rejoice, dear land, rejoice […]

Easter Road

Story type: Poetry

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1918 Under the cloud of world-wide war, While earth is drenched with sorrow, I have no heart for idle merrymaking, Or for the fashioning of glad raiment. I will retrace the divine footmarks, On the Road of the first Easter. Down through the valley of utter darkness Dripping with blood and tears; Over the hill […]

Oh, gallantly they fared forth in khaki and in blue, America’s crusading host of warriors bold and true; They battled for the rights of man beside our brave Allies, And now they’re coming home to us with glory in their eyes. Oh, it’s home again, and home again, America for me! Our hearts are turning […]

The Red Cross

Story type: Poetry

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Sign of the Love Divine That bends to bear the load Of all who suffer, all who bleed, Along life’s thorny road: Sign of the Heart Humane, That through the darkest fight Would bring to wounded friend and foe A ministry of light: O dear and holy sign, Lead onward like a star! The armies […]

The rough expanse of democratic sea Which parts the lands that live by liberty Is no division; for their hearts are one. To fight together till their cause is won. For land and water let us make our pact, And seal the solemn word with valiant act: No continent is firm, no ocean pure, Until […]

I have no joy in strife, Peace is my great desire; Yet God forbid I lose my life Through fear to face the fire. A peaceful man must fight For that which peace demands,– Freedom and faith, honor and right, Defend with heart and hands. Farewell, my friendly books; Farewell, ye woods and streams; The […]

AMERICAN FLAG SONG 1776 O dark the night and dim the day When first our flag arose; It fluttered bravely in the fray To meet o’erwhelming foes. Our fathers saw the splendor shine, They dared and suffered all; They won our freedom by the sign– The holy sign, the radiant sign– Of the stars that […]

Righteous Wrath

Story type: Poetry

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There are many kinds of anger, as many kinds of fire; And some are fierce and fatal with murderous desire; And some are mean and craven, revengeful, sullen, slow, They hurt the man that holds them more than they hurt his foe. And yet there is an anger that purifies the heart: The anger of […]

The winds of war-news change and veer: Now westerly and full of cheer, Now easterly, depressing, sour With tidings of the Teutons’ power. But thou, America, whose heart With brave Allies has taken part, Be not a weathercock to change With these wild winds that shift and range. Be thou a compass ever true, Through […]

Homeward Bound

Story type: Poetry

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Home, for my heart still calls me; Home, through the danger zone; Home, whatever befalls me, I will sail again to my own! Wolves of the sea are hiding Closely along the way, Under the water biding Their moment to rend and slay. Black is the eagle that brands them, Black are their hearts as […]

Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhattan Bay, The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away: Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy hand To spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land. No more thou dreamest of a peace reserved alone for thee, […]

February, 1917 I never thought again to hear The Oxford thrushes singing clear, Amid the February rain, Their sweet, indomitable strain. A wintry vapor lightly spreads Among the trees, and round the beds Where daffodil and jonquil sleep; Only the snowdrop wakes to weep. It is not springtime yet. Alas, What dark, tempestuous days must […]

The glory of ships is an old, old song, since the days when the sea-rovers ran, In their open boats through the roaring surf, and the spread of the world began; The glory of ships is a light on the sea, and a star in the story of man. When Homer sang of the galleys […]

Mare Liberum

Story type: Poetry

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I You dare to say with perjured lips, “We fight to make the ocean free”? You, whose black trail of butchered ships Bestrews the bed of every sea Where German submarines have wrought Their horrors! Have you never thought,– What you call freedom, men call piracy! II Unnumbered ghosts that haunt the wave, Where you […]

They tell me thou art rich, my country: gold In glittering flood has poured into thy chest; Thy flocks and herds increase, thy barns are pressed With harvest, and thy stores can hardly hold Their merchandise; unending trains are rolled Along thy network rails of East and West; Thy factories and forges never rest; Thou […]

1914-1916 What hast thou done, O womanhood of France, Mother and daughter, sister, sweetheart, wife, What hast thou done, amid this fateful strife, To prove the pride of thine inheritance In this fair land of freedom and romance? I hear thy voice with tears and courage rife,– Smiling against the swords that seek thy life,– […]

Give us a name to fill the mind With the shining thoughts that lead mankind, The glory of learning, the joy of art,– A name that tells of a splendid part In the long, long toil and the strenuous fight Of the human race to win its way From the feudal darkness into the day […]

August 17, 1914 The gabled roofs of old Malines Are russet red and gray and green, And o’er them in the sunset hour Looms, dark and huge, St. Rombold’s tower. High in that rugged nest concealed, The sweetest bells that ever pealed, The deepest bells that ever rung, The lightest bells that ever sung, Are […]

Storm-Music

Story type: Poetry

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O Music hast thou only heard The laughing river, the singing bird, The murmuring wind in the poplar-trees,– Nothing but Nature’s melodies? Nay, thou hearest all her tones, As a Queen must hear! Sounds of wrath and fear, Mutterings, shouts, and moans, Madness, tumult, and despair,– All she has that shakes the air With voices […]

Peace without Justice is a low estate,– A coward cringing to an iron Fate! But Peace through Justice is the great ideal,– We’ll pay the price of war to make it real. December 28, 1916.

Might And Right

Story type: Poetry

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If Might made Right, life were a wild-beasts’ cage; If Right made Might, this were the golden age; But now, until we win the long campaign, Right must gain Might to conquer and to reign. July 1, 1915.

“God said I am tired of kings.”–EMERSON. God said, “I am tired of kings,”– But that was a long while ago! And meantime man said, “No,– I like their looks in their robes and rings.” So he crowned a few more, And they went on playing the game as before, Fighting and spoiling things. Man […]

Stand Fast

Story type: Poetry

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Stand fast, Great Britain! Together England, Scotland, Ireland stand One in the faith that makes a mighty land,– True to the bond you gave and will not break And fearless in the fight for conscience’ sake! Against the Giant Robber clad in steel, With blood of trampled Belgium on his heel, Striding through France to […]

Lights Out

Story type: Poetry

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(1915) “Lights out” along the land, “Lights out” upon the sea. The night must put her hiding hand O’er peaceful towns where children sleep, And peaceful ships that darkly creep Across the waves, as if they were not free. The dragons of the air, The hell-hounds of the deep, Lurking and prowling everywhere, Go forth […]

A Scrap Of Paper

Story type: Poetry

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“Will you go to war just for a scrap of paper?”–Question of the German Chancellor to the British Ambassador, August 5, 1914. A mocking question! Britain’s answer came Swift as the light and searching as the flame. “Yes, for a scrap of paper we will fight Till our last breath, and God defend the right! […]

The Red Flower

Story type: Poetry

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Avalon, February 22, 1920. June, 1914 In the pleasant time of Pentecost, By the little river Kyll, I followed the angler’s winding path Or waded the stream at will, And the friendly fertile German land Lay round me green and still. But all day long on the eastern bank Of the river cool and clear, […]

O Lord our God, Thy mighty hand Hath made our country free; From all her broad and happy land May praise arise to Thee. Fulfill the promise of her youth, Her liberty defend; By law and order, love and truth, America befriend! The strength of every State increase In Union’s golden chain; Her thousand cities […]

Stain Not The Sky

Story type: Poetry

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Ye gods of battle, lords of fear, Who work your iron will as well As once ye did with sword and spear, With rifled gun and rending shell,– Masters of sea and land, forbear The fierce invasion of the inviolate air! With patient daring man hath wrought A hundred years for power to fly; And […]

PHI BETA KAPPA ODE HARVARD UNIVERSITY June 30, 1910 I All day long in the city’s canyon-street, With its populous cliffs alive on either side, I saw a river of marching men like a tide Flowing after the flag: and the rhythmic beat Of the drums, and the bugles’ resonant blare Metred the tramp, tramp, […]

A DEMOCRATIC ODE [1] I THE WILD-BEES All along the Brazos river, All along the Colorado, In the valleys and the lowlands Where the trees were tall and stately, In the rich and rolling meadows Where the grass was full of wild-flowers, Came a humming and a buzzing, Came the murmur of a going To […]

ODE FOR THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL June 11, 1910 I The British bard who looked on Eton’s walls, Endeared by distance in the pearly gray And soft aerial blue that ever falls On English landscape with the dying day, Beheld in thought his boyhood far away, Its random raptures and its festivals Of […]

The Builders

Story type: Poetry

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ODE FOR THE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCETON COLLEGE October 21, 1896 I Into the dust of the making of man Spirit was breathed when his life began, Lifting him up from his low estate, With masterful passion, the wish to create. Out of the dust of his making, man Fashioned his works as […]

"America For Me"

Story type: Poetry

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‘Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down Among the famous palaces and cities of renown, To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,– But now I think I’ve had enough of antiquated things. So it’s home again, and home again, America for me! My heart is turning […]

This is the soldier brave enough to tell The glory-dazzled world that ‘war is hell’: Lover of peace, he looks beyond the strife, And rides through hell to save his country’s life. April, 1904.

(Presbyter of Christ in America, 1683-1708) To thee, plain hero of a rugged race, We bring the meed of praise too long delayed! Thy fearless word and faithful work have made For God’s Republic firmer resting-place In this New World: for thou hast preached the grace And power of Christ in many a forest glade, […]

Count not the cost of honour to the dead! The tribute that a mighty nation pays To those who loved her well in former days Means more than gratitude for glories fled; For every noble man that she hath bred, Lives in the bronze and marble that we raise, Immortalised by art’s immortal praise, To […]

The land was broken in despair, The princes quarrelled in the dark, When clear and tranquil, through the troubled air Of selfish minds and wills that did not dare, Your star arose, Jeanne d’Arc. O virgin breast with lilies white, O sun-burned hand that bore the lance, You taught the prayer that helps men to […]

O garden isle, beloved by Sun and Sea, Whose bluest billows kiss thy curving bays, Whose light infolds thy hills with golden rays, Filling with fruit each dark-leaved orange-tree, What hidden hatred hath the Earth for thee, That once again, in these dark, dreadful days, Breaks forth in trembling rage, and swiftly lays Thy beauty […]

Mercy For Armenia

Story type: Poetry

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I THE TURK’S WAY Stand back, ye messengers of mercy! Stand Far off, for I will save my troubled folk In my own way. So the false Sultan spoke; And Europe, hearkening to his base command, Stood still to see him heal his wounded land. Through blinding snows of winter and through smoke Of burning […]

Urbs Coronata

Story type: Poetry

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(Song for the City College of New York) O youngest of the giant brood Of cities far-renowned; In wealth and glory thou hast passed Thy rivals at a bound; Thou art a mighty queen, New York; And how wilt thou be crowned? “Weave me no palace-wreath of Pride,” The royal city said; “Nor forge of […]

The roar of the city is low, Muffled by new-fallen snow, And the sign of the wintry moon is small and round and still. Will you come with me to-night, To see a pleasant sight Away on the river-side, at the edge of Claremont Hill? “And what shall we see there, But streets that are […]

Children of the elemental mother, Born upon some lonely island shore Where the wrinkled ripples run and whisper, Where the crested billows plunge and roar; Long-winged, tireless roamers and adventurers, Fearless breasters of the wind and sea, In the far-off solitary places I have seen you floating wild and free! Here the high-built cities rise […]

THE SHALLOP ON HUDSON BAY June 22, 1611 One sail in sight upon the lonely sea, And only one! For never ship but mine Has dared these waters. We were first, My men, to battle in between the bergs And floes to these wide waves. This gulf is mine; I name it! and that flying […]

Dear to my heart are the ancestral dwellings of America, Dearer than if they were haunted by ghosts of royal splendour; They are simple enough to be great in their friendly dignity,– Homes that were built by the brave beginners of a nation. I love the old white farmhouses nestled in New England valleys, Ample […]

The Talisman

Story type: Poetry

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What is Fortune, what is Fame? Futile gold and phantom name,– Riches buried in a cave, Glory written on a grave. What is Friendship? Something deep That the heart can spend and keep: Wealth that greatens while we give, Praise that heartens us to live. Come, my friend, and let us prove Life’s true talisman […]

Thorn And Rose

Story type: Poetry

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Far richer than a thornless rose Whose branch with beauty never glows, Is that which every June adorns With perfect bloom among its thorns. Merely to live without a pain Is little gladness, little gain, Ah, welcome joy tho’ mixt with grief,– The thorn-set flower that crowns the leaf. June 20, 1914.

"The Signs"

Story type: Poetry

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Dedicated to the Zodiac Club Who knows how many thousand years ago The twelvefold Zodiac was made to show The course of stars above and men below? The great sun plows his furrow by its “lines”: From all its “houses” mystic meaning shines: Deep lore of life is written in its “signs.” Aries–Sacrifice. Snow-white and […]

"Facta Non Verba"

Story type: Poetry

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Deeds not Words: I say so too! And yet I find it somehow true, A word may help a man in need, To nobler act and braver deed.

Read here, O friend unknown, Our grief, of her bereft; Yet think not tears alone Within our hearts are left. The gifts she came to give, Her heavenly love and cheer, Have made us glad to live And die without a fear. 1912.

The Way

Story type: Poetry

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Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul, May keep the path, but will not reach the goal; While he who walks in love may wander far, But God will bring him where the Blessed are.

Love And Light

Story type: Poetry

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There are many kinds of love, as many kinds of light, And every kind of love makes a glory in the night. There is love that stirs the heart, and love that gives it rest, But the love that leads life upward is the noblest and the best.

Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul; Love is the only angel who can bid the gates unroll; And when he comes to call thee, arise and follow fast; His way may lie through darkness, but it leads to light at last.

Joy And Duty

Story type: Poetry

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“Joy is a Duty,”–so with golden lore The Hebrew rabbis taught in days of yore, And happy human hearts heard in their speech Almost the highest wisdom man can reach. But one bright peak still rises far above, And there the Master stands whose name is Love, Saying to those whom weary tasks employ: “Life […]

I STARLIGHT With two bright eyes, my star, my love, Thou lookest on the stars above: Ah, would that I the heaven might be With a million eyes to look on thee. Plato. II ROSELEAF A little while the rose, And after that the thorn; An hour of dewy morn, And then the glamour goes. […]

One World

Story type: Poetry

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“The worlds in which we live are two: The world ‘I am’ and the world ‘I do,’” The worlds in which we live at heart are one, The world “I am,” the fruit of “I have done”; And underneath these worlds of flower and fruit, The world “I love,”–the only living root.

The nymphs a shepherd took To guard their snowy sheep; He led them down along the brook, And guided them with pipe and crook, Until he fell asleep. But when the piping stayed, Across the flowery mead The milk-white nymphs ran out afraid: O Thyrsis, wake! Your flock has strayed,– The nymphs a shepherd need.

Pan Learns Music

Story type: Poetry

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FOR A SCULPTURE BY SARA GREENE Limber-limbed, lazy god, stretched on the rock, Where is sweet Echo, and where is your flock? What are you making here? “Listen,” said Pan,– “Out of a river-reed music for man!”

The Mocking-Bird

Story type: Poetry

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In mirth he mocks the other birds at noon, Catching the lilt of every easy tune; But when the day departs he sings of love,– His own wild song beneath the listening moon.

A flawless cup: how delicate and fine The flowing curve of every jewelled line! Look, turn it up or down, ’tis perfect still,– But holds no drop of life’s heart-warming wine.

To Julia Marlowe

Story type: Poetry

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(READING KEATS’ ODE ON A GRECIAN URN) Long had I loved this “Attic shape,” the brede Of marble maidens round this urn divine: But when your golden voice began to read, The empty urn was filled with Chian wine.

May 4th, 1898.–To-day, fishing down the Swiftwater, I found Joseph Jefferson on a big rock in the middle of the brook, casting the fly for trout. He said he had fished this very stream three-and-forty years ago; and near by, in the Paradise Valley, he wrote his famous play.–Leaf from my Diary. We met on […]

(TO CHARLES A. YOUNG, ASTRONOMER) “Two things,” the wise man said, “fill me with awe: The starry heavens and the moral law.” Nay, add another wonder to thy roll,– The living marvel of the human soul! Born in the dust and cradled in the dark, It feels the fire of an immortal spark, And learns […]

To Mark Twain

Story type: Poetry

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I AT A BIRTHDAY FEAST With memories old and wishes new We crown our cups again, And here’s to you, and here’s to you With love that ne’er shall wane! And may you keep, at sixty-seven, The joy of earth, the hope of heaven, And fame well-earned, and friendship true, And peace that comforts every […]

FOR BAYARD AND HELEN STOCKTON Two hundred years of blessing I record For Morven’s house, protected by the Lord: And still I stand among old-fashioned flowers To mark for Morven many sunlit hours.

FOR THE CLASS OF 1904 The shadow by my finger cast Divides the future from the past: Before it, sleeps the unborn hour, In darkness, and beyond thy power: Behind its unreturning line, The vanished hour, no longer thine: One hour alone is in thy hands,– The NOW on which the shadow stands. March, 1904.

IN HER GARDEN OF YADDO Hours fly, Flowers die New days, New ways, Pass by. Love stays. * * * Time is Too Slow for those who Wait, Too Swift for those who Fear, Too Long for those who Grieve, Too Short for those who Rejoice; But for those who Love, Time is not.

IN HER TOWER OF YADDO This is the window’s message, In silence, to the Queen: “Thou hast a double kingdom And I am set between: Look out and see the glory, On hill and plain and sky: Look in and see the light of love That nevermore shall die!” L’ENVOI Window in the Queen’s high […]

THE HOUSE The cornerstone in Truth is laid, The guardian walls of Honour made, The roof of Faith is built above, The fire upon the hearth is Love: Though rains descend and loud winds call, This happy house shall never fall. THE HEARTH When the logs are burning free, Then the fire is full of […]

Dorothea

Story type: Poetry

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1888-1912 A deeper crimson in the rose, A deeper blue in sky and sea, And ever, as the summer goes, A deeper loss in losing thee! A deeper music in the strain Of hermit-thrush from lonely tree; And deeper grows the sense of gain My life has found in having thee. A deeper love, a […]

The Window

Story type: Poetry

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All night long, by a distant bell The passing hours were notched On the dark, while her breathing rose and fell; And the spark of life I watched In her face was glowing, or fading,–who could tell?– And the open window of the room, With a flare of yellow light, Was peering out into the […]

Christmas Tears

Story type: Poetry

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The day returns by which we date our years: Day of the joy of giving,–that means love; Day of the joy of living,–that means hope; Day of the Royal Child,–and day that brings To older hearts the gift of Christmas tears! Look, how the candles twinkle through the tree, The children shout when baby claps […]

The Message

Story type: Poetry

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Waking from tender sleep, My neighbour’s little child Put out his baby hand to me, Looked in my face, and smiled. It seems as if he came Home from a happy land, To bring a message to my heart And make me understand. Somewhere, among bright dreams, A child that once was mine Has whispered […]

Dulcis Memoria

Story type: Poetry

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Long, long ago I heard a little song, (Ah, was it long ago, or yesterday?) So lowly, slowly wound the tune along, That far into my heart it found the way: A melody consoling and endearing; And now, in silent hours, I’m often hearing The small, sweet song that does not die away. Long, long […]

Hide And Seek

Story type: Poetry

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I All the trees are sleeping, all the winds are still, All the fleecy flocks of cloud, gone beyond the hill; Through the noon-day silence, down the woods of June, Hark, a little hunter’s voice, running with a tune. “Hide and seek! When I speak, You must answer me: Call again, Merry men, Coo-ee, coo-ee, […]

The fire of love was burning, yet so low That in the peaceful dark it made no rays, And in the light of perfect-placid days The ashes hid the smouldering embers’ glow. Vainly, for love’s delight, we sought to throw New pleasures on the pyre to make it blaze: In life’s calm air and tranquil-prosperous […]

If on the closed curtain of my sight My fancy paints thy portrait far away, I see thee still the same, by night or day; Crossing the crowded street, or moving bright ‘Mid festal throngs, or reading by the light Of shaded lamp some friendly poet’s lay, Or shepherding the children at their play,– The […]

Ode To Peace

Story type: Poetry

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I IN EXCELSIS Two dwellings, Peace, are thine. One is the mountain-height, Uplifted in the loneliness of light Beyond the realm of shadows,–fine, And far, and clear,–where advent of the night Means only glorious nearness of the stars, And dawn unhindered breaks above the bars That long the lower world in twilight keep. Thou sleepest […]

I BEDTIME Ere thou sleepest gently lay Every troubled thought away: Put off worry and distress As thou puttest off thy dress: Drop thy burden and thy care In the quiet arms of prayer. Lord, Thou knowest how I live, All I’ve done amiss forgive: All of good I’ve tried to do, Strengthen, bless, and […]

Hymn Of Joy

Story type: Poetry

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TO THE MUSIC OF BEETHOVEN’S NINTH SYMPHONY Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, Praising Thee their sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day! All Thy […]

March on, my soul, nor like a laggard stay! March swiftly on. Yet err not from the way Where all the nobly wise of old have trod,– The path of faith, made by the sons of God. Follow the marks that they have set beside The narrow, cloud-swept track, to be thy guide: Follow, and […]

Bitter-Sweet

Story type: Poetry

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Just to give up, and trust All to a Fate unknown, Plodding along life’s road in the dust, Bounded by walls of stone; Never to have a heart at peace; Never to see when care will cease; Just to be still when sorrows fall– This is the bitterest lesson of all. Just to give up, […]

I THE NATIVITY Could every time-worn heart but see Thee once again, A happy human child, among the homes of men, The age of doubt would pass,–the vision of Thy face Would silently restore the childhood of the race. II THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT Thou wayfaring Jesus, a pilgrim and stranger, Exiled from heaven by […]

The Bargain

Story type: Poetry

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What shall I give for thee, Thou Pearl of greatest price? For all the treasures I possess Would not suffice. I give my store of gold; It is but earthly dross: But thou wilt make me rich, beyond All fear of loss. Mine honours I resign; They are but small at best: Thou like a […]

Santa Christina

Story type: Poetry

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Saints are God’s flowers, fragrant souls That His own hand hath planted, Not in some far-off heavenly place, Or solitude enchanted, But here and there and everywhere,– In lonely field, or crowded town, God sees a flower when He looks down. Some wear the lily’s stainless white, And some the rose of passion, And some […]

Peace

Story type: Poetry

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With eager heart and will on fire, I strove to win my great desire. “Peace shall be mine,” I said; but life Grew bitter in the barren strife. My soul was weary, and my pride Was wounded deep; to Heaven I cried, “God grant me peace or I must die;” The dumb stars glittered no […]

Gratitude

Story type: Poetry

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“Do you give thanks for this?–or that?” No, God be thanked I am not grateful In that cold, calculating way, with blessings ranked As one, two, three, and four,–that would be hateful. I only know that every day brings good above My poor deserving; I only feel that in the road of Life true Love […]

Transformation

Story type: Poetry

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Only a little shrivelled seed, It might be flower, or grass, or weed; Only a box of earth on the edge Of a narrow, dusty window-ledge; Only a few scant summer showers; Only a few clear shining hours; That was all. Yet God could make Out of these, for a sick child’s sake, A blossom-wonder, […]

Rendezvous

Story type: Poetry

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I count that friendship little worth Which has not many things untold, Great longings that no words can hold, And passion-secrets waiting birth. Along the slender wires of speech Some message from the heart is sent; But who can tell the whole that’s meant? Our dearest thoughts are out of reach. I have not seen […]

Lord Jesus, Thou hast known A mother’s love and tender care: And Thou wilt hear, While for my own Mother most dear I make this birthday prayer. Protect her life, I pray, Who gave the gift of life to me; And may she know, From day to day, The deepening glow Of joy that comes […]

"Little Boatie"

Story type: Poetry

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A SLUMBER-SONG FOR THE FISHERMAN’S CHILD Furl your sail, my little boatie; Here’s the haven still and deep, Where the dreaming tides in-streaming Up the channel creep. Now the sunset breeze is dying; Hear the plover, landward flying, Softly down the twilight crying; Come to anchor, little boatie, In the port of Sleep. Far away, […]

The river of dreams runs quietly down From its hidden home in the forest of sleep, With a measureless motion calm and deep; And my boat slips out on the current brown, In a tranquil bay where the trees incline Far over the waves, and creepers twine Far over the boughs, as if to steep […]

A Home Song

Story type: Poetry

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I read within a poet’s book A word that starred the page: “Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage!” Yes, that is true, and something more: You’ll find, where’er you roam, That marble floors and gilded walls Can never make a home. But every house where Love abides, And Friendship […]

I THE IVORY CRADLE The cradle I have made for thee Is carved of orient ivory, And curtained round with wavy silk More white than hawthorn-bloom or milk. A twig of box, a lilac spray, Will drive the goblin-horde away; And charm thy childlike heart to keep Her happy dream and virgin sleep. Within that […]

Rappel D’amour

Story type: Poetry

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Come home, my love, come home! The twilight is falling, The whippoorwill calling, The night is very near, And the darkness full of fear, Come home to my arms, come home! Come home, my love, come home! In folly we parted, And now, lonely hearted, I know you look in vain For a love like […]

Love’s Nearness

Story type: Poetry

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I think of thee when golden sunbeams glimmer Across the sea; And when the waves reflect the moon’s pale shimmer I think of thee. I see thy form when down the distant highway The dust-clouds rise; In darkest night, above the mountain by-way I see thine eyes. I hear thee when the ocean-tides returning Aloud […]

I “EIN FICHTENBAUM” A fir-tree standeth lonely On a barren northern height, Asleep, while winter covers His rest with robes of white. In dreams, he sees a palm-tree In the golden morning-land; She droops alone and silent In burning wastes of sand. II “DU BIST WIE EINE BLUME” Fair art thou as a flower And […]

"Rappelle-Toi"

Story type: Poetry

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Remember, when the timid light Through the enchanted hall of dawn is gleaming; Remember, when the pensive night Beneath her silver-sprinkled veil walks dreaming; When pleasure calls thee and thy heart beats high, When tender joys through evening shades draw nigh, Hark, from the woodland deeps A gentle whisper creeps, Remember! Remember, when the hand […]

An Hour

Story type: Poetry

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You only promised me a single hour: But in that hour I journeyed through a year Of life: the joy of finding you,–the fear Of losing you again,–the sense of power To make you all my own,–the sudden shower Of tears that came because you were more dear Than words could ever tell you,–then,–the clear […]

The Black Birds

Story type: Poetry

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I Once, only once, I saw it clear,– That Eden every human heart has dreamed A hundred times, but always far away! Ah, well do I remember how it seemed, Through the still atmosphere Of that enchanted day, To lie wide open to my weary feet: A little land of love and joy and rest, […]

Without Disguise

Story type: Poetry

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If I have erred in showing all my heart, And lost your favour by a lack of pride; If standing like a beggar at your side With naked feet, I have forgot the art Of those who bargain well in passion’s mart, And win the thing they want by what they hide; Be mine the […]

Departure

Story type: Poetry

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Oh, why are you shining so bright, big Sun, And why is the garden so gay? Do you know that my days of delight are done, Do you know I am going away? If you covered your face with a cloud, I’d dream You were sorry for me in my pain, And the heavily drooping […]

Arrival

Story type: Poetry

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Across a thousand miles of sea, a hundred leagues of land, Along a path I had not traced and could not understand, I travelled fast and far for this,–to take thee by the hand. A pilgrim knowing not the shrine where he would bend his knee, A mariner without a dream of what his port […]

Nepenthe

Story type: Poetry

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Yes, it was like you to forget, And cancel in the welcome of your smile My deep arrears of debt, And with the putting forth of both your hands To sweep away the bars my folly set Between us–bitter thoughts, and harsh demands, And reckless deeds that seemed untrue To love, when all the while […]

Day And Night

Story type: Poetry

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How long is the night, brother, And how long is the day? Oh, the day’s too short for a happy task, And the day’s too short for play; And the night’s too short for the bliss of love, For look, how the edge of the sky grows gray, While the stars die out in the […]

Hesper

Story type: Poetry

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Her eyes are like the evening air, Her voice is like a rose, Her lips are like a lovely song, That ripples as it flows, And she herself is sweeter than The sweetest thing she knows. A slender, haunting, twilight form Of wonder and surprise, She seemed a fairy or a child, Till, deep within […]

Fire-Fly City

Story type: Poetry

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Like a long arrow through the dark the train is darting, Bearing me far away, after a perfect day of love’s delight: Wakeful with all the sad-sweet memories of parting, I lift the narrow window-shade and look out on the night. Lonely the land unknown, and like a river flowing, Forest and field and hill […]

“Through many a land your journey ran, And showed the best the world can boast: Now tell me, traveller, if you can, The place that pleased you most.” She laid her hands upon my breast, And murmured gently in my ear, “The place I loved and liked the best Was in your arms, my dear!”

A Lover’s Envy

Story type: Poetry

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I envy every flower that blows Along the meadow where she goes, And every bird that sings to her, And every breeze that brings to her The fragrance of the rose. I envy every poet’s rhyme That moves her heart at eventime, And every tree that wears for her Its brightest bloom, and bears for […]

My April Lady

Story type: Poetry

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When down the stair at morning The sunbeams round her float, Sweet rivulets of laughter Are rippling in her throat; The gladness of her greeting Is gold without alloy; And in the morning sunlight I think her name is Joy. When in the evening twilight The quiet book-room lies, We read the sad old ballads, […]

Love In A Look

Story type: Poetry

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Let me but feel thy look’s embrace, Transparent, pure, and warm, And I’ll not ask to touch thy face, Or fold thee in mine arm. For in thine eyes a girl doth rise, Arrayed in candid bliss, And draws me to her with a charm More close than any kiss. A loving-cup of golden wine, […]

"Rencontre"

Story type: Poetry

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Oh, was I born too soon, my dear, or were you born too late, That I am going out the door while you come in the gate? For you the garden blooms galore, the castle is en fete; You are the coming guest, my dear,–for me the horses wait. I know the mansion well, my […]

"Undine"

Story type: Poetry

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‘Twas far away and long ago, When I was but a dreaming boy, This fairy tale of love and woe Entranced my heart with tearful joy; And while with white Undine I wept Your spirit,–ah, how strange it seems,– Was cradled in some star, and slept, Unconscious of her coming dreams.

It’s little I can tell About the birds in books; And yet I know them well, By their music and their looks: When May comes down the lane, Her airy lovers throng To welcome her with song, And follow in her train: Each minstrel weaves his part In that wild-flowery strain, And I know them […]

Doors Of Daring

Story type: Poetry

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The mountains that inclose the vale With walls of granite, steep and high, Invite the fearless foot to scale Their stairway toward the sky. The restless, deep, dividing sea That flows and foams from shore to shore, Calls to its sunburned chivalry, “Push out, set sail, explore!” The bars of life at which we fret, […]

Love’s Reason

Story type: Poetry

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For that thy face is fair I love thee not; Nor yet because thy brown benignant eyes Have sudden gleams of gladness and surprise, Like woodland brooks that cross a sunlit spot: Nor for thy body, born without a blot, And loveliest when it shines with no disguise Pure as the star of Eve in […]

Reliance

Story type: Poetry

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Not to the swift, the race: Not to the strong, the fight: Not to the righteous, perfect grace Not to the wise, the light. But often faltering feet Come surest to the goal; And they who walk in darkness meet The sunrise of the soul. A thousand times by night The Syrian hosts have died; […]

A Mile With Me

Story type: Poetry

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O who will walk a mile with me Along life’s merry way? A comrade blithe and full of glee, Who dares to laugh out loud and free, And let his frolic fancy play, Like a happy child, through the flowers gay That fill the field and fringe the way Where he walks a mile with […]

The Proud Lady

Story type: Poetry

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When Staevoren town was in its prime And queened the Zuyder Zee, Her ships went out to every clime With costly merchantry. A lady dwelt in that rich town, The fairest in all the land; She walked abroad in a velvet gown, With many rings on her hand. Her hair was bright as the beaten […]

Honour the brave who sleep Where the lost “Titanic” lies, The men who knew what a man must do When he looks Death in the eyes. “Women and children first,”– Ah, strong and tender cry! The sons whom women had borne and nursed, Remembered,–and dared to die. The boats crept off in the dark: The […]

I “How can I tell,” Sir Edmund said, “Who has the right or the wrong o’ this thing? Cromwell stands for the people’s cause, Charles is crowned by the ancient laws; English meadows are sopping red, Englishmen striking each other dead,– Times are black as a raven’s wing. Out of the ruck and the murk […]

"Gran’ Boule"

Story type: Poetry

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A SEAMAN’S TALE OF THE SEA We men hat go down for a livin’ in ships to the sea,– We love it a different way from you poets that ‘bide on the land. We are fond of it, sure! But, you take it as comin’ from me, There’s a fear and a hate in our […]

A tale that the poet Rueckert told To German children, in days of old; Disguised in a random, rollicking rhyme Like a merry mummer of ancient time, And sent, in its English dress, to please The little folk of the Christmas trees. A little fir grew in the midst of the wood Contented and happy, […]

The Vain King

Story type: Poetry

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In robes of Tyrian blue the King was drest, A jewelled collar shone upon his breast, A giant ruby glittered in his crown: Lord of rich lands and many a splendid town, In him the glories of an ancient line Of sober kings, who ruled by right divine, Were centred; and to him with loyal […]

The White Bees

Story type: Poetry

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I LEGEND Long ago Apollo called to Aristaeus, youngest of the shepherds, Saying, “I will make you keeper of my bees.” Golden were the hives and golden was the honey; golden, too, the music Where the honey-makers hummed among the trees. Happy Aristaeus loitered in the garden, wandered in the orchard, Careless and contented, indolent […]

It pleased the Lord of Angels (praise His name!) To hear, one day, report from those who came With pitying sorrow, or exultant joy, To tell of earthly tasks in His employ. For some were grieved because they saw how slow The stream of heavenly love on earth must flow; And some were glad because […]

Another Chance

Story type: Poetry

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A DRAMATIC LYRIC Come, give me back my life again, you heavy-handed Death! Uncrook your fingers from my throat, and let me draw my breath. You do me wrong to take me now–too soon for me to die– Ah, loose me from this clutching pain, and hear the reason why. I know I’ve had my […]

A LEGEND ON A NEW SAYING OF JESUS In the rubbish heaps of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, near the River Nile, a party of English explorers, in the winter of 1897, discovered a fragment of a papyrus book, written in the second or third century, and hitherto unknown. This single leaf contained parts of […]

IN HOLLAND The laggard winter ebbed so slow With freezing rain and melting snow, It seemed as if the earth would stay Forever where the tide was low, In sodden green and watery gray. But now from depths beyond our sight, The tide is turning in the night, And floods of colour long concealed Come […]

I Thou who hast made thy dwelling fair With flowers below, above with starry lights And set thine altars everywhere,– On mountain heights, In woodlands dim with many a dream, In valleys bright with springs, And on the curving capes of every stream: Thou who hast taken to thyself the wings Of morning, to abide […]

The Grand Canyon

Story type: Poetry

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DAYBREAK What makes the lingering Night so cling to thee? Thou vast, profound, primeval hiding-place Of ancient secrets,–gray and ghostly gulf Cleft in the green of this high forest land, And crowded in the dark with giant forms! Art thou a grave, a prison, or a shrine? A stillness deeper than the dearth of sound […]

The heavenly hills of Holland,– How wondrously they rise Above the smooth green pastures Into the azure skies! With blue and purple hollows, With peaks of dazzling snow, Along the far horizon The clouds are marching slow. No mortal foot has trodden The summits of that range, Nor walked those mystic valleys Whose colours ever […]

Sierra Madre

Story type: Poetry

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O Mother mountains! billowing far to the snow-lands, Robed in aerial amethyst, silver, and blue, Why do ye look so proudly down on the lowlands? What have their groves and gardens to do with you? Theirs is the languorous charm of the orange and myrtle, Theirs are the fruitage and fragrance of Eden of old,– […]

The tide flows in to the harbour,– The bold tide, the gold tide, the flood o’ the sunlit sea,– And the little ships riding at anchor, Are swinging and slanting their prows to the ocean, panting To lift their wings to the wide wild air, And venture a voyage they know not where,– To fly […]

The Hermit Thrush

Story type: Poetry

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O wonderful! How liquid clear The molten gold of that ethereal tone, Floating and falling through the wood alone, A hermit-hymn poured out for God to hear! O holy, holy, holy! Hyaline, Long light, low light, glory of eventide! Love far away, far up,–up,–love divine! Little love, too, for ever, ever near, Warm love, earth […]

Long, long, long the trail Through the brooding forest-gloom, Down the shadowy, lonely vale Into silence, like a room Where the light of life has fled, And the jealous curtains close Round the passionless repose Of the silent dead. Plod, plod, plod away, Step by step in mouldering moss; Thick branches bar the day Over […]

A Noon Song

Story type: Poetry

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There are songs for the morning and songs for the night, For sunrise and sunset, the stars and the moon; But who will give praise to the fulness of light, And sing us a song of the glory of noon? Oh, the high noon, the clear noon, The noon with golden crest; When the blue […]

Now in the oak the sap of life is welling, Tho’ to the bough the rusty leafage clings; Now on the elm the misty buds are swelling; Every little pine-wood grows alive with wings; Blue-jays are fluttering, yodeling and crying, Meadow-larks sailing low above the faded grass, Red-birds whistling clear, silent robins flying,– Who has […]

Indian Summer

Story type: Poetry

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A silken curtain veils the skies, And half conceals from pensive eyes The bronzing tokens of the fall; A calmness broods upon the hills, And summer’s parting dream distils A charm of silence over all. The stacks of corn, in brown array, Stand waiting through the tranquil day, Like tattered wigwams on the plain; The […]

I Ah, who will tell me, in these leaden days, Why the sweet Spring delays, And where she hides,–the dear desire Of every heart that longs For bloom, and fragrance, and the ruby fire Of maple-buds along the misty hills, And that immortal call which fills The waiting wood with songs? The snow-drops came so […]

I Where’s your kingdom, little king? Where the land you call your own, Where your palace and your throne? Fluttering lightly on the wing Through the blossom-world of May, Whither lies your royal way, Little king? Far to northward lies a land Where the trees together stand Closely as the blades of wheat When the […]

School

Story type: Poetry

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I put my heart to school In the world where men grow wise: “Go out,” I said, “and learn the rule; Come back when you win a prize.” My heart came back again: “Now where is the prize?” I cried.– “The rule was false, and the prize was pain, And the teacher’s name was Pride.” […]

A November Daisy

Story type: Poetry

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Afterthought of summer’s bloom! Late arrival at the feast, Coming when the songs have ceased And the merry guests departed, Leaving but an empty room, Silence, solitude, and gloom,– Are you lonely, heavy-hearted; You, the last of all your kind, Nodding in the autumn-wind; Now that all your friends are flown, Blooming late and all […]

What time the rose of dawn is laid across the lips of night, And all the little watchman-stars have fallen asleep in light, ‘Tis then a merry wind awakes, and runs from tree to tree, And borrows words from all the birds to sound the reveille. This is the carol the Robin throws Over the […]

When May bedecks the naked trees With tassels and embroideries, And many blue-eyed violets beam Along the edges of the stream, I hear a voice that seems to say, Now near at hand, now far away, “Witchery–witchery–witchery.” An incantation so serene, So innocent, befits the scene: There’s magic in that small bird’s note– See, there […]

The Song-Sparrow

Story type: Poetry

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There is a bird I know so well, It seems as if he must have sung Beside my crib when I was young; Before I knew the way to spell The name of even the smallest bird, His gentle-joyful song I heard. Now see if you can tell, my dear. What bird it is that, […]

Deep in the heart of the forest the lily of Yorrow is growing; Blue is its cup as the sky, and with mystical odour o’erflowing; Faintly it falls through the shadowy glades when the south wind is blowing. Sweet are the primroses pale and the violets after a shower; Sweet are the borders of pinks […]

The Veery

Story type: Poetry

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The moonbeams over Arno’s vale in silver flood were pouring, When first I heard the nightingale a long-lost love deploring. So passionate, so full of pain, it sounded strange and eerie; I longed to hear a simpler strain,–the wood-notes of the veery. The laverock sings a bonny lay above the Scottish heather; It sprinkles down […]

When Tulips Bloom

Story type: Poetry

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I When tulips bloom in Union Square, And timid breaths of vernal air Go wandering down the dusty town, Like children lost in Vanity Fair; When every long, unlovely row Of westward houses stands aglow, And leads the eyes to sunset skies Beyond the hills where green trees grow; Then weary seems the street parade, […]

Fair Roslin Chapel, how divine The art that reared thy costly shrine! Thy carven columns must have grown By magic, like a dream in stone. Yet not within thy storied wall Would I in adoration fall, So gladly as within the glen That leads to lovely Hawthornden. A long-drawn aisle, with roof of green And […]

A Snow-Song

Story type: Poetry

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Does the snow fall at sea? Yes, when the north winds blow, When the wild clouds fly low, Out of each gloomy wing, Silently glimmering, Over the stormy sea Falleth the snow. Does the snow hide the sea? Nay, on the tossing plains Never a flake remains; Drift never resteth there; Vanishing everywhere, Into the […]

I In warlike pomp, with banners flowing, The regiments of autumn stood: I saw their gold and scarlet glowing From every hillside, every wood. Above the sea the clouds were keeping Their secret leaguer, gray and still; They sent their misty vanguard creeping With muffled step from hill to hill. All day the sullen armies […]

Wings Of A Dove

Story type: Poetry

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I At sunset, when the rosy light was dying Far down the pathway of the west, I saw a lonely dove in silence flying, To be at rest. Pilgrim of air, I cried, could I but borrow Thy wandering wings, thy freedom blest, I’d fly away from every careful sorrow, And find my rest. II […]

If All The Skies

Story type: Poetry

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If all the skies were sunshine, Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them The cooling plash of rain. If all the world were music, Our hearts would often long For one sweet strain of silence. To break the endless song. If life were always merry, Our souls would seek relief, And […]

Who watched the worn-out Winter die? Who, peering through the window-pane At nightfall, under sleet and rain Saw the old graybeard totter by? Who listened to his parting sigh, The sobbing of his feeble breath, His whispered colloquy with Death, And when his all of life was done Stood near to bid a last good-bye? […]

Matins

Story type: Poetry

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Flowers rejoice when night is done, Lift their heads to greet the sun; Sweetest looks and odours raise, In a silent hymn of praise. So my heart would turn away From the darkness to the day; Lying open in God’s sight Like a flower in the light.

I THE GLACIER At dawn in silence moves the mighty stream, The silver-crested waves no murmur make; But far away the avalanches wake The rumbling echoes, dull as in a dream; Their momentary thunders, dying, seem To fall into the stillness, flake by flake, And leave the hollow air with naught to break The frozen […]

Dulciora

Story type: Poetry

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A tear that trembles for a little while Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world Wavers within its circle like a dream, Holds more of meaning in its narrow orb Than all the distant landscape that it blurs. A smile that hovers round a mouth beloved, Like the faint pulsing of the Northern Light, And […]

The After-Echo

Story type: Poetry

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How long the echoes love to play Around the shore of silence, as a wave Retreating circles down the sand! One after one, with sweet delay, The mellow sounds that cliff and island gave, Have lingered in the crescent bay, Until, by lightest breezes fanned, They float far off beyond the dying day And leave […]

1906 Hard is the task of the man who at this late day attempts to say anything new about Washington. But perhaps it may be possible to unsay some of the things which have been said, and which, though they were at one time new, have never at any time been strictly true. The character […]

Joy and Power

Story type: Literature

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Dedicated to my friend John Huston Finley President of the College of the City of New York THE PREFACE The three messages which are brought together in this book were given not far apart in time, though at some distance from one another in space. The one called Joy and Power was delivered in Los […]

The Unruly Sprite

Story type: Literature

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There was once a man who was also a writer of books. The merit of his books lies beyond the horizon of this tale. No doubt some of them were good, and some of them were bad, and some were merely popular. But he was all the time trying to make them better, for he […]

The Sad Shepherd

Story type: Literature

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I DARKNESS Out of the Valley of Gardens, where a film of new-fallen snow lay smooth as feathers on the breast of a dove, the ancient Pools of Solomon looked up into the night sky with dark, tranquil eyes, wide-open and passive, reflecting the crisp stars and the small, round moon. The full springs, overflowing […]

What Peace Means

Story type: Literature

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To My Son in the Faith My Brother in the Work Tertius van Dyke FOREWORD This little book contains three plain sermons which were preached in New York in the Easter season of 1919, in the Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, of which my son is minister. I had no thought that they would ever be […]

Do you remember, father,– It seems so long ago,– The day we fished together Along the Pocono? At dusk I waited for you, Beside the lumber-mill, And there I heard a hidden bird That chanted, “whip-poor-will,” “Whippoorwill! whippoorwill!” Sad and shrill,–“whippoorwill!” The place was all deserted; The mill-wheel hung at rest; The lonely star of […]

Vera

Story type: Poetry

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I A silent world,–yet full of vital joy Uttered in rhythmic movements manifold, And sunbeams flashing on the face of things Like sudden smilings of divine delight,– A world of many sorrows too, revealed In fading flowers and withering leaves and dark Tear-laden clouds, and tearless, clinging mists That hung above the earth too sad […]

New Year’s Eve

Story type: Poetry

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I The other night I had a dream, most clear And comforting, complete In every line, a crystal sphere, And full of intimate and secret cheer. Therefore I will repeat That vision, dearest heart, to you, As of a thing not feigned, but very true, Yes, true as ever in my life befell; And you, […]

Patria

Story type: Poetry

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I would not even ask my heart to say If I could love another land as well As thee, my country, had I felt the spell Of Italy at birth, or learned to obey The charm of France, or England’s mighty sway. I would not be so much an infidel As once to dream, or […]

America

Story type: Poetry

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I love thine inland seas, Thy groves of giant trees, Thy rolling plains; Thy rivers’ mighty sweep, Thy mystic canyons deep, Thy mountains wild and steep, All thy domains; Thy silver Eastern strands, Thy Golden Gate that stands Wide to the West; Thy flowery Southland fair, Thy sweet and crystal air,– O land beyond compare, […]

The Blue Flower

Story type: Literature

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The parents were abed and sleeping. The clock on the wall ticked loudly and lazily, as if it had time to spare. Outside the rattling windows there was a restless, whispering wind. The room grew light, and dark, and wondrous light again, as the moon played hide-and-seek through the clouds. The boy, wide-awake and quiet […]

The Source

Story type: Literature

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I In the middle of the land that is called by its inhabitants Koorma, and by strangers the Land of the Half-forgotten, I was toiling all day long through heavy sand and grass as hard as wire. Suddenly, toward evening, I came upon a place where a gate opened in the wall of mountains, and […]

The Mill

Story type: Literature

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I How the Young Martimor would Become a Knight and Assay Great Adventure When Sir Lancelot was come out of the Red Launds where he did many deeds of arms, he rested him long with play and game in a land that is, called Beausejour. For in that land there are neither castles nor enchantments, […]

Spy Rock

Story type: Literature

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I It must have been near Sutherland’s Pond that I lost the way. For there the deserted road which I had been following through the Highlands ran out upon a meadow all abloom with purple loose-strife and golden Saint-John’s wort. The declining sun cast a glory over the lonely field, and far in the corner, […]

Wood-Magic

Story type: Literature

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There are three vines that belong to the ancient forest. Elsewhere they will not grow, though the soil prepared for them be never so rich, the shade of the arbour built for them never so closely and cunningly woven. Their delicate, thread-like roots take no hold upon the earth tilled and troubled by the fingers […]

The Other Wise Man

Story type: Literature

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You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they travelled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yet […]

A Handful Of Clay

Story type: Literature

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There was a handful of clay in the bank of a river. It was only common clay, coarse and heavy; but it had high thoughts of its own value, and wonderful dreams of the great place which it was to fill in the world when the time came for its virtues to be discovered. Overhead, […]

“Come down, Hermas, come down! The night is past. It is time to be stirring. Christ is born today. Peace be with you in His name. Make haste and come down!” A little group of young men were standing in a street of Antioch, in the dusk of early morning, fifteen hundred years ago–a class […]

I The day before Christmas, in the year of our Lord 722. Broad snow-meadows glistening white along the banks of the river Moselle; steep hill-sides blooming with mystic forget-me-not where the glow of the setting sun cast long shadows down their eastern slope; an arch of clearest, deepest gentian bending overhead; in the centre of […]

The Mansion

Story type: Literature

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There was an air of calm and reserved opulence about the Weightman mansion that spoke not of money squandered, but of wealth prudently applied. Standing on a corner of the Avenue no longer fashionable for residence, it looked upon the swelling tide of business with an expression of complacency and half-disdain. The house was not […]