I know my love is true,And oh the day is fair.The sky is clear and blue,The flowers are rich of hue,The air I breathe is rare,I have no grief or care;For my own love is true,And oh ‘the day is fair. My love is false I find,And oh the day is dark.Blows sadly down the […]

Dey is times in life when NatureSeems to slip a cog an’ go,Jes’ a-rattlin’ down creation,Lak an ocean’s overflow;When de worl’ jes’ stahts a-spinnin’Lak a picaninny’s top,An’ yo’ cup o’ joy is brimmin’‘Twell it seems about to slop,An’ you feel jes’ lak a racah,Dat is trainin’ fu’ to trot–When yo’ mammy says de blessin’An’ de […]

It’s all a farce,–these tales they tellAbout the breezes sighing,And moans astir o’er field and dell,Because the year is dying. Such principles are most absurd,–I care not who first taught ’em;There’s nothing known to beast or birdTo make a solemn autumn. In solemn times, when grief holds swayWith countenance distressing,You’ll note the more of black […]

Goo’-by, Jinks, I got to hump,Got to mek dis pony jump;See dat sun a-goin’ down‘N’ me a-foolin’ hyeah in town!Git up, Suke–go long! Guess Mirandy’ll think I’s tight,Me not home an’ comin’ on night.What ‘s dat stan’in’ by de fence?Pshaw! why don’t I lu’n some sense?Git up, Suke–go long! Guess I spent down dah at […]

Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing;I look far out into the pregnant night,Where I can hear a solemn booming gunAnd catch the gleaming of a random light,That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing. My tearful eyes my soul’s deep hurt are glassing;For I would hail and check […]

The gray of the sea, and the gray of the sky,A glimpse of the moon like a half-closed eye.The gleam on the waves and the light on the land,A thrill in my heart,–and–my sweetheart’s hand. She turned from the sea with a woman’s grace,And the light fell soft on her upturned face,And I thought of […]

The night is dewy as a maiden’s mouth,The skies are bright as are a maiden’s eyes,Soft as a maiden’s breath the wind that fliesUp from the perfumed bosom of the South.Like sentinels, the pines stand in the park;And hither hastening, like rakes that roam,With lamps to light their wayward footsteps home,The fireflies come stagg’ring down […]

Good-night, my love, for I have dreamed of theeIn waking dreams, until my soul is lost–Is lost in passion’s wide and shoreless sea,Where, like a ship, unruddered, it is tostHither and thither at the wild waves’ will.There is no potent Master’s voice to stillThis newer, more tempestuous Galilee! The stormy petrels of my fancy flyIn […]

The Midnight wooed the Morning-Star,And prayed her: “Love come nearer;Your swinging coldly there afarTo me but makes you dearer!” The Morning-Star was pale with doleAs said she, low replying:“Oh, lover mine, soul of my soul,For you I too am sighing. “But One ordained when we were born,In spite of Love’s insistence,That Night might only view […]

Just whistle a bit, if the day be dark,And the sky be overcast:If mute be the voice of the piping lark,Why, pipe your own small blast. And it’s wonderful how o’er the gray sky-trackThe truant warbler comes stealing back.But why need he come? for your soul’s at rest,And the song in the heart,–ah, that is […]

AFTER READING “LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT.” Lead gently, Lord, and slow,For oh, my steps are weak,And ever as I go,Some soothing sentence speak; That I may turn my faceThrough doubt’s obscurityToward thine abiding-place,E’en tho’ I cannot see. For lo, the way is dark;Through mist and cloud I grope,Save for that fitful spark,The little flame of hope. […]

When I was young I longed for Love,And held his glory far aboveAll other earthly things. I cried:“Come, Love, dear Love, with me abide;”And with my subtlest art I wooed,And eagerly the wight pursued.But Love was gay and Love was shy,He laughed at me and passed me by. Well, I grew old and I grew […]

Come, essay a sprightly measure,Tuned to some light song of pleasure.Maidens, let your brows be crownedAs we foot this merry round. From the ground a voice is singing,From the sod a soul is springing.Who shall say ‘t is but a clodQuick’ning upward toward its God? Who shall say it? Who may know it,That the clod […]

ON THE RECEIPT OF A FAMILIAR POEM To me, like hauntings of a vagrant breathFrom some far forest which I once have known,The perfume of this flower of verse is blown.Tho’ seemingly soul-blossoms faint to death,Naught that with joy she bears e’er withereth.So, tho’ the pregnant years have come and flown,Lives come and gone and […]

In the forenoon’s restful quiet,When the boys are off at school,When the window lights are shadedAnd the chimney-corner cool,Then the old man seeks his armchair,Lights his pipe and settles back;Falls a-dreaming as he draws itTill the smoke-wreaths gather black. And the tear-drops come a-tricklingDown his cheeks, a silver flow–Smoke or memories you wonder,But you never […]

Out of my heart, one treach’rous winter’s day,I locked young Love and threw the key away.Grief, wandering widely, found the key,And hastened with it, straightway, back to me,With Love beside him. He unlocked the doorAnd bade Love enter with him there and stay.And so the twain abide for evermore.

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,And the river flows like a stream of glass;When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,And the faint perfume from its chalice steals–I know what the caged bird feels! I […]

Temples he built and palaces of air,And, with the artist’s parent-pride aglow,His fancy saw his vague ideals growInto creations marvellously fair; He set his foot upon Fame’s nether stair.But ah, his dream,–it had entranced him soHe could not move. He could no farther go;But paused in joy that he was even there! He did not […]

Ah, yes, the chapter ends to-day;We even lay the book away;But oh, how sweet the moments spedBefore the final page was read! We tried to read between the linesThe Author’s deep-concealed designs;But scant reward such search secures;You saw my heart and I saw yours. The Master,–He who penned the pageAnd bade us read it,–He is […]

Dream on, for dreams are sweet:Do not awaken!Dream on, and at thy feetPomegranates shall be shaken. Who likeneth the youthOf life to morning?‘Tis like the night in truth,Rose-coloured dreams adorning. The wind is soft above,The shadows umber.(There is a dream called Love.)Take thou the fullest slumber! In Lethe’s soothing stream,Thy thirst thou slakest.Sleep, sleep; ‘t […]