Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire,No finger ever traced thy yellow pageSave Time’s. Thou hast not wrought to noble rageThe hearts thou wouldst have stirred. Not any fireSave sad flames set to light a funeral pyreDost thou suggest. Nay,–impotent in age,Unsought, thou holdst a corner of the stageAnd ceasest even dumbly to aspire. How […]

The world is a snob, and the man who winsIs the chap for its money’s worth:And the lust for success causes half of the sinsThat are cursing this brave old earth.For it ‘s fine to go up, and the world’s applauseIs sweet to the mortal ear;But the man who fails in a noble causeIs a […]

She told the story, and the whole world weptAt wrongs and cruelties it had not knownBut for this fearless woman’s voice alone.She spoke to consciences that long had slept:Her message, Freedom’s clear reveille, sweptFrom heedless hovel to complacent throne.Command and prophecy were in the toneAnd from its sheath the sword of justice leapt.Around two peoples […]

Prometheus stole from Heaven the sacred fireAnd swept to earth with it o’er land and sea.He lit the vestal flames of poesy,Content, for this, to brave celestial ire. Wroth were the gods, and with eternal hatePursued the fearless one who ravished HeavenThat earth might hold in fee the perfect leavenTo lift men’s souls above their […]

Love hath the wings of the butterfly,Oh, clasp him but gently,Pausing and dipping and fluttering byInconsequently.Stir not his poise with the breath of a sigh;Love hath the wings of the butterfly. Love hath the wings of the eagle bold,Cling to him strongly–What if the look of the world be cold,And life go wrongly?Rest on his […]

Search thou my heart;If there be guile,It shall departBefore thy smile. Search thou my soul;Be there deceit,‘T will vanish wholeBefore thee, sweet. Upon my mindTurn thy pure lens;Naught shalt thou findThou canst not cleanse. If I should pray,I scarcely knowIn just what wayMy prayers would go. So strong in meI feel love’s leaven,I ‘d bow […]

Out of my heart, one day, I wrote a song,With my heart’s blood imbued,Instinct with passion, tremulously strong,With grief subdued;Breathing a fortitudePain-bought.And one who claimed much love for what I wrought,Read and considered it,And spoke:“Ay, brother,–‘t is well writ,But where’s the joke?”

Come, drink a stirrup cup with me,Before we close our rouse.You ‘re all aglow with wine, I know:The master of the house,Unmindful of our revelry,Has drowned the carking devil care,And slumbers in his chair. Come, drink a cup before we start;We ‘ve far to ride to-night.And Death may take the race we make,And check our […]

With sombre mien, the Evening grayComes nagging at the heels of Day,And driven faster and still fasterBefore the dusky-mantled Master,The light fades from her fearful eyes,She hastens, stumbles, falls, and dies. Beside me Amaryllis weeps;The swelling tears obscure the deepsOf her dark eyes, as, mistily,The rushing rain conceals the sea.Here, lay my tuneless reed away,–I […]

In a small and lonely cabin out of noisy traffic’s way,Sat an old man, bent and feeble, dusk of face, and hair of gray,And beside him on the table, battered, old, and worn as he,Lay a banjo, droning forth this reminiscent melody: “Night is closing in upon us, friend of mine, but don’t be sad;Let […]

She sang, and I listened the whole song thro’.(It was sweet, so sweet, the singing.)The stars were out and the moon it grewFrom a wee soft glimmer way out in the blueTo a bird thro’ the heavens winging. She sang, and the song trembled down to my breast,–(It was sweet, so sweet the singing.)As a […]

This poem must be done to-day;Then, I ‘ll e’en to it.I must not dream my time away,–I ‘m sure to rue it.The day is rather bright, I knowThe Muse will pardonMy half-defection, if I goInto the garden.It must be better working there,–I ‘m sure it’s sweeter:And something in the balmy airMay clear my metre. [In […]

Long since, in sore distress, I heard one pray,“Lord, who prevailest with resistless might,Ever from war and strife keep me away,My battles fight!” I know not if I play the Pharisee,And if my brother after all be right;But mine shall be the warrior’s plea to thee–Strength for the fight. I do not ask that thou […]

Across the hills and down the narrow ways,And up the valley where the free winds sweep,The earth is folded in an ermined sleepThat mocks the melting mirth of myriad Mays.Departed her disheartening duns and grays,And all her crusty black is covered deep.Dark streams are locked in Winter’s donjon-keep,And made to shine with keen, unwonted rays.O […]

Come to the pane, draw the curtain apart,There she is passing, the girl of my heart;See where she walks like a queen in the street,Weather-defying, calm, placid and sweet.Tripping along with impetuous grace,Joy of her life beaming out of her face,Tresses all truant-like, curl upon curl,Wind-blown and rosy, my little March girl. Hint of the […]

Oh, what shall I do? I am wholly upset;I am sure I ‘ll be jailed for a lunatic yet.I ‘ll be out of a job–it’s the thing to expectWhen I ‘m letting my duty go by with neglect.You may judge the extent and degree of my plightWhen I ‘m thinking all day and a-dreaming all […]

Summah night an’ sighin’ breeze,‘Long de lovah’s lane;Frien’ly, shadder-mekin’ trees,‘Long de lovah’s lane.White folks’ wo’k all done up gran’–Me an’ ‘Mandy han’-in-han’Struttin’ lak we owned de lan’,‘Long de lovah’s lane. Owl a-settin’ ‘side de road,‘Long de lovah’s lane,Lookin’ at us lak he knowedDis uz lovah’s lane.Go on, hoot yo’ mou’nful tune,You ain’ nevah loved in […]

Men may sing of their Havanas, elevating to the starsThe real or fancied virtues of their foreign-made cigars;But I worship Nicotina at a different sort of shrine,And she sits enthroned in glory in this corn-cob pipe of mine. It ‘s as fragrant as the meadows when the clover is in bloom;It ‘s as dainty as […]

When August days are hot an’ dry,When burning copper is the sky,I ‘d rather fish than feast or flyIn airy realms serene and high. I ‘d take a suit not made for looks,Some easily digested books,Some flies, some lines, some bait, some hooks,Then would I seek the bays and brooks. I would eschew mine every […]

They please me not–these solemn songsThat hint of sermons covered up.‘Tis true the world should heed its wrongs,But in a poem let me sup,Not simples brewed to cure or easeHumanity’s confessed disease,But the spirit-wine of a singing line,Or a dew-drop in a honey cup!