Your presence like a benison to meWakes my sick soul to dreamful ecstasy,I fancy that some old Arabian nightSaw you my houri and my heart’s delight. And wandering forth beneath the passionate moon,Your love-strung zither and my soul in tune,We knew the joy, the haunting of the painThat like a flame thrills through me now […]

Along by the river of ruinThey dally–the thoughtless ones,They dance and they dreamBy the side of the stream,As long as the river runs. It seems all so pleasant and cheery–No thought of the morrow is theirs,And their faces are brightWith the sun of delight,And they dream of no night-brooding cares. The women wear garlanded tresses,The […]

W’en us fellers stomp around, makin’ lots o’ noise,Gramma says, “There’s certain times come to little boysW’en they need a shingle or the soft side of a plank;”She says “we’re a-itchin’ for a right good spank.”An’ she says, “Now thes you wait,It’s a-comin’–soon or late,W’en a feller’s itchin’ fer a spank.” W’en a feller’s out […]

Since I left the city’s heatFor this sylvan, cool retreat,High upon the hill-side hereWhere the air is clean and clear,I have lost the urban ways.Mine are calm and tranquil days,Sloping lawns of green are mine,Clustered treasures of the vine;Long forgotten plants I know,Where the best wild berries grow,Where the greens and grasses sprout,When the elders […]

Ah, I have changed, I do not knowWhy lonely hours affect me so.In days of yore, this were not wont,No loneliness my soul could daunt. For me too serious for my age,The weighty tome of hoary sage,Until with puzzled heart astir,One God-giv’n night, I dreamed of her. I loved no woman, hardly knewMore of the […]

Adown the west a golden glowSinks burning in the sea,And all the dreams of long agoCome flooding back to me.The past has writ a story strangeUpon my aching heart,But time has wrought a subtle change,My wounds have ceased to smart. No more the quick delight of youth,No more the sudden pain,I look no more for […]

The rain streams down like harp-strings from the sky;The wind, that world-old harpist sitteth by;And ever as he sings his low refrain,He plays upon the harp-strings of the rain.

Dey was oncet a awful quoil ‘twixt de skillet an’ de pot;De pot was des a-bilin’ an’ de skillet sho’ was hot.Dey slurred each othah’s colah an’ dey called each othah names,Wile de coal-oil can des gu-gled, po’in oil erpon de flames. De pot, hit called de skillet des a flat, disfiggered t’ing,An’ de skillet […]

Your spoken words are roses fine and sweet,The songs you sing are perfect pearls of sound.How lavish nature is about your feet,To scatter flowers and jewels both around. Blushing the stream of petal beauty flows,Softly the white strings trickle down and shine.Oh! speak to me, my love, I crave a rose.Sing me a song, for […]

Little brown face full of smiles,And a baby’s guileless wiles,Liza May, Liza May. Eyes a-peeping thro’ the fenceWith an interest intense,Liza May. Ah, the gate is just ajar,And the meadow is not far,Liza May, Liza May. And the road feels very sweet,To your little toddling feet,Liza May. Ah, you roguish runaway,What will toiling mother say,Liza […]

Oh, who is the Lord of the land of life,When hotly goes the fray?When, fierce we smile in the midst of strifeThen whom shall we obey? Oh, Love is the Lord of the land of lifeWho holds a monarch’s sway;He wends with wish of maid and wife,And him you must obey. Then who is the […]

With what thou gavest me, O Master,I have wrought.Such chances, such abilities,To see the end was not for my poor eyes,Thine was the impulse, thine the forming thought. Ah, I have wrought,And these sad hands have right to tell their story,It was no hard up striving after glory,Catching and losing, gaining and failing,Raging me back […]

(Lines on reading “Driftwood.”) Driftwood gathered here and thereAlong the beach of time;Now and then a chip of truth‘Mid boards and boughs of rhyme;Driftwood gathered day by day,–The cypress and the oak,–Twigs that in some former timeFrom sturdy home trees broke.Did this wood come floating thickAll along down “Injin Crik?”Or did kind tides bring it […]

When winter covering all the groundHides every sign of Spring, sir.However you may look around,Pray what will then you sing, sir? The Spring was here last year I know,And many bards did flute, sir;I shall not fear a little snowForbid me from my lute, sir. If words grow dull and rhymes grow rare,I’ll sing of […]

I stand above the city’s rush and din,And gaze far down with calm and undimmed eyes,To where the misty smoke wreath grey and dimAbove the myriad roofs and spires rise; Still is my heart and vacant is my breath–This lovely view is breath and life to me,Why I could charm the icy soul of deathWith […]

Duck come switchin’ ‘cross de lotHi, oh, Miss Lady!Hurry up an’ hide de potHi, oh, Miss Lady!Duck’s a mighty ‘spicious fowl,Slick as snake an’ wise as owl;Hol’ dat dog, don’t let him yowl!Hi, oh, Miss Lady! Th’ow dat co’n out kind o’ slowHi, oh, Miss Lady!Keep yo’se’f behin’ de do’Hi, oh, Miss Lady!Lots o’ food’ll […]

Thou art the soul of a summer’s day,Thou art the breath of the rose.But the summer is fledAnd the rose is deadWhere are they gone, who knows, who knows? Thou art the blood of my heart o’ hearts,Thou art my soul’s repose,But my heart grows numbAnd my soul is dumbWhere art thou, love, who knows, […]

It’s hot to-day. The bees is buzzin’Kinder don’t-keer-like aroun’An’ fur off the warm air dancesO’er the parchin’ roofs in town.In the brook the cows is standin’;Childern hidin’ in the hay;Can’t keep none of ’em a workin’,‘Cause it’s hot to-day. It’s hot to-day. The sun is blazin’Like a great big ball o’ fire;Seems as ef instead […]

Kiss me, Miami, thou most constant one!I love thee more for that thou changest not.When Winter comes with frigid blast,Or when the blithesome Spring is pastAnd Summer’s here with sunshine hot,Or in sere Autumn, thou has still the pow’rTo charm alike, whate’er the hour. Kiss me, Miami, with thy dewy lips;Throbs fast my heart e’en […]

A song is but a little thing,And yet what joy it is to sing!In hours of toil it gives me zest,And when at eve I long for rest;When cows come home along the bars,And in the fold I hear the bell,As Night, the shepherd, herds his stars,I sing my song, and all is well. There […]