I was not; now I am–a few days henceI shall not be; I fain would look beforeAnd after, but can neither do; some PowerOr lack of power says “no” to all I would.I stand upon a wide and sunless plain,Nor chart nor steel to guide my steps aright.Whene’er, o’ercoming fear, I dare to move,I grope […]

An old, worn harp that had been playedTill all its strings were loose and frayed,Joy, Hate, and Fear, each one essayed,To play. But each in turn had foundNo sweet responsiveness of sound. Then Love the Master-Player cameWith heaving breast and eyes aflame;The Harp he took all undismayed,Smote on its strings, still strange to song,And brought […]

Oh, the poets may sing of their Lady Irenes,And may rave in their rhymes about wonderful queens;But I throw my poetical wings to the breeze,And soar in a song to my Lady Louise.A sweet little maid, who is dearer, I ween,Than any fair duchess, or even a queen.When speaking of her I can’t plod in […]

Dis is gospel weathah sho’–Hills is sawt o’ hazy.Meddahs level ez a flo’Callin’ to de lazy.Sky all white wif streaks o’ blue,Sunshine softly gleamin’,D’ain’t no wuk hit’s right to do,Nothin’ ‘s right but dreamin’. Dreamin’ by de rivah sideWif de watahs glist’nin’,Feelin’ good an’ satisfiedEz you lay a-list’nin’To the little nakid boysSplashin’ in de watah,Hollerin’ […]

Deep in my heart that aches with the repression,And strives with plenitude of bitter pain,There lives a thought that clamors for expression,And spends its undelivered force in vain. What boots it that some other may have thought it?The right of thoughts’ expression is divine;The price of pain I pay for it has bought it,I care […]

When you and I were young, the daysWere filled with scent of pink and rose,And full of joy from dawn till close,From morning’s mist till evening’s haze.And when the robin sung his songThe verdant woodland ways along,We whistled louder than he sung.And school was joy, and work was sportFor which the hours were all too […]

Done are the toils and the wearisome marches,Done is the summons of bugle and drum.Softly and sweetly the sky over-arches,Shelt’ring a land where Rebellion is dumb.Dark were the days of the country’s derangement,Sad were the hours when the conflict was on,But through the gloom of fraternal estrangementGod sent his light, and we welcome the dawn.O’er […]

So we, who ‘ve supped the self-same cup,To-night must lay our friendship by;Your wrath has burned your judgment up,Hot breath has blown the ashes high.You say that you are wronged–ah, well,I count that friendship poor, at bestA bauble, a mere bagatelle,That cannot stand so slight a test. I fain would still have been your friend,And […]

Know you, winds that blow your courseDown the verdant valleys,That somewhere you must, perforce,Kiss the brow of Alice?When her gentle face you find,Kiss it softly, naughty wind. Roses waving fair and sweetThro’ the garden alleys,Grow into a glory meetFor the eye of Alice;Let the wind your offering bearOf sweet perfume, faint and rare. Lily holding […]

I ‘ve been watchin’ of ’em, parson,An’ I ‘m sorry fur to say‘At my mind is not contentedWith the loose an’ keerless way‘At the young folks treat the music;‘T ain’t the proper sort o’ choir.Then I don’t believe in ChristunsA-singin’ hymns for hire. But I never would ‘a’ murmuredAn’ the matter might ‘a’ goneEf it […]

I Ah, yes, ‘t is sweet still to remember,Though ’twere less painful to forget;For while my heart glows like an ember,Mine eyes with sorrow’s drops are wet,And, oh, my heart is aching yet.It is a law of mortal painThat old wounds, long accounted well,Beneath the memory’s potent spell,Will wake to life and bleed again. So […]

“Good-bye,” I said to my conscience–“Good-bye for aye and aye,”And I put her hands off harshly,And turned my face away;And conscience smitten sorelyReturned not from that day. But a time came when my spiritGrew weary of its pace;And I cried: “Come back, my conscience;I long to see thy face.”But conscience cried: “I cannot;Remorse sits in […]

A lover whom duty called over the wave,With himself communed: “Will my love be trueIf left to herself? Had I better not sueSome friend to watch over her, good and grave?But my friend might fail in my need,” he said,“And I return to find love dead.Since friendships fade like the flow’rs of June,I will leave […]

‘T was three an’ thirty year ago,When I was ruther young, you know,I had my last an’ only fightAbout a gal one summer night.‘T was me an’ Zekel Johnson; Zeke‘N’ me ‘d be’n spattin’ ’bout a week,Each of us tryin’ his best to showThat he was Liza Jones’s beau.We could n’t neither prove the thing,Fur […]

Ther’ ain’t no use in all this strife,An’ hurryin’, pell-mell, right thro’ life.I don’t believe in goin’ too fastTo see what kind o’ road you ‘ve passed.It ain’t no mortal kind o’ good,‘N’ I would n’t hurry ef I could.I like to jest go joggin’ ‘long,To limber up my soul with song;To stop awhile ‘n’ […]

Oh, I have n’t got long to live, for we allDie soon, e’en those who live longest;And the poorest and weakest are taking their chanceAlong with the richest and strongest.So it’s heigho for a glass and a song,And a bright eye over the table,And a dog for the hunt when the game is flush,And the […]

I Four hundred years ago a tangled wasteLay sleeping on the west Atlantic’s side;Their devious ways the Old World’s millions tracedContent, and loved, and labored, dared and died,While students still believed the charts they conned,And revelled in their thriftless ignorance,Nor dreamed of other lands that lay beyondOld Ocean’s dense, indefinite expanse. II But deep within […]

The moon has left the sky, love,The stars are hiding now,And frowning on the world, love,Night bares her sable brow.The snow is on the ground, love,And cold and keen the air is.I ‘m singing here to you, love;You ‘re dreaming there in Paris. But this is Nature’s law, love,Though just it may not seem,That men […]

I ‘ve a humble little mottoThat is homely, though it ‘s true,–Keep a-pluggin’ away.It’s a thing when I ‘ve an objectThat I always try to do,–Keep a-pluggin’ away.When you ‘ve rising storms to quell,When opposing waters swell,It will never fail to tell,–Keep a-pluggin’ away. If the hills are high beforeAnd the paths are hard to […]

I never shall furgit that night when father hitched up Dobbin,An’ all us youngsters clambered in an’ down the road went bobbin’To school where we was kep’ at work in every kind o’ weather,But where that night a spellin’-bee was callin’ us together.‘Twas one o’ Heaven’s banner nights, the stars was all a glitter,The moon […]