Flowers preach to us if we will hear:–The rose saith in the dewy morn,I am most fair;Yet all my loveliness is bornUpon a thorn.The poppy saith amid the corn:Let but my scarlet head appearAnd I am held in scorn;Yet juice of subtle virtue liesWithin my cup of curious dyes.The lilies say: Behold how wePreach without […]

I took my heart in my hand(O my love, O my love),I said: Let me fall or stand,Let me live or die,But this once hear me speak(O my love, O my love);Yet a woman’s words are weak:You should speak, not I. You took my heart in your handWith a friendly smile,With a critical eye you […]

Young Love lies sleepingIn May-time of the year,Among the lilies,Lapped in the tender light:White lambs come grazing,White doves come building there;And round about himThe May-bushes are white. Soft moss the pillowFor O, a softer cheek;Broad leaves cast shadowUpon the heavy eyes:There winds and watersGrow lulled and scarcely speak;There twilight lingersThe longest in the skies. Young […]

Gone were but the Winter,Come were but the Spring,I would go to a covertWhere the birds sing; Where in the white-thornSingeth a thrush,And a robin singsIn the holly-bush. Full of fresh scentsAre the budding boughs,Arching high overA cool green house: Full of sweet scents,And whispering airWhich sayeth softly:“We spread no snare; “Here dwell in safety,Here […]

“O whence do you come, my dear friend, to me,With your golden hair all fallen below your knee,And your face as white as snowdrops on the lea,And your voice as hollow as the hollow sea?” “From the other world I come back to you,My locks are uncurled with dripping, drenching dew.You know the old, whilst […]

“Jessie, Jessie Cameron,Hear me but this once,” quoth he.“Good luck go with you, neighbor’s son,But I’m no mate for you,” quoth she.Day was verging toward the nightThere beside the moaning sea,Dimness overtook the lightThere where the breakers be.“O Jessie, Jessie Cameron,I have loved you long and true.”–“Good luck go with you, neighbor’s son,But I’m no […]

Long ago and long ago,And long ago still,There dwelt three merry maidensUpon a distant hill.One was tall Meggan,And one was dainty May,But one was fair Margaret,More fair than I can say,Long ago and long ago. When Meggan plucked the thorny rose,And when May pulled the brier,Half the birds would swoop to see,Half the beasts draw […]

Till all sweet gums and juices flow,Till the blossom of blossoms blow,The long hours go and come and go,The bride she sleepeth, waketh, sleepeth,Waiting for one whose coming is slow:–Hark! the bride weepeth. “How long shall I wait, come heat come rime?”–“Till the strong Prince comes, who must come in time,”Her women say. “There’s a […]

Once in a dream (for once I dreamed of you)We stood together in an open field;Above our heads two swift-winged pigeons wheeled,Sporting at ease and courting full in view.When loftier still a broadening darkness flew,Down-swooping, and a ravenous hawk revealed;Too weak to fight, too fond to fly, they yield;So farewell life and love and pleasures […]

These two pieces, written during the suspense of a great nation’s agony, aim at expressing human sympathy, not political bias. I. “THY BROTHER’S BLOOD CRIETH.” All her corn-fields rippled in the sunshine,All her lovely vines, sweets-laden, bowed;Yet some weeks to harvest and to vintage:When, as one man’s hand, a cloudRose and spread, and, blackening, burst […]

“Croak, croak, croak,”Thus the Raven spoke,Perched on his crooked treeAs hoarse as hoarse could be.Shun him and fear him,Lest the Bridegroom hear him;Scout him and rout himWith his ominous eye about him. Yet, “Croak, croak, croak,”Still tolled from the oak;From that fatal black bird,Whether heard or unheard:“O ship upon the high seas,Freighted with lives and […]

How comes it, Flora, that, whenever wePlay cards together, you invariably,However the pack parts,Still hold the Queen of Hearts? I’ve scanned you with a scrutinizing gaze,Resolved to fathom these your secret ways:But, sift them as I will,Your ways are secret still. I cut and shuffle; shuffle, cut, again;But all my cutting, shuffling, proves in vain:Vain […]

On the wind of JanuaryDown flits the snow,Travelling from the frozen NorthAs cold as it can blow.Poor robin redbreast,Look where he comes;Let him in to feel your fire,And toss him of your crumbs. On the wind in FebruarySnow-flakes float still,Half inclined to turn to rain,Nipping, dripping, chill.Then the thaws swell the streams,And swollen rivers swell […]

“There’s a footstep coming: look out and see.”–“The leaves are falling, the wind is calling;No one cometh across the lea.”– “There’s a footstep coming: O sister, look.”–“The ripple flashes, the white foam dashes;No one cometh across the brook.”– “But he promised that he would come:To-night, to-morrow, in joy or sorrow,He must keep his word, and […]

A song in a cornfieldWhere corn begins to fall,Where reapers are reaping,Reaping one, reaping all.Sing pretty Lettice,Sing Rachel, sing May;Only Marian cannot singWhile her sweetheart’s away. Where is he gone toAnd why does he stay?He came across the green seaBut for a day,Across the deep green seaTo help with the hay.His hair was curly yellowAnd […]

Underneath the growing grass,Underneath the living flowers,Deeper than the sound of showers:There we shall not count the hoursBy the shadows as they pass. Youth and health will be but vain,Beauty reckoned of no worth:There a very little girthCan hold round what once the earthSeemed too narrow to contain.

What would I give for a heart of flesh to warm me through,Instead of this heart of stone ice-cold whatever I do;Hard and cold and small, of all hearts the worst of all. What would I give for words, if only words would come;But now in its misery my spirit has fallen dumb:O, merry friends, […]

You must not call me Maggie, you must not call me Dear,For I’m Lady of the Manor now stately to see;And if there comes a babe, as there may some happy year,‘T will be little lord or lady at my knee. O, but what ails you, my sailor cousin Phil,That you shake and turn white […]

While roses are so red,While lilies are so white,Shall a woman exalt her faceBecause it gives delight?She’s not so sweet as a rose,A lily’s straighter than she,And if she were as red or whiteShe’d be but one of three. Whether she flush in love’s summerOr in its winter grow pale,Whether she flaunt her beautyOr hide […]

ConsiderThe lilies of the field whose bloom is brief:–We are as they;Like them we fade away,As doth a leaf. ConsiderThe sparrows of the air of small account:Our God doth viewWhether they fall or mount,–He guards us too. ConsiderThe lilies that do neither spin nor toil,Yet are most fair:–What profits all this careAnd all this coil? […]