I. The cypress stood up like a churchThat night we felt our love would hold,And saintly moonlight seemed to searchAnd wash the whole world clean as gold;The olives crystallized the vales’Broad slopes until the hills grew strong:The fire-flies and the nightingalesThrobbed each to either, flame and song.The nightingales, the nightingales! II. Upon the angle of […]

I. “But why do you go?” said the lady, while both sat under the yew,And her eyes were alive in their depth, as the kraken beneath the sea-blue. II. “Because I fear you,” he answered;–“because you are far too fair,And able to strangle my soul in a mesh of your gold-coloured hair.” III. “Oh, that,” […]

I. Sleep, little babe, on my knee,Sleep, for the midnight is chill,And the moon has died out in the tree,And the great human world goeth ill.Sleep, for the wicked agree:Sleep, let them do as they will.Sleep. II. Sleep, thou hast drawn from my breastThe last drop of milk that was good;And now, in a dream, […]

I. Sweet, thou hast trod on a heart.Pass; there’s a world full of men;And women as fair as thou artMust do such things now and then. II. Thou only hast stepped unaware,–Malice, not one can impute;And why should a heart have been thereIn the way of a fair woman’s foot? III. It was not a […]

I. Dead! Thirteen a month ago!Short and narrow her life’s walk;Lover’s love she could not knowEven by a dream or talk:Too young to be glad of youth,Missing honour, labour, rest,And the warmth of a babe’s mouthAt the blossom of her breast.Must you pity her for thisAnd for all the loss it is,You, her mother, with […]

I. Because ye have broken your own chainWith the strainOf brave men climbing a Nation’s height,Yet thence bear down with brand and thongOn souls of others,–for this wrongThis is the curse. Write. Because yourselves are standing straightIn the stateOf Freedom’s foremost acolyte,Yet keep calm footing all the timeOn writhing bond-slaves,–for this crimeThis is the curse. […]

PROLOGUE. I heard an angel speak last night,And he said “Write!Write a Nation’s curse for me,And send it over the Western Sea.” I faltered, taking up the word:“Not so, my lord!If curses must be, choose anotherTo send thy curse against my brother. “For I am bound by gratitude,By love and blood,To brothers of mine across […]

I. Nay, if I had come back so,And found her dead in her grave,And if a friend I knowHad said, “Be strong, nor rave:She lies there, dead below: II. “I saw her, I who speak,White, stiff, the face one blank:The blue shade came to her cheekBefore they nailed the plank,For she had been dead a […]

What’s the best thing in the world?June-rose, by May-dew impearled;Sweet south-wind, that means no rain;Truth, not cruel to a friend;Pleasure, not in haste to end;Beauty, not self-decked and curledTill its pride is over-plain;Light, that never makes you wink;Memory, that gives no pain;Love, when, so, you’re loved again.What’s the best thing in the world?–Something out of […]

I. Enough! we’re tired, my heart and I.We sit beside the headstone thus,And wish that name were carved for us.The moss reprints more tenderlyThe hard types of the mason’s knife,As heaven’s sweet life renews earth’s lifeWith which we’re tired, my heart and I. II. You see we’re tired, my heart and I.We dealt with books, […]

I. Fair Amy of the terraced house,Assist me to discoverWhy you who would not hurt a mouseCan torture so your lover. II. You give your coffee to the cat,You stroke the dog for coming,And all your face grows kinder atThe little brown bee’s humming. III. But when he haunts your door … the townMarks coming […]

I. You love all, you say,Round, beneath, above me:Find me then some wayBetter than to love me,Me, too, dearest May! II. O world-kissing eyesWhich the blue heavens melt to;I, sad, overwise,Loathe the sweet looks dealt toAll things–men and flies. III. You love all, you say:Therefore, Dear, abate meJust your love, I pray!Shut your eyes and […]

WRITTEN IN ROME. I. I am listening here in Rome.“England’s strong,” say many speakers,“If she winks, the Czar must come,Prow and topsail, to the breakers.” II. “England’s rich in coal and oak,”Adds a Roman, getting moody;“If she shakes a travelling cloak,Down our Appian roll the scudi.” III. “England’s righteous,” they rejoin:“Who shall grudge her exaltationsWhen […]

I. She was not as pretty as women I know,And yet all your best made of sunshine and snowDrop to shade, melt to nought in the long-trodden ways,While she’s still remembered on warm and cold days–My Kate. II. Her air had a meaning, her movements a grace;You turned from the fairest to gaze on her […]

But see, the Virgin blest Hath laid her babe to rest. Milton. I. Sleep, sleep, mine Holy One! My flesh, my Lord!–what name? I do not know A name that seemeth not too high or low, Too far from me or heaven. My Jesus, that is best! that word being given By the majestic angel […]

“He Giveth his Beloved Sleep” PSALM cxxvii. 2. THE SLEEP OF all the thoughts of God that are Borne inward unto souls afar, Along the Psalmist’s music deep, Now tell me if that any is, For gift or grace, surpassing this– ‘He giveth His beloved, sleep’! What would we give to our beloved? The hero’s […]