Most blest is he who in the morning timeSets forth upon his journey with no staffShaped by another for his use. Who seesThe imminent necessity for toil,And with each morning wakens to the thoughtOf tasks that wait his doing. Never yetHas unearned leisure and the gift of goldBestowed such benefits upon the youngAs need and […]

A drop of water risen from the oceanForgot its cause, and spake with deep emotionUnto a passing breeze. ‘How desolateAnd all forlorn is my unhappy fate.I know not whence I came, or where I go.Scorched by the sun, or chilled by winds that blow,I dwell in space a little time, then passOut into the night […]

I love the tropics, where sun and rainGo forth together, a joyous train,To hold up the green, gay side of the world,And to keep earth’s banners of bloom unfurled. I love the scents that are hidden thereBy housekeeper Time, in her chests of air:Strange and subtle and all a-rife,With vague lost dreams of a bygone […]

I look to Science for the cure of Crime;To patient righting of a thousand wrongs;To final healing of a thousand ills.Blind runner now, and cruel egotistIt yet leads on to more than mortal sight,And the large knowledge that means humbleness,And tender love for all created things. I look to Science for the Coming RaceGrowing from […]

The roses all were pink and red,Before the Bumble Bee,A lover bold, with cloak of gold,Came singing merrilyAlong the sunlit ways that ledFrom woodland, and from lea. He paused beside an opening rose,The garden’s pet and pride;She burst in flower that very hour,While wooing zephyrs sighed;No smile had she for one of those,And hope within […]

There is no progress in the world of bees,However wise and wonderful they are.Their wisdom makes not increase. Lies the bar,To wider goals, in that tense strife to pleaseA Sovereign Ruler? Forth from flowers to treesTheir little quest is; not from star to star.This is not growth; the mighty avatarComes not to do his work […]

Not we who daily walk the city’sNot those who have been cradled in its heart,Best understand its architectural artOr realise its grandeur. Oft we meetSome stranger who has staid his passing feetAnd lingered with us for a single hour,And learned more of cathedral, and of tower,Than we who deem our knowledge quite complete. Not always […]

Oh, vain is the stern protestingOf winds, when the tide runs high;And vainly the deep-sea watersCall out, as the waves speed by;For, deaf to the claim of the ocean,To the threat of the loud winds dumb,Past reef and bar, to shores afar,They rush when the hour is come. Vainly the tempest thunders,Of unsexed waves that […]

To each progressive soul there comes a dayWhen all things that have pleased and satisfiedGrow flavourless, the springs of joy seem dried.No more the waters of youth’s fountains play;Yet out of reach, tiptoeing as they may,The more mature and higher pleasures hide.Life, like a careless nurse, fails to provideNew toys for those the soul has […]

‘Only be still, and in the silence grow,’If thou art seeking what the gods bestow.This is the simple, safe, and certain wayThat leads to knowledge for which all men prayOf higher laws to govern things below. But in our restless discontent we goWith noisy importuning day on day –Drowning the inner voice that strives to […]

I’m pardoned out. Again the starsShine on me with their myriad eyes.So long I’ve peered ‘twixt iron bars,I’m awed by this expanse of skies.The world is wider than I thought,And yet ’tis not so wide, I know,But into its remotest spotMy tale of shame can go. I’m pardoned out. Old Father TimeWho seemed to halt […]

Oh! I feel the growing gloryOf our life upon this sphere,Of the life that like a riverRuns forever and forever,From the somewhere to the here,And still on and onward flowing,Leads us out to larger knowing,Through the hidden, to the clear. And I feel a deep thanksgivingFor the sorrows I have known;For the worries and the […]

Ruined? destroyed? Ah, no; though blood in rivers ranDown all her ancient streets; though treasures manifoldLove-wrought, Time-mellowed, and beyond the price of goldAre lost, yet Belgium’s star shines still in God’s vast plan. Rarely have Kings been great, since kingdoms first began;Rarely have great kings been great men, when all was told.But, by the lighted […]

At the concert and the playEverywhere you see them sitting,Knitting, knitting.Women who the other dayThought of nothing but their frocksOr their jewels or their locks,Women who have lived for pleasure,Who have known no work but leisure,Now are knitting, knitting, knittingFor the soldiers over there. On the trains and on the shipsWith a diligence befitting,They are […]

Our hearts were not set on fighting,We did not pant for the fray,And whatever wrongs need righting,We would not have met that way.But the way that has opened before usLeads on thro’ a blood-red field;And we swear by the great God o’er us,We will die, but we will not yield. The battle is not of […]

He never made a fortune, or a noiseIn the world where men are seeking after fame;But he had a healthy brood of girls and boysWho loved the very ground on which he trod.They thought him just a little short of God;Oh you should have heard the way they said his name –‘Father.’ There seemed to […]

Kamehameha First, of the Hawaiian Islands, conquered his foes in a great battle, driving them over the high mountain peak known as Palione of the famous scenic views of the world, and the goal of all visitors in Honolulu. The Hula (pronounced hoola) was the national muscle and abdominal dance of Hawaii, and the late […]

There is a room serene and fair,All palpitant with light and air;Free from the dust, world’s noise and fuss –God’s Tower-room in each of us. Oh! many a stair our feet must press,And climb from self to selflessness,Before we reach that radiant roomAbove the discord and the gloom. So many, many stairs to climb,But mount […]

Over the din of battle,Over the cannons’ rattle,Over the strident voices of men and their dying groans,I hear the falling of thrones. Out of the wild disorderThat spreads from border to border,I see a new world rising from ashes of ancient towns;And the Rulers wear no crowns. Over the blood-charged water,Over the fields of slaughter,Down […]

There is no summit you may not attain,No purpose which you may not yet achieve,If you will wait serenely and believe.Each seeming loss is but a step to’rd gain. Between the mountain-tops lie vale and plain;Let nothing make you question, doubt, or grieve;Give only good, and good alone receive;And as you welcome joy, so welcome […]