“WHO is this little one lying,” Said Time, “at my garden-gate, Moaning and sobbing and crying, Out in the cold so late?” “They lurked until we came near, Master and I,” the child said, “Then caught me, with ‘Welcome, New-year! Happy Year! Golden-head!’ “See Christmas-day, my Master, On the meadow a mile away! Father Time, […]

It’s all very well, Said the Bell, To be the big Organ below! But the folk come and go, Said the Bell, And you never can tell What sort of person the Organ will blow! And, besides, it is much at the mercy of the weather For ’tis all made in pieces and glued together! […]

Forth to his study the sculptor goes In a mood of lofty mirth: “Now shall the tongues of my carping foes Confess what my art is worth! In my brain last night the vision arose, To-morrow shall see its birth!” He stood like a god; with creating hand He struck the formless clay: “Psyche, arise,” […]

Lycabas: A name of the Year. Some say the word means a march of wolves, which wolves, running in single file, are the Months of the Year. Others say the word means the path of the light. O ye months of the year, Are ye a march of wolves? Lycabas! Lycabas! twelve to growl and […]

A clock aeonian, steady and tall, With its back to creation’s flaming wall, Stands at the foot of a dim, wide stair. Swing, swang, its pendulum goes, Swing–swang–here–there! Its tick and its tack like the sledge-hammer blows Of Tubal Cain, the mighty man! But they strike on the anvil of never an ear, On the […]

Prince Breacan of Denmark was lord of the strand And lord of the billowy sea; Lord of the sea and lord of the land, He might have let maidens be! A maiden he met with locks of gold, Straying beside the sea: Maidens listened in days of old, And repented grievously. Wiser he left her […]

It is May, and the moon leans down at night Over a blossomy land; Leans from her window a lady white, With her cheek upon her hand. “Oh, why in the blue so misty, moon? Why so dull in the sky? Thou look’st like one that is ready to swoon Because her tear-well is dry. […]

The witch lady walked along the strand, Heard a roaring of the sea, On the edge of a pool saw a dead man’s hand, Good thing for a witch lady! Lightly she stepped across the rocks, Came where the dead man lay: Now pretty maid with your merry mocks, Now I shall have my way! […]

O Thou that walkest with nigh hopeless feet Past the one harbour, built for thee and thine. Doth no stray odour from its table greet, No truant beam from fire or candle shine? At his wide door the host doth stand and call; At every lattice gracious forms invite; Thou seest but a dull-gray, solid […]

Would-be prophets tell us We shall not re-know Them that walked our fellows In the ways below! Smoking, smouldering Tophets Steaming hopeless plaints! Dreary, mole-eyed prophets! Mean, skin-pledging saints! Knowing not the Father What their prophecies! Grapes of such none gather, Only thorns and lies. Loving thus the brother, How the Father tell? Go without […]

To give a thing and take again Is counted meanness among men; To take away what once is given Cannot then be the way of heaven! But human hearts are crumbly stuff, And never, never love enough, Therefore God takes and, with a smile, Puts our best things away a while. Thereon some weep, some […]

Bands of dark and bands of light Lie athwart the homeward way; Now we cross a belt of Night, Now a strip of shining Day! Now it is a month of June, Now December’s shivering hour; Now rides high loved memories’ Moon, Now the Dark is dense with power! Summers, winters, days, and nights, Moons, […]

When thou turn’st away from ill, Christ is this side of thy hill. When thou turnest toward good, Christ is walking in thy wood. When thy heart says, “Father, pardon!” Then the Lord is in thy garden. When stern Duty wakes to watch, Then his hand is on the latch. But when Hope thy song […]

When the snow is on the earth Birds and waters cease their mirth; When the sunlight is prevailing Even the night-winds drop their wailing. On the earth when deep snows lie Still the sun is in the sky, And when most we miss his fire He is ever drawing nigher. In the darkest winter day […]

Love alone is great in might, Makes the heavy burden light, Smooths rough ways to weary feet, Makes the bitter morsel sweet: Love alone is strength! Might that is not born of Love Is not Might born from above, Has its birthplace down below Where they neither reap nor sow: Love alone is strength! Love […]

Trust him in the common light; Trust him in the awesome night; Trust him when the earth doth quake: Trust him when thy heart doth ache; Trust him when thy brain doth reel And thy friend turns on his heel; Trust him when the way is rough, Cry not yet, It is enough! But obey […]

With us there is no gray fearing, With us no aching for lack! For the morn it is always nearing, And the night is at our back. At times a song will fall dumb, A thought-bell burst in a sigh, But no one says, “He will not come!” She says, “He is almost nigh!” The […]

“My life is drear; walking I labour sore; The heart in me is heavy as a stone; And of my sorrows this the icy core: Life is so wide, and I am all alone!” Thou did’st walk so, with heaven-born eyes down bent Upon the earth’s gold-rosy, radiant clay, That thou had’st seen no star […]

When I am dead unto myself, and let, O Father, thee live on in me, Contented to do nought but pay my debt, And leave the house to thee, Then shall I be thy ransomed–from the cark Of living, from the strain for breath, From tossing in my coffin strait and dark, At hourly strife […]

Go not forth to call Dame Sorrow From the dim fields of Tomorrow; Let her roam there all unheeded, She will come when she is needed; Then, when she draws near thy door, She will find God there before.