She loves thee, loves thee not! That, that is all, my heart. Why should she take a part In every selfish blot, In every greedy spot That now doth ache and smart Because she loves thee not– Not, not at all, poor heart! Thou art no such dove-cot Of virtues–no such chart Of highways, though […]

Such guests as you, sir, were not in my mind When I my homely dish with care designed; ‘Twas certain humble souls I would have fed Who do not turn from wholesome milk and bread: You came, slow-trotting on the narrow way, O’erturned the food, and trod it in the clay; Then low with discoid […]

Lord, I have laid my heart upon thy altar But cannot get the wood to burn; It hardly flares ere it begins to falter And to the dark return. Old sap, or night-fallen dew, makes damp the fuel; In vain my breath would flame provoke; Yet see–at every poor attempt’s renewal To thee ascends the […]

Some men there are who cannot spare A single tear until they feel The last cold pressure, and the heel Is stamped upon the outmost layer. And, waking, some will sigh to think The clouds have borrowed winter’s wing, Sad winter, when the grasses spring No more about the fountain’s brink. And some would call […]

Lord, hear my discontent: all blank I stand, A mirror polished by thy hand; Thy sun’s beams flash and flame from me– I cannot help it: here I stand, there he! To one of them I cannot say, Go, and on yonder water play; Nor one poor ragged daisy can I fashion– I do not […]

From the German of Dessler. O Lord, how happy is the time When in thy love I rest! When from my weariness I climb Even to thy tender breast! The night of sorrow endeth there– Thou art brighter than the sun; And in thy pardon and thy care The heaven of heaven is won. Let […]

Make not of thy heart a casket, Opening seldom, quick to close; But of bread a wide-mouthed basket, Or a cup that overflows.

0 Earth, Earth, Earth, I am dying for love of thee, For thou hast given me birth, And thy hands have tended me. I would fall asleep on thy breast When its swelling folds are bare, When the thrush dreams of its nest And the life of its joy in the air; When thy life […]

What dost thou here, O soul, Beyond thy own control, Under the strange wild sky? 0 stars, reach down your hands, And clasp me in your silver bands, I tremble with this mystery!– Flung hither by a chance Of restless circumstance, Thou art but here, and wast not sent; Yet once more mayest thou draw […]

O Lord, if on the wind, at cool of day, I heard one whispered word of mighty grace; If through the darkness, as in bed I lay, But once had come a hand upon my face; If but one sign that might not be mistook Had ever been, since first thy face I sought, I […]

Are the leaves falling round about The churchyard on the hill? Is the glow of autumn going out? Is that the winter chill? And yet through winter’s noise, no doubt The graves are very still! Are the woods empty, voiceless, bare? On sodden leaves do you tread? Is nothing left of all those fair? Is […]

Loosener of springs, he died by thee! Softness, not hardness, sent him home; He loved thee–and thou mad’st him free Of all the place thou comest from!

Still am I haunting Thy door with my prayers; Still they are panting Up thy steep stairs! Wouldst thou not rather Come down to my heart, And there, O my Father, Be what thou art?

0 Lord, my God, how long Shall my poor heart pant for a boundless joy? How long, O mighty Spirit, shall I hear The murmur of Truth’s crystal waters slide From the deep caverns of their endless being, But my lips taste not, and the grosser air Choke each pure inspiration of thy will? I […]

Yes, Master, when thou comest thou shalt find A little faith on earth, if I am here! Thou know’st how oft I turn to thee my mind. How sad I wait until thy face appear! Hast thou not ploughed my thorny ground full sore, And from it gathered many stones and sherds? Plough, plough and […]

0 Lord, at Joseph’s humble bench Thy hands did handle saw and plane; Thy hammer nails did drive and clench, Avoiding knot and humouring grain. That thou didst seem, thou wast indeed, In sport thy tools thou didst not use; Nor, helping hind’s or fisher’s need, The labourer’s hire, too nice, refuse. Lord, might I […]

My thoughts are like fire-flies, pulsing in moonlight; My heart like a silver cup, filled with red wine; My soul a pale gleaming horizon, whence soon light Will flood the gold earth with a torrent divine.

Everything goes to its rest; The hills are asleep in the noon; And life is as still in its nest As the moon when she looks on a moon In the depth of a calm river’s breast As it steals through a midnight in June. The streams have forgotten the sea In the dream of […]

I. I stood in an ancient garden With high red walls around; Over them grey and green lichens In shadowy arabesque wound. The topmost climbing blossoms On fields kine-haunted looked out; But within were shelter and shadow, With daintiest odours about. There were alleys and lurking arbours, Deep glooms into which to dive. The lawns […]

Who lights the fire–that forth so gracefully And freely frolicketh the fairy smoke? Some pretty one who never felt the yoke– Glad girl, or maiden more sedate than she. Pedant it cannot, villain cannot be! Some genius, may-be, his own symbol woke; But puritan, nor rogue in virtue’s cloke, Nor kitchen-maid has done it certainly! […]