How long the echoes love to play Around the shore of silence, as a wave Retreating circles down the sand! One after one, with sweet delay, The mellow sounds that cliff and island gave, Have lingered in the crescent bay, Until, by lightest breezes fanned, They float far off beyond the dying day And leave […]

A tear that trembles for a little while Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world Wavers within its circle like a dream, Holds more of meaning in its narrow orb Than all the distant landscape that it blurs. A smile that hovers round a mouth beloved, Like the faint pulsing of the Northern Light, And […]

I THE GLACIER At dawn in silence moves the mighty stream, The silver-crested waves no murmur make; But far away the avalanches wake The rumbling echoes, dull as in a dream; Their momentary thunders, dying, seem To fall into the stillness, flake by flake, And leave the hollow air with naught to break The frozen […]

Flowers rejoice when night is done, Lift their heads to greet the sun; Sweetest looks and odours raise, In a silent hymn of praise. So my heart would turn away From the darkness to the day; Lying open in God’s sight Like a flower in the light.

Who watched the worn-out Winter die? Who, peering through the window-pane At nightfall, under sleet and rain Saw the old graybeard totter by? Who listened to his parting sigh, The sobbing of his feeble breath, His whispered colloquy with Death, And when his all of life was done Stood near to bid a last good-bye? […]

If all the skies were sunshine, Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them The cooling plash of rain. If all the world were music, Our hearts would often long For one sweet strain of silence. To break the endless song. If life were always merry, Our souls would seek relief, And […]

I At sunset, when the rosy light was dying Far down the pathway of the west, I saw a lonely dove in silence flying, To be at rest. Pilgrim of air, I cried, could I but borrow Thy wandering wings, thy freedom blest, I’d fly away from every careful sorrow, And find my rest. II […]

I In warlike pomp, with banners flowing, The regiments of autumn stood: I saw their gold and scarlet glowing From every hillside, every wood. Above the sea the clouds were keeping Their secret leaguer, gray and still; They sent their misty vanguard creeping With muffled step from hill to hill. All day the sullen armies […]

Does the snow fall at sea? Yes, when the north winds blow, When the wild clouds fly low, Out of each gloomy wing, Silently glimmering, Over the stormy sea Falleth the snow. Does the snow hide the sea? Nay, on the tossing plains Never a flake remains; Drift never resteth there; Vanishing everywhere, Into the […]

Fair Roslin Chapel, how divine The art that reared thy costly shrine! Thy carven columns must have grown By magic, like a dream in stone. Yet not within thy storied wall Would I in adoration fall, So gladly as within the glen That leads to lovely Hawthornden. A long-drawn aisle, with roof of green And […]

I When tulips bloom in Union Square, And timid breaths of vernal air Go wandering down the dusty town, Like children lost in Vanity Fair; When every long, unlovely row Of westward houses stands aglow, And leads the eyes to sunset skies Beyond the hills where green trees grow; Then weary seems the street parade, […]

The moonbeams over Arno’s vale in silver flood were pouring, When first I heard the nightingale a long-lost love deploring. So passionate, so full of pain, it sounded strange and eerie; I longed to hear a simpler strain,–the wood-notes of the veery. The laverock sings a bonny lay above the Scottish heather; It sprinkles down […]

Deep in the heart of the forest the lily of Yorrow is growing; Blue is its cup as the sky, and with mystical odour o’erflowing; Faintly it falls through the shadowy glades when the south wind is blowing. Sweet are the primroses pale and the violets after a shower; Sweet are the borders of pinks […]

There is a bird I know so well, It seems as if he must have sung Beside my crib when I was young; Before I knew the way to spell The name of even the smallest bird, His gentle-joyful song I heard. Now see if you can tell, my dear. What bird it is that, […]

When May bedecks the naked trees With tassels and embroideries, And many blue-eyed violets beam Along the edges of the stream, I hear a voice that seems to say, Now near at hand, now far away, “Witchery–witchery–witchery.” An incantation so serene, So innocent, befits the scene: There’s magic in that small bird’s note– See, there […]

What time the rose of dawn is laid across the lips of night, And all the little watchman-stars have fallen asleep in light, ‘Tis then a merry wind awakes, and runs from tree to tree, And borrows words from all the birds to sound the reveille. This is the carol the Robin throws Over the […]

Afterthought of summer’s bloom! Late arrival at the feast, Coming when the songs have ceased And the merry guests departed, Leaving but an empty room, Silence, solitude, and gloom,– Are you lonely, heavy-hearted; You, the last of all your kind, Nodding in the autumn-wind; Now that all your friends are flown, Blooming late and all […]

I put my heart to school In the world where men grow wise: “Go out,” I said, “and learn the rule; Come back when you win a prize.” My heart came back again: “Now where is the prize?” I cried.– “The rule was false, and the prize was pain, And the teacher’s name was Pride.” […]

I Where’s your kingdom, little king? Where the land you call your own, Where your palace and your throne? Fluttering lightly on the wing Through the blossom-world of May, Whither lies your royal way, Little king? Far to northward lies a land Where the trees together stand Closely as the blades of wheat When the […]

I Ah, who will tell me, in these leaden days, Why the sweet Spring delays, And where she hides,–the dear desire Of every heart that longs For bloom, and fragrance, and the ruby fire Of maple-buds along the misty hills, And that immortal call which fills The waiting wood with songs? The snow-drops came so […]