We are not always glad when we smile: Though we wear a fair face and are gay, And the world we deceive May not ever believe We could laugh in a happier way.– Yet, down in the deeps of the soul, Ofttimes, with our faces aglow, There’s an ache and a moan That we know […]

It’s many’s the scenes which is dear to my mind As I think of my childhood so long left behind; The home of my birth, with it’s old puncheon-floor, And the bright morning-glories that growed round the door; The warped clab-board roof whare the rain it run off Into streams of sweet dreams as I […]

For you, I could forget the gay Delirium of merriment, And let my laughter die away In endless silence of content. I could forget, for your dear sake, The utter emptiness and ache Of every loss I ever knew.– What could I not forget for you? I could forget the just deserts Of mine own […]

There’s a space for good to bloom in Every heart of man or woman,– And however wild or human, Or however brimmed with gall, Never heart may beat without it; And the darkest heart to doubt it Has something good about it After all.

They’s a kind o’ feel in the air, to me. When the Chris’mas-times sets in. That’s about as much of a mystery As ever I’ve run ag’in!– Fer instunce, now, whilse I gain in weight And gineral health, I swear They’s a goneness somers I can’t quite state– A kind o’ feel in the air. […]

O the Lands of Where-Away! Tell us–tell us–where are they? Through the darkness and the dawn We have journeyed on and on– From the cradle to the cross– From possession unto loss.– Seeking still, from day to day, For the Lands of Where-Away. When our baby-feet were first Planted where the daisies burst, And the […]

They walk here with us, hand-in-hand; We gossip, knee-by-knee; They tell us all that they have planned– Of all their joys to be,– And, laughing, leave us: And, to-day, All desolate we cry Across wide waves of voiceless graves– Good-by! Good-by! Good-by!

Dreamer, say, will you dream for me A wild sweet dream of a foreign land, Whose border sips of a foaming sea With lips of coral and silver sand; Where warm winds loll on the shady deeps, Or lave themselves in the tearful mist The great wild wave of the breaker weeps O’er crags of […]

I am not prone to moralize In scientific doubt On certain facts that Nature tries To puzzle us about,– For I am no philosopher Of wise elucidation, But speak of things as they occur, From simple observation. I notice little things–to wit:– I never missed a train Because I didn’t run for it; I never […]

Who bides his time, and day by day Faces defeat full patiently, And lifts a mirthful roundelay, However poor his fortunes be,– He will not fail in any qualm Of poverty–the paltry clime It will grow golden in his palm, Who bides his time. Who bides his time–he tastes the sweet Of honey in the […]

O the old trundle-bed where I slept when a boy! What canopied king might not covet the joy? The glory and peace of that slumber of mine, Like a long, gracious rest in the bosom divine: The quaint, homely couch, hidden close from the light, But daintily drawn from its hiding at night. O a […]

My dear old friends–It jes beats all, The way you write a letter So’s ever’ last line beats the first, And ever’ next-un’s better!– W’y, ever’ fool-thing you putt down You make so interestin’, A feller, readin’ of ’em all, Can’t tell which is the best-un. It’s all so comfortin’ and good, ‘Pears-like I almost […]

I want to sing something–but this is all– I try and I try, but the rhymes are dull As though they were damp, and the echoes fall Limp and unlovable. Words will not say what I yearn to say– They will not walk as I want them to, But they stumble and fall in the […]

Say farewell, and let me go; Shatter every vow! All the future can bestow Will be welcome now! And if this fair hand I touch I have worshipped overmuch, It was my mistake–and so, Say farewell, and let me go. Say farewell, and let me go: Murmur no regret, Stay your tear-drops ere they flow– […]

I But yesterday I looked away O’er happy lands, where sunshine lay In golden blots Inlaid with spots Of shade and wild forget-me-nots. My head was fair With flaxen hair, And fragrant breezes, faint and rare, And warm with drouth From out the south, Blew all my curls across my mouth. And, cool and sweet, […]

Ay, thou varlet!–Laugh away! All the world’s a holiday! Laugh away, and roar and shout Till thy hoarse tongue lolleth out! Bloat thy cheeks, and bulge thine eyes Unto bursting; pelt thy thighs With thy swollen palms, and roar As thou never hast before! Lustier! wilt thou! peal on peal! Stiflest? Squat and grind thy […]

“How did you rest, last night?”– I’ve heard my gran’pap say Them words a thousand times–that’s right– Jes them words thataway! As punctchul-like as morning dast To ever heave in sight Gran’pap ‘ud allus haf to ast– “How did you rest, last night?” Us young-uns used to grin, At breakfast, on the sly, And mock […]

I The kind of a man for you and me! He faces the world unflinchingly, And smites, as long as the wrong resists, With a knuckled faith and force like fists: He lives the life he is preaching of, And loves where most is the need of love; His voice is clear to the deaf […]

(Grandfather, musing.) In childish days! O memory, You bring such curious things to me!– Laughs to the lip–tears to the eye, In looking on the gifts that lie Like broken playthings scattered o’er Imagination’s nursery floor! Did these old hands once click the key That let “Jack’s” box-lid upward fly, And that blear-eyed, fur-whiskered elf […]

Out of the hitherwhere into the Yon– The land that the Lord’s love rests upon; Where one may rely on the friends he meets, And the smiles that greet him along the streets: Where the mother that left you years ago Will lift the hands that were folded so, And put them about you, with […]