Grand Haven is in Michigan, and in possession, too,Of as many rare attractions as our party ever knew:–The fine hotel, the landlord, and the lordly bill of fare,And the dainty-neat completeness of the pretty waiters there;The touch on the piano in the parlor, and the trillOf the exquisite soprano, in our fancy singing still;Our cozy […]

Owned a pair o’ skates onc’t.–TradedFer ’em,–stropped ’em on and wadedUp and down the crick, a-waitin’Tel she’d freeze up fit fer skatin’.Mildest winter I remember–More like Spring- than Winter-weather!–Did n’t frost tel bout December-Git up airly ketch a’ featherOf it, mayby, ‘crost the winder–Sunshine swinge it like a cinder! Well–I waited–and kep‘ waitin’!Couldn’t see my […]

I have sipped, with drooping lashes,Dreamy draughts of Verzenay;I have flourished brandy-smashesIn the wildest sort of way;I have joked with “Tom and Jerry”Till wee hours ayont the twal’–But I’ve found my tea the verySafest tipple of them all! ‘Tis a mystical potationThat exceeds in warmth of glowAnd divine exhilarationAll the drugs of long ago–All of […]

Hereafter! O we need not wasteOur smiles or tears, whatever befall:No happiness but holds a tasteOf something sweeter, after all;–No depth of agony but feelsSome fragment of abiding trust,–Whatever death unlocks or seals,The mute beyond is just.

Writ in between the lines of his life-deedWe trace the sacred service of a heartAnswering the Divine command, in every partBearing on human weal: His love did feedThe loveless; and his gentle hands did leadThe blind, and lift the weak, and balm the smartOf other wounds than rankled at the dartIn his own breast, that […]

Get gone, thou most uncomfortable ghost!Thou really dost annoy me with thy thinImpalpable transparency of grin;And the vague, shadowy shape of thee almostHath vext me beyond boundary and coastOf my broad patience. Stay thy chattering chin,And reel the tauntings of thy vain tongue in,Nor tempt me further with thy vaporish boastThat I am helpless to […]

They faced each other: Topaz-brownAnd lambent burnt her eyes and shotSharp flame at his of amethyst.–“I hate you! Go, and be forgotAs death forgets!” their glitter hissed(So seemed it) in their hatred. Ho!Dared any mortal front her so?–Tempestuous eyebrows knitted down–Tense nostril, mouth–no muscle slack,–And black–the suffocating black–The stifling blackness of her frown! Ah! but […]

May 1, 1891. I. Elizabeth! Elizabeth!The first May-morning whisperethThy gentle name in every breezeThat lispeth through the young-leaved trees,New raimented in white and greenOf bloom and leaf to crown thee queen;–And, as in odorous chorus, allThe orchard-blossoms sweetly callEven as a singing voice that saithElizabeth! Elizabeth! II. Elizabeth! Lo, lily-fair,In deep, cool shadows of thy […]

Old friend of mine, whose chiming nameHas been the burthen of a rhymeWithin my heart since first I cameTo know thee in thy mellow prime;With warm emotions in my breastThat can but coldly be expressed,And hopes and wishes wild and vain,I reach my hand to thee, Dan Paine. In fancy, as I sit aloneIn gloomy […]

Wintertime, er Summertime,Of late years I notice I’m,Kindo’-like, more subjec’ toWhat the weather is. Now, youFolks ‘at lives in town, I s’pose,Thinks its bully when it snows;But the chap ‘at chops and haulsYer wood fer ye, and then stalls,And snapps tuggs and swingletrees,And then has to walk er freeze,Haint so much “stuck on” the snowAs […]

Go, Winter! Go thy ways! We want againThe twitter of the bluebird and the wren;Leaves ever greener growing, and the shineOf Summer’s sun–not thine.– Thy sun, which mocks our need of warmth and loveAnd all the heartening fervencies thereof,It scarce hath heat enow to warm our thinPathetic yearnings in. So get thee from us! We […]

A TRAGI-COMEDY, IN ONE ACT. PERSONS REPRESENTED. BILLY MILLER ) The RivalsJOHNNY WILLIAMS ) TOMMY WELLS ConspiratorTIME–Noon: SCENE–Country Town–Rear-view of theMiller Mansion, showing Barn, with practical loft-windowopening on alley-way, with colored-crayon poster beneath,announcing:–“BILLY MILLER’S Big Show and Monstur Circusand Equareum! A shour-bath fer Each and All fer 20 pins.This Afternoon! Don’t fer git the date!” […]

One ‘s the pictur’ of his Pa,And the other of her Ma–Jes the bossest pair o’ babies ‘at a mortal ever saw!And we love ’em as the beesLoves the blossoms of the trees,A-ridin’ and a-rompin’ in the breeze! One’s got her Mammy’s eyes–Soft and blue as Apurl-skies–With the same sort of a smile, like–Yes,and mouth […]

O love is like an untamed steed!–So hot of heart and wild of speed,And with fierce freedom so in love,The desert is not vast enough,With all its leagues of glimmering sands,To pasture it! Ah, that my handsWere more than human in their strength,That my deft lariat at lengthMight safely noose this splendid thingThat so defies […]

I bear dis cross dis many a mile.O de cross-bearin’ chile–De cross-bearin’ chile! I bear dis cross ‘long many a roadWha’ de pink ain’t bloom’ an’ de grass done mowed.O de cross-bearin’ chile–De cross-bearin’ chile! Hits on my conscience all dese daysFo’ ter bear de cross ut de good Lord laysOn my po’ soul, an’ […]

Let us be thankful–not only becauseSince last our universal thanks were toldWe have grown greater in the world’s applause,And fortune’s newer smiles surpass the old– But thankful for all things that come as almsFrom out the open hand of Providence:–The winter clouds and storms—the summer calms–The sleepless dread–the drowse of indolence. Let us be thankful–thankful […]

I. An afternoon as ripe with heatAs might the golden pippin beWith mellowness if at my feetIt dropped now from the apple-treeMy hammock swings in lazily. II. The boughs about me spread a shadeThat shields me from the sun, but weavesWith breezy shuttles through the leavesBlue rifts of skies, to gleam and fadeUpon the eyes […]

He leant against a lamp-post, lostIn some mysterious reverie:His head was bowed; his arms were crossed;He yawned, and glanced evasively:Uncrossed his arms, and slowly putThem back again, and scratched his side–Shifted his weight from foot to foot,And gazed out no-ward, idle-eyed. Grotesque of form and face and dress,And picturesque in every way–A figure that from […]

Blossoms crimson, white, or blue,Purple, pink, and every hue,From sunny skies, to tintings drownedIn dusky drops of dew,I praise you all, wherever found,And love you through and through;–But, Blossoms On The Trees,With your breath upon the breeze,There’s nothing all the world aroundAs half as sweet as you! Could the rhymer only wringAll the sweetness to […]

I caught but a glimpse of him. Summer was here,And I strayed from the town and its dust and heatAnd walked in a wood, while the noon was near,Where the shadows were cool, and the atmosphereWas misty with fragrances stirred by my feetFrom surges of blossoms that billowed sheerO’er the grasses, green and sweet. And […]