A voice missed by the dear home-hearth–A voice of music and gentle mirth–A voice whose lingering sweetness longWill float through many a Sabbath song,And many a hallowed, evening hymn,Tenderly breathed in the twilight dim!–But that missing voice, with a richer tone,Is heard in the anthems before the throne;And another voice and another lyre,Are added now […]

I. Storms gather o’er thy path,Christian!–the sullen, tempest-darkened skyGrows lurid with the elemental wrath,–Say, whither wilt thou fly? God is my Refuge!–let the tempests come,They will but speed me sooner to my home! II. Night lowers in sullen gloom,Christian!–a long, dark night awaiteth thee,Dreary as Egypt’s night of fear and doom,–Where will thy hiding be? […]

God will not let His bright gifts dieIf I may not sing my songs just nowI shall sing them by and by A young man with a Poet’s soul,And a Poet’s kindling eye–Dark, dreamy, full of unvoiced thought–And forehead calm and high,Toiled wearily at his heavy taskTill his soul grew sick with pain,And the pent […]

When the heavy, midnight shadowsGather o’er a slumbering world,And the banner folds of darknessAre in gloomy pomp unfurled,–Think, lone watcher, pale and tearful,In thy sad, unpitied lot,By the death couch waking, weeping,There is One who slumbers not!–One who, though no mourning brotherShare thy vigils lone and drear,Loving, pitying, as no otherLoves or pities, watches near! […]

I love thee, Sabbath morn!–I cannot sayBut ’tis because my father loved thee so,–Because my mother’s care-worn face would growSo sweetly placid in thy peaceful ray;– It may be, that is part of what endearsThee, Sabbath, to my soul; for memory stirsOld buried thoughts of his voice and of hers–Heard never more on Earth–till sudden […]

Thou hast entered the land without shadows,Thou who, ‘neath the shadow, so longHast sat with thy white hands close-folded,And lips that could utter no song;Through a rift in the cloud, for an instant,Thine eyes caught a glimpse of that shore,And Earth with its gloom was forgotten,And Heaven is thine own evermore! We see not the […]

I plucked a fair flower that grewIn the shadow of summer’s green trees–A rose petalled flower,Of all in the bower,Best beloved of the bee and the breezeI plucked it, and kissed it, and called it my own–This beautiful, beautiful flowerThat alone in the cool, tender shadow had grown,Fairest and first in the bower Then a […]

Just fifty years, my daughters,Just fifty years, my son,Since your sire and I togetherThe march of life begun.It does not seem so long agoAs half a hundred years,Since hand in hand we started out,To face life’s toils and tears. And toils, and tears, too, we have met;Yet sunbeams oft have come–Many and beautiful, and bright–To […]

“ALL PERSON’S HELD AS SLAVES, within said designated States and partsof States, ARE, AND HENCEFORWARD SHALL BE FREE!”—Proclamation of Emancipation, Jan. 1st, 1863. “Shall be free! shall be free!”–lo, the strong winds have caught it,And borne it from hill top to hill top afar,And echo to answering echo has taught it,Through the din of the […]

He sleeps where the billowLifts high its white crestO’er his lone, sea-weed pillowOn Ocean’s dark breast;No shroud is around him,No flowers bloom above,No mourners surround himWith grief-drops of love. But the limitless oceanHis requiem sings,As, with tireless motion,The green billow springsToward the infinite heaven,Blue, bending above,Where angels are watchingHis slumbers in love. Oh! boundless his […]

There’s a beautiful Artist abroad in the world,And her pencil is dipped in heaven,–The gorgeous hues of Italian skies,The radiant sunset’s richest dyes,The light of Aurora’s laughing eyes,Are each to her pictures given. As I walked abroad yestere’en, what timeThe sunset was fairest to see,I saw where her wonderful brush had beenOver a maple tree–half […]

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I gave myself to JesusIn my sunny childhood’s years,When on my young, unsullied cheekThere lay no trace of tears;I little knew what gift I gave,Nor yet what gift I took;For life without and life withinWere each a sealed-up […]

Over the waves of the Western sea,Led by the hand of Hope she came–The beautiful Angel of Liberty–When the sky was red with the sunset’s flame,–Came to a rocky and surf-beat shore,Lone, and wintry, and stern, and wild,The waves behind her, and wastes before,And the Angel of Liberty, pausing, smiled. “Here, O Sister, shall be […]

I. Beautiful Autumn is dead and gone–Weep for her!Calm, and gracious, and very fair,With sunny robe and with shining hair,And a tender light in her dreamy eye,She came to earth but to smile and die–Weep for her! Nay, nay, I will not weep!She came with a smile,And tarried awhile,Quieting Nature to sleep;–Then went on her […]

Oh, take me where the wild flowers bloom!I’m dying, mother dear!And shades of ever deepening gloomAre round, and o’er me here,–The city’s din is in my ear,Its glitter mocks my eye,–Oh, take me where the skies are clear.And the hills are green, to die! I do not dread the shadowy vale,The river deep and chill,–For, […]

Balmy morning! blessed morning!Dew-drops brightAll the emerald glade adorningIn thy light–In thy golden glowing beamWith an ever-changeful gleamFlashing sparkling deeply glowingVarying tints of beauty showingEverywhereRadiant areIn thy welcome light! Balmy morning! blessed morning!Flowers look up,With a precious, pearly off’ring,In each cup–Dewy off’ring gleaned by night,As a tribute to the light,–Far more precious than the gemOf […]

A light departed from the hearth of home,Leaving a shadow where its radiance shone,–A flower just bursting into life and bloom,Lopped from its stem, the bower left sad and lone,–A golden link dropped from love’s precious chain,–Gem from affection’s sacred casket riven,–Of music’s richest tones a missing strain,–A bird-note hushed in the blue summer heaven! […]

[Footnote: A precious memory is associated with these words. The voice that uttered them is silent now but the solemnity of their utterance has not passed away. The [below] is a feeble attempt to give it something like permanency.] Bow the head in supplication,Lowly, penitent, sincere,Worthiest of adoration,God, the Holy One is here!–Here, while through […]

Eloise! Eloise!It is morn on the seas,And the waters are curling and flashing;And our rock-sheltered seat,Where the waves ever beatWith a cadenced and rhythmical dashing,Is here–just here,But I miss thee, dear!And the sun-beams around me are flashingO seat, by the lonely sea,O seat, that she shared with me,Thou art all unfilled to day!And the plaintive, […]

“For he looked for a city that hath foundations, whose Maker and Builder is God.” I. Somewhere, I know, there waits for meA home that mocks the pomp of Earth,Eye hath not seen its majesty,Nor heart conceived its priceless worth,–Talk not of crystal, gems, or gold,Or towers that flame in changeless light,Imagination, weak and cold,Faints […]