Go, dream no more of a sun-bright skyWith never a cloud to dim!–Thou hast seen the storm in its robes of night,Them hast felt the rush of the whirlwind’s might,Thou hast shrunk from the lightning’s arrowy flight,When the Spirit of Storms went by! Go, dream no more of a crystal seaWhere never a tempest sweeps!–For […]

A transient day,A troubled night,The swift decay,The certain blight,And death and dust;– And are these all?–Nay: those are past;And she who sleepsShall wake at lastAmong the just!

I shall be satisfied when I awakenIn thy dear likeness, my King and my Lord,–When the dark prison of death shall be shaken,And the freed spirit comes forth at thy word!–I shall be satisfied, Saviour, be satisfied,Wearing thy likeness and near to thy side!Sinless and sorrowless, robed in thy righteousness,What can I ask for in […]

“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety” The tranquil hours steal byOn drowsy wings and slow,And over all the peaceful skyThe stars of evening glow. No gathering clouds I see,I hear no rising blast,I fold my tired hands restfully,As though all storms were […]

Little bird, is that thy sphere,Yonder threat’ning cloud so near?Sunbeams blaze along its brow,Yet what darkness reigns below!There the sullen thunder mutt’ring,Wrathful sounds is sternly utt’ring;–There the red-eyed lightning gleameth,Where no more the sunlight beameth,And the strong wind, fiercely waking,Wings of fearful might is taking;–Creature of the calmer air,Wherefore art thou soaring there? Wert thou […]

We met one fresh June-morn, Chlodine,Where two roads came together;I’d travelled far through storm and rain,And you, through pleasant weather.I loved you for the light, Chlodine,Of summer all around you,–I loved you foil the sweet June-flowers,Whose dewy garlands bound you! You loved me not, Chlodine, becauseThe storms had beat upon me;Because there was no breath […]

Be in earnest, Christian toilers,Life is not the summer, dreamOf the careless, child that gathersDaisies in the noontide beam!It hath conflict, it hath danger,It hath sorrow, toil, and strife;Yet the weak alone will falterIn the battle-field of life. There are burdens you may lighten,Toiling, struggling ones may cheer,Tear-dimmed eyes that you may brighten,Thorny paths that […]

Come home! come home! O loved and lost, we sighThus, ever, while the weary days go by,And bring thee not. We miss thy bright, young face,Thy bounding step, thy form of girlish grace,Thy pleasant, tuneful voice,–We miss thee when the dewy evening hoursCome with their coolness to our garden, bowers,–We miss thee when the warbler’s […]

I hear the beat of the unresting tideOn either shore as swiftly on I glideWith eager haste the narrow channel o’er,Which links the floods behind with those before.I hear behind me as I onward glide,Faint, farewell voices blending with the tide,While from beyond, now near, now far away,Come stronger voices chiding each delay;And drowning, oft, […]

“Time for bed!”–the weary dayWith its toils has passed awaySol has wrapped his forehead brightIn the curtains of the night,And his glorious lamp againLowered behind the western mainLeaving all heaven’s pure expanseRadiant with his parting glance Just a few, faint stars are seenRanged around the midnight queen–A select and glorious bandWho alone may waiting standHound […]

“Stay, mother, stay, for the storm is abroad,And the tempest is very wild;It’s a fearful night with no ray of light,Oh stay with your little child!” “Hush darling!” the mother, with white lips said–“Lie still till I come again,God’s angels blest will watch o’er thy restWhile I am abroad in the rain!Thy father, child?–oh, I […]

We had finished our pitiful morsel,And both sat in silence a while;At length we looked up at each other.And I said, with the ghost of a smile,–“Only two little potatoesAnd a very small crust of bread–And then?”–“God will care for us, Lucy!”John, quietly answering, said. “Yes, God will provide for us, Lucy!”He said, after musing […]

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?” I stood where ocean lashed the sounding shoreWith his unresting waves, and gazed far outUpon the billowy strife. I saw the deepLifting his watery arms to grasp the clouds,While the black clouds stooped from the sable archOf the storm-darkened heavens, and deep to deepAnswered responsive in the ceaseless […]

Full fifty years together–Father and mother dear–Through pleasant summer weather,Or wintry tempests drear,–Thro’ sunshine and thro’ shadow,Oft travel sore and tried,Yet strong to aid each other,You’ve journeyed side by side A few brief years of climbing,–One glad, exultant glanceAt the sun bright world around you,At the smiling heaven’s expanse,–And then, the slow descendingInto the vale […]

I. Broken!It’s only a ring–a plain, old ring,Worn down to a thread almost–Fling it away–the useless thing!What value now can it boast?–Fling it away!Yet stay!–oh stayEre you cast it away!There’s a tale of the vanished yearsThat ever will cling,To that broken ring,That hallows and endears–Oh stay!In vain!–in vain!–What matters it nowThat tenderest memories clingTo that […]

HONOR TO LABOR!–it giveth health;Honor to labor!–it bringeth wealth;Honor to labor!–our glorious landDisplayeth its triumphs on every hand.It has smoothed the plains, laid the forests low,And brightened the vales with the harvest’s glow,–Reared cities vast with their marts of trade,Where erst undisturbed lay the woodland shade,–Brought up from the depths of the teeming mine,Its treasured […]

I heard a voice–twas the voice of Spring,Up from the rivulets murmuring,Singing of freedom,–thus the layOn the breezes floated away–“Joy! joy!–the chains that bound usNow disappear,Sunlight pours its treasures round us,Warm, warm and clear,Onward, speeding onwardTo the bright main,Chainless, free, unfettered,Are we again!” I heard a voice–’twas the voice of Spring,Out from the hill sides […]

“Whom have I in heaven but thee?” ‘Twere nought to me, yon glorious arch of night,Decked with the gorgeous blazonry of heaven,If, to my faith, amid its splendors bright,No vision of the Eternal One were given;I could but view a dreary, soulless waste–A vast expanse of solitude unknown;–More cheerless for the splendors o’er it cast,For […]

‘Twas a balmy day in Autumn,In the drowsy, dreamy Autumn,When from out the quiet woodlandSounds of rustling leaves came only–Leaves that floated softly earthward–And the streamlets had a murmurSuch as wanders through our visionsIn the hushed and starry midnight–Low, soft murmur, full of music. With the small hand of her darlingClasped in her’s, there came […]

Thou art but gone before–Gone to that unknown shoreToward which my feet are journeying swiftly onThou hast but laid thy headFirst with the dreamless dead,I, too, shall come, and share thy rest anon. Methinks ’twas sweet to die,Ere childhood’s purityHad been polluted by sin’s withering breath;Ere Care’s pale, haggard mienThy laughing eye had seen,Or thou […]