The angel opened the doorA little way,And she vanished, as melts a star,Into the day,And, for just a second’s space,Ere the bar he drew,The pitying angel paused,And we looked through. What did we see within?Ah! who can tell?What glory and glow of lightIneffable;What peace in the very air,What hush and calm,Soothing each tired soulLike healing […]

The day was hot and the day was dumb,Save for cricket’s chirr or the bee’s low hum,Not a bird was seen or a butterfly,And ever till noon was over, the sunGlared down with a yellow and terrible eye; Glared down in the woods, where the breathless boughsHung heavy and faint in a languid drowse,And the […]

In the deep shadow of the porchA slender bind-weed springs,And climbs, like airy acrobat,The trellises, and swingsAnd dances in the golden sunIn fairy loops and rings. Its cup-shaped blossoms, brimmed with dew,Like pearly chalices,Hold cooling fountains, to refreshThe butterflies and bees;And humming-birds on vibrant wingsHover, to drink at ease. And up and down the garden-bed,Mid […]

When earth was young and men were few,And all things freshly born and newSeemed made for blessing, not for ban,Kintu, the god, appeared as man.Clad in the plain white priestly dress,He journeyed through the wilderness,His wife beside. A mild-faced cowThey drove, and one low-bleating lamb;He bore a ripe banana-bough,And she a root of fruitful yam:This […]

What is a home? A guarded space,Wherein a few, unfairly blest,Shall sit together, face to face,And bask and purr and be at rest? Where cushioned walls rise up betweenIts inmates and the common air,The common pain, and pad and screenFrom blows of fate or winds of care? Where Art may blossom strong and free,And Pleasure […]

I. Over the lapsing lagune all the dayUrging my gondola with oar-strokes light,Always beside one shadowy waterwayI pause and peer, with eager, jealous sight,Toward the Piazza where Pepita stands,Wooing the hungry pigeons from their flight. Dark the canal; but she shines like the sun,With yellow hair and dreaming, wine-brown eyes.Thick crowd the doves for food. […]

I’ll tell you how the leaves came down.The great Tree to his children said,“You’re getting sleepy, Yellow and Brown,Yes, very sleepy, little Red;It is quite time you went to bed.” “Ah!” begged each silly, pouting leaf,“Let us a little longer May;Dear Father Tree, behold our grief,‘Tis such a very pleasant dayWe do not want to […]

The aloes grow upon the sand,The aloes thirst with parching heat;Year after year they waiting stand,Lonely and calm, and front the beatOf desert winds; and still a sweetAnd subtle voice thrills all their veins:“Great patience wins; it still remains,After a century of pains,To you to bloom and be complete.” I grow upon a thorny waste;Hot […]

All green and fair the Summer lies,Just budded from the bud of Spring,With tender blue of wistful skies,And winds which softly sing. Her clock has struck its morning hours;Noon nears–the flowery dial is true;But still the hot sun veils its powers,In deference to the dew. Yet there amid the fresh new green,Amid the young broods […]

Could my heart hold another one?I cannot tell.Sometimes it seems an ample dome,Sometimes a cell, Sometimes a temple filled with saints,Serene and fair,Whose eyes are pure from mortal taintsAll lilies are. Sometimes a narrow shrine, in whichOne precious fareSmiles ever from its guarded niche,With deathless grace. Sometimes a nest, where weary things,And weal; and shy,Are […]

Sitting all day in a silver mist,In silver silence all the day,Save for the low, soft kiss of spray,And the lisp of sands by waters kissed,As the tide draws up the bay. Little I hear and nothing I see,Wrapped in that veil by fairies spun;The solid earth is vanished for me,And the shining hours speed […]

I. I sit at evening’s scented close,In fulness of the summer-tide;All dewy fair the lily glows,No single petal of the row;Has fallen to dim the rose’s pride. Sweet airs, sweet harmonies of hue,Surround, caress me everywhere;The spells of dusk, the spells of dew,My senses steal, my reason woo,And sing a lullaby to tare, But vainly […]

Yes, God has made me a woman,And I am content to beJust what He meant, not reaching outFor other things, since HeWho knows me best and loves me most has ordered this for me. A woman, to live my life outIn quiet womanly ways,Hearing the far-off battle,Seeing as through a hazeThe crowding, struggling world of […]

Thank God for life: life is not sweet always.Hands may he heavy-laden, hearts care full,Unwelcome nights follow unwelcome days,And dreams divine end in awakenings dull.Still it is life, anil life is cause for praise.This ache, this restlessness, this quickening sting,Prove me no torpid and inanimate thing,Prove me of Him who is of life the Spring.I […]

I know where it lurks and hides,In the midst of the busy house,In the midst of the children’s glee,All clay its shadow bides:Nobody knows but me. On a closet-shelf it dwells,In the darkest corner of all,Mid rolls of woollen and fur,And faint, forgotten smellsOf last year’s lavender. That a ghost has its dwelling thereNobody else […]

The boys and girls had fastened the last sprig of holly upon the walls, and then gone to their homes, leaving the old church silent and deserted. The sun had set in a sky clear and yellow as topaz. Christmas eve had fairly come, and now the moon was rising, a full moon, and all […]