O’er hill, and dale, and distant sea, Through all the miles that stretch between, My thought must fly to rest on thee, And would, though worlds should intervene. Nay, thou art now so dear, methinks The farther we are forced apart, Affection’s firm elastic links But bind the closer round the heart. For now we […]

I. Alas! That breathing Vanity should go Where Pride is buried,–like its very ghost, Uprisen from the naked bones below, In novel flesh, clad in the silent boast Of gaudy silk that flutters to and fro, Shedding its chilling superstition most On young and ignorant natures–as it wont To haunt the peaceful churchyard of Bedfont! […]

I. Oh, ’tis a touching thing, to make one weep,– A tender infant with its curtain’d eye, Breathing as it would neither live nor die With that unchanging countenance of sleep! As if its silent dream, serene and deep, Had lined its slumber with a still blue sky So that the passive cheeks unconscious lie […]

Giver of glowing light! Though but a god of other days, The kings and sages Of wiser ages Still live and gladden in thy genial rays! King of the tuneful lyre, Still poets’ hymns to thee belong; Though lips are cold Whereon of old Thy beams all turn’d to worshipping and song! Lord of the […]

Most delicate Ariel! submissive thing, Won by the mind’s high magic to its hest– Invisible embassy, or secret guest,– Weighing the light air on a lighter wing;– Whether into the midnight moon, to bring Illuminate visions to the eye of rest,– Or rich romances from the florid West,– Or to the sea, for mystic whispering,– […]

Our hands have met, but not our hearts; Our hands will never meet again. Friends, if we have ever been, Friends we cannot now remain: I only know I loved you once, I only know I loved in vain; Our hands have met, but not our hearts; Our hands will never meet again! Then farewell […]

O Saw ye not fair Ines? She’s gone into the West, To dazzle when the sun is down, And rob the world of rest: She took our daylight with her, The smiles that we love best, With morning blushes on her cheek, And pearls upon her breast. O turn again, fair Ines, Before the fall […]

There is a silence where hath been no sound, There is a silence where no sound may be, In the cold grave–under the deep deep sea, Or in wide desert where no life is found, Which hath been mute, and still must sleep profound; No voice is hush’d–no life treads silently, But clouds and cloudy […]

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn Stand shadowless like Silence, listening To silence, for no lonely bird would sing Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn, Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn; Shaking his languid locks all dewy bright With tangled gossamer that fell by night, Pearling his coronet of golden corn. Where […]

Young ardent soul, graced with fair Nature’s truth, Spring warmth of heart, and fervency of mind, And still a large late love of all thy kind. Spite of the world’s cold practice and Time’s tooth,– For all these gifts, I know not, in fair sooth, Whether to give thee joy, or bid thee blind Thine […]

I saw pale Dian, sitting by the brink Of silver falls, the overflow of fountains From cloudy steeps; and I grew sad to think Endymion’s foot was silent on those mountains. And he but a hush’d name, that Silence keeps In dear remembrance,–lonely, and forlorn, Singing it to herself until she weeps Tears, that perchance […]

Lady, wouldst thou heiress be To Winters cold and cruel part? When he sets the rivers free, Thou dost still lock up thy heart;– Thou that shouldst outlast the snow, But in the whiteness of thy brow? Scorn and cold neglect are made For winter gloom and winter wind, But thou wilt wrong the summer […]

It is not death, that sometime in a sigh This eloquent breath shall take its speechless flight; That sometime these bright stars, that now reply In sunlight to the sun, shall set in night; That warm conscious flesh shall perish quite, And all life’s ruddy springs forget to flow; That thoughts shall cease, and the […]

Far above the hollow Tempest, and its moan, Singeth bright Apollo In his golden zone,– Cloud doth never shade him, Nor a storm invade him, On his joyous throne. So when I behold me In an orb as bright, How thy soul doth fold me In its throne of light! Sorrow never paineth, Nor a […]

The dead are in their silent graves, And the dew is cold above, And the living weep and sigh, Over dust that once was love. Once I only wept the dead, But now the living cause my pain: How couldst thou steal me from my tears, To leave me to my tears again? My Mother […]

The stars are with the voyager Wherever he may sail; The moon is constant to her time; The sun will never fail; But follow, follow round the world, The green earth and the sea, So love is with the lover’s heart, Wherever he may be. Wherever he may be, the stars Must daily lose their […]

O Lady, leave thy silken thread And flowery tapestrie: There’s living roses on the bush, And blossoms on the tree; Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless hand Some random bud will meet; Thou canst not tread, but thou wilt find The daisy at thy feet. ‘Tis like the birthday of the world, When earth was […]

Good morrow to the golden morning, Good morrow to the world’s delight– I’ve come to bless thy life’s beginning, Since it makes my own so bright! I have brought no roses, sweetest, I could find no flowers, dear,– It was when all sweets were over Thou wert born to bless the year. But I’ve brought […]

I love thee–I love thee! ‘Tis all that I can say;– It is my vision in the night, My dreaming in the day; The very echo of my heart, The blessing when I pray: I love thee–I love thee! Is all that I can say. I love thee–I love thee! Is ever on my tongue; […]

TO WORDSWORTH. Look how the lark soars upward and is gone, Turning a spirit as he nears the sky! His voice is heard, but body there is none To fix the vague excursions of the eye. So, poets’ songs are with us, tho’ they die Obscured, and hid by death’s oblivious shroud, And Earth inherits […]