If you recall and crave again the dreamThat haunted our canoe,And wove its witchcraft throughOur hearts as ‘neath the northern night we sailed the northern stream.Ah! dear, if only weAs yesternight could beAfloat within that light and lonely shell,To drift in silence tillHeart-hushed, and lulled and stillThe moonlight through the melting air flung forth its…
Purse-proud and scornful, on her heights she stands,And at her feet the great white moaning seaShoulders incessantly the grey-gold sands,–One the Almighty’s child since time began,And one the might of Mammon, born of clods;For all the city is the work of man,But all the sea is God’s.IIAnd she–between the ocean and the town–Lies cursed of…
Beneath the maples on the river shore,Where tinted leaves, blue waters and fair skyEnviron all; and far above some birds are flying byTo seek their evening haven in the breastAnd calm embrace of silence, while they singTe Deums to the night, invoking restFor busy chirping voice and tired wing–And in the hush of sleeping trees…
Afar I see her vesture, velvet-lined,Float silently;O! Sleep, my tired eyes had need of thee!Is thy sweet kiss not meant to-night for me?Peace, with the blessings that I longed for so,Has passed me by;Where’er she folds her holy wings I knowAll tempests die;O! Peace, my tired soul had need of thee!Is thy sweet kiss denied…
For the frost has come and found herWith an ermine robe around herWhere little Lady Icicle lies dreaming in the snow.Little Lady Icicle is waking in the north-land,And shaking in the north-land her pillow to and fro;And the hurricane a-skirlingSends the feathers all a-whirlingWhere little Lady Icicle is waking in the snow.Little Lady Icicle is…
A dear dream lay–perchance to grow in dearnessHad we but felt its wingsAstir. The air our very breathing fannedIt was so near at hand.Once, many days ago, we almost held it,The love we so desired;But our shut eyes saw not, and fate dispelled itBefore our pulses firedTo flame, and errant fortune bade us standHand almost…
A meadow brown; across the yonder edgeA zigzag fence is ambling; here a wedgeOf underbush has cleft its course in twain,Till where beyond it staggers up again;The long, grey rails stretch in a broken lineTheir ragged length of rough, split forest pine,And in their zigzag tottering have reeledIn drunken efforts to enclose the field,Which carries…
As they steal amid the silence,And the shadows of the shore.You can hear them when the Northern candles light the Northern sky,Those pale, uncertain candle flames, that shiver, dart and die,Those dead men’s icy finger tips,Athwart the Northern sky.You can hear the ringing war-cry of a long-forgotten braveEcho through the midnight forest, echo o’er the…
The fine, keen beauty that his brushes bringTo murmuring marbles and to golden Junes.The music of those marbles you can hearIn every crevice, where the deep green stainsHave sunken when the grey days of the yearSpilled leisurely their warm, incessant rainsThat, lingering, forget to leave the ledge,But drenched into the seams, amid the hushOf ages,…
The paths wherein the shepherds walked, that ledTo Christ, and peace, and God’s good will to men.I may not hear the Herald Angel’s songPeal through the Oriental skies, nor seeThe wonder of that Heavenly companyAnnounce the King the world had waited long.The manger throne I may not kneel before,Or see how man to God is…
