I am not gratefulIn that cold, calculating way, with blessing rankedAs one, two, three, and four, — that would be hateful.I only know that every day brings good above’My poor deserving;I only feel that, in the road of Life, true LoveIs leading me along and never swerving.Whatever gifts and mercies in my lot may fall,I…
With pitying sorrow, or exultant joy,To tell of earthly tasks in His employ:For some were sorry when they saw how slowThe stream of heavenly love on earth must flow;And some were glad because their eyes had seen,Along its banks, fresh flowers and living green.So, at a certain hour, before the throneThe youngest angel, Asmiel, stood…
Not hurrying to, nor turning from the goal;Not mourning for the things that disappearIn the dim past, nor holding back in fearFrom what the future veils; but with a wholeAnd happy heart, that pays its tollTo Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer.So let the way wind up the hill or down,O’er rough or…
Plodding along life’s road in the dust,Bounded by walls of stone;Never to have a heart at peace;Never to see when care will cease;Just to be still when sorrows fall-This is the bitterest lesson of all.Just to give up, and restAll on a Love secure,Out of a world that’s hard at the best,Looking to heaven as…
I followed the angler’s winding pathOr waded the stream at will,And the friendly fertile German landLay round me green and still.But all day long on the eastern bankOf the river cool and clear,Where the curving track of the double railsWas hardly seen though near,The endless trains of German troopsWent rolling down to Trier.They packed the…
We bring the meed of praise too long delayed!Thy fearless word and faithful work have madeFor God’s Republic firmer path and placeIn this New World: thou hast proclaimed the graceAnd power of Christ in many a forest glade,Teaching the truth that leaves men unafraidOf frowning tyranny or death’s dark face.Oh, who can tell how much…
For Browning’s lineage! What if men have foundPoor footmen or rich merchants on the rollOf his forbears? Did they beget his soul?Nay, for he came of ancestry renownedThrough all the world, — the poets laurel-crownedWith wreaths from which the autumn takes no toll.The blazons on his coat-of-arms are these:The flaming sign of Shelley’s heart on…
Down the shadowy, lonely valeInto silence, like a roomWhere the light of life has fled,And the jealous curtains closeRound the passionless reposeOf the silent dead.Plod, plod, plod away,Step by step in mouldering moss;Thick branches bar the dayOver languid streams that crossSoftly, slowly, with a soundIn their aimless creepingLike a smothered weeping,Through the enchanted ground.‘Yield, yield,…
So lowly, slowly wound the tune along,That far into my heart it found the way:A melody consoling and endearing;And still, in silent hours, I’m often hearingThe small, sweet song that does not die away.Long, long ago I saw a little flower,–(Ah, was it long ago, or yesterday?)So fair of face and fragrant for an hour,That…
This fairy tale of love and woeEntranced my heart with tearful joy;And while with white Undine I wept,Your spirit, — ah, how strange it seems, —Was cradled in some star, and slept,Unconscious of her coming dreams.
