He passed not again through the gate of birth,But made himself known to the children of earth.Then said the chief priests, and rulers, and kings,‘Behold, now, the Giver of all good things;Go to, let us welcome with pomp and stateHim who alone is mighty and great.’With carpets of gold the ground they spreadWherever the Son…
‘God has left the earth,’ he murmured,‘Here his presence lingers still.‘God of all the olden prophets,Wilt thou speak with men no more?Have I not as truly served theeAs thy chosen ones of yore?‘Hear me, guider of my fathers,Lo! a humble heart is mine;By thy mercy I beseech theeGrant thy servant but a sign!’Bowing then his…
If there breathe on earth a slave,Are ye truly free and brave?If ye do not feel the chain,When it works a brother’s pain,Are ye not base slaves indeed,Slaves unworthy to be freed?Women! who shall one day bearSons to breathe New England air,If ye hear, without a blush,Deeds to make the roused blood rushLike red lava…
The naked trees at evening sough;The leaf to the forsaken boughSighs not,- ‘_Auf wiedersehen!_’Two watched yon oriole’s pendent dome,That now is void, and dank with rain,And one,- oh, hope more frail than foam!The bird to his deserted homeSings not,- ‘_Auf wiedersehen!_’The loath gate swings with rusty creak;Once, parting there, we played at pain:There came a…
Yet scarce a presence, rather sayThe warning aureole of one.And yet I felt it everywhere;Walked I the woodland’s aisles along,It seemed to brush me with its hair;Bathed I, I heard a mermaid’s song.How sweet it was! A buttercupCould hold for me a day’s delight,A bird could lift my fancy upTo ether free from cloud or…
And when the last shall go,The dreary days to fill it,Instead of lark or linnet,Shall whirl dead leaves and snow.Had they been swallows only,Without the passion strongerThat skyward longs and sings,—Woe’s me, I shall be lonelyWhen I can feel no longerThe impatience of their wings!A moment, sweet delusion,Like birds the brown leaves hover;But it will…
Free without boldness, meek without a fear,Quicker to look than speak its sympathies;Far down into her large and patient eyesI gaze, deep-drinking of the infinite,As, in the mid-watch of a clear, still night,I look into the fathomless blue skies.So circled lives she with Love’s holy light,That from the shade of self she walketh free;The garden…
With ashes on her head,Wept with the passion of an angry grief:Forgive me, if from present things I turnTo speak what in my heart will beat and burn,And hang my wreath on his world-honored urn.Nature, they say, doth dote,And cannot make a manSave on some worn-out plan,Repeating us by rote:For him her Old World moulds…
There’s nothin’ thet my natur so shunsEs bein’ mum or underhand;I’m a straight-spoken kind o’ creeturThet blurts right out wut’s in his head,An’ ef I’ve one pecooler feetur,It is a nose thet wunt be led.So, to begin at the beginnin’;An’ come directly to the pint,I think the country’s underpinnin’Is some consid’ble out o’ jint;I aint…
Thou Hebe, who thy heart’s bright wineSo lavishly to all dost pour,That we who drink forget to pine,And can but dream of bliss in store.Thou canst not see a shade in life;With sunward instinct thou dost rise,And, leaving clouds below at strife,Gazest undazzled at the skies,With all their blazing splendors rife,A songful lark with eagle’s…
