The sky is dark, the snow descends:Ring, bells, ring out your merriest chime!Jesus is born; the Virgin bendsAbove him. Oh, the happy time!No curtains bright-festooned are hung,To shield the Infant from the cold;The spider-webs alone are slungUpon the rafters bare and old.On fresh straw lies the little One,Not in a palace, but a farm,And kindly…
The chimes, across the fogs, upon the wind.Now loud, now low, now near and now remote.What recollections on that music float!Blessed the bell that through the darkness blindSends honest greetings, consolations kind.And solemn warnings from its lusty throatTis like a wakeful soldier, – mine, alas!The soul-bell in me, can but give one cry,Like that, a…
Sharp contrasts of all colors here are seen;The light-green graceful tamarinds aboundAmid the mango clumps of green profound,And palms arise, like pillars gray, between;And o’er the quiet pools the seemuls lean,Red-red, and startling like a trumpet’s sound.But nothing can be lovelier than the rangesOf bamboos to the eastward, when the moonLooks through their gaps, and…
Contemned from my birthAnd rejected by all,From my lips brokeWhere – oh where shall I fly?Who comfort will bring?Sing, – said God in reply,Chant poor little thing.Life struck me with fright –Full of chances and pain,So I hugged with delightThe drudge’s hard chain;One must eat, – yet I die,Like a bird with clipped wing,Sing –…
Oh hasten, to his succour fly,No more hast thou, dear friend, a choice.He calls on thee, perhaps his foesEnviron him on all sides round,That wail, – it means death’s final throes!Why standest thou, as magic-bound?‘Is this a time for thought, – oh girdThy bright sword on, and take thy bow!He heeds not, hears not any…
The lily and the rose, long, long had beenRivals for that high honor. Bards of powerHad sung their claims. ‘The rose can never towerLike the pale lily with her Juno mien’ –‘But is the lily lovelier?’ Thus betweenFlower-factions rang the strife in Psyche’s bower.‘Give me a flower delicious as the roseAnd stately as the lily…
Twilight hastens on to rule.Working hours have well-nigh past.Shadows run across the lands:But a sower lingers still,Old, in rags, he patient stands.Looking on, I feel a thrill.Black and high, his silhouetteDominates the furrows deep!Now to sow the task is set.Soon shall come a time to reap.Marches he along the plainTo and fro, and scatters wideFrom…
Through spring-tide the green clusters bloom.Is’t strange, then, that I in my life’s morning hour,Though troubles like clouds on the dark present lower,Half-frighted shrink back from my doom ?Let the stern-hearted stoic run boldly on death!I – I weep and I hope; to the north wind’s chill breathI bend, – then erect is my form!If…
Up to its very summit near the stars,A creeper climbs, in whose embraces boundNo other tree could live. But gallantlyThe giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hungIn crimson clusters all the boughs among,Whereon all day are gathered bird and bee;And oft at nights the garden overflowsWith one sweet song that seems to have no…
