If every leaf on every shrub and tree
Turned to a sheet of foolscap; every sea
Were changed to ink, and all earth’s living tribes
Had nothing else to do but act as scribes,
And for ten thousand ages, day and night,
The human race should write, and write, and write,
Till all the pens and paper were used up,
And the huge inkstand was an empty cup,
Still would the scribblers clustered round its brink
Call for more pens, more paper, and more ink.
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MUSIC HALL, DECEMBER 6, 1871
SHADOWED so long by the storm-cloud of danger,Thou whom the prayers of an empire defend,Welcome, thrice welcome! but not as a stranger,Come to the nation that calls thee its friend!Bleak are our shores with the blasts of December,Fettered and chill is the rivulet’s flow;Throbbing and warm are the hearts that rememberWho was our friend when…
Behold the rocky wall
Pours the swift rain-drops, blending, as they fall,In rushing river-tides!Yon stream, whose sources runTurned by a pebble’s edge,Is Athabasca, rolling toward the sunThrough the cleft mountain-ledge.The slender rill had strayed,But for the slanting stone,To evening’s ocean, with the tangled braidOf foam-flecked Oregon.So from the heights of WillLife’s parting stream descends,And, as a moment turns its…
‘DUNDEE’
We seek thy gracious throne;To Thee our faltering prayers ascend,Our fainting hearts are known.From blasts that chill, from suns that smite,From every plague that harms;In camp and march, in siege and fight,Protect our men-at-arms.Though from our darkened lives they takeWhat makes our life most dear,We yield them for their country’s sakeWith no relenting tear.Our blood…
INTRODUCTION TO A COLLECTION OF POEMS BYDIFFERENT AUTHORS
I show my white rosette;A smile of welcome, nothing more,Will pay my trifling debt;Why should I bid you idly waitLike lovers at the swinging gate?Can I forget the wedding guest?The veteran of the sea?In vain the listener smites his breast,–‘There was a ship,’ cries he!Poor fasting victim, stunned and pale,He needs must listen to the…
I love all sights of earth and skies,
The comet and the penny show,All curious things, above, below,Hold each in turn my wandering eyes:I claim the Christian Pagan’s line,Humani nihil, — even so, —And is not human life divine?When soft the western breezes blow,And strolling youths meet sauntering maids,I love to watch the stirring tradesBeneath the Vallombrosa shadesOur much-enduring elms bestow;The vender and…
THE DIVINE VOICE
That all obey,–the sad and silent three;These only, while the hosts of Heaven rejoice,Smile never; ask them what their sorrows be;And when the secret of their griefs they tell,Look on them with thy mild, half-human eyes;Say what thou wast on earth; thou knowest well;So shall they cease from unavailing sighs.THE ANGELWhy thus, apart,–the swift-winged herald…