O DULL cold northern sky,

Who boldly smile upon despairAnd shake their bells in Grandam Grundy’s eyes.Singers should sing with such a goodly cheerThat the bare listening should make strong like wine,At this unruly time of year,The Feast of Valentine.We do not now parade our ‘oughts’And ‘shoulds’ and motives and beliefs in God.Their life lies all indoors; sad thoughtsMust keep…

Over the high, brown mountainThe sound of singing goes.Say, love, do you hear me,Hear my sonnets ring?Over the high, brown mountain,Love, do you hear me sing?By highway, love, and bywayThe snows succeed the rose.Over the high, brown mountainThe wind of winter blows.Say, love, do you hear me,Hear my sonnets ring?Over the high, brown mountainI sound…

Along Janiculum lies the chosen blockWhere the cool grottos trench the hanging rock.The moderate summit, something plain and bare,Tastes overhead of a serener air;And while the clouds besiege the vales below,Keeps the clear heaven and doth with sunshine glow.To the June stars that circle in the skiesThe dainty roofs of that tall villa rise.Hence do…

Who has been my unkind bombarderYear after year, in grief and glee,Year after year, with oaken tree;And yet betweenwhiles my laudatorIn terms astonishing to me –To the Right Reverend The SpectatorI here, a humble dedicator,Bring the last apples from my tree.In tones of love, in tones of warning,She hailed me through my brief career;And kiss…

When children are happy and lonely and good,The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.Nobody heard him, and nobody saw,His is a picture you never could draw,But he’s sure to be present, abroad or at home,When children are happy and playing alone.He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass,He sings when…

I have just to shut my eyesTo go sailing through the skies–To go sailing far awayTo the pleasant Land of Play;To the fairy land afarWhere the Little People are;Where the clover-tops are trees,And the rain-pools are the seas,And the leaves, like little ships,Sail about on tiny trips;And above the Daisy treeThrough the grasses,High o’erhead the…