On the tide you ride head high,

When moving swift across the floorI saw a streak of ebon bright:Then quick, with slipper in my hand,Before it could escape,–I slammed.I missed it once, I missed it twice,But got it ere it gained its lair.I fear my words were far from nice,Though d—-s with me are rather rare:Then lo! I thought that dying roachRegarded…

Pines . . . and I wonder why,Heart, you quicken and thrill?Wistful heart of a boy,Fill with a strange sweet joy,Lifting to Heaven nigh –Pines against the sky.Palms against the sky,Failing the hot, hard blue;Stark on the beach I lie,Dreaming horizons new;Heart of my youth elate,Scorning a humdrum fate,Keyed to adventure high –Palms against the…

Into a box, one rainy day.I think she must have felt some pain,She looked so long into the rain,Then sighed: ‘I’ll bring you out again;‘For I’ll have little children too,With sunny hair and eyes of blueAnd they will play and play with you.‘And now good-bye, my pretty dears;There in the dark for years and years,Dream…

From scented snow of hawthorn bloomWould not trill out his glee so gaily,Could he foretell his songful breathWould sadly soon be stilled in death.Yon lambs that frolic on the leaAnd incarnate the joy of life,Would scarce disport them could they seeThe shadow of the butcher’s knife:Oh Nature, with your loving ruth,You spare them knowledge of…

Now I am lord and master here;–Thank God! the old man’s dead.I stand behind a blooming barWith belly like a tub,And pals say, seeing my cigar:‘Bill’s wed a pub.’I wonder now if I did well,My freedom for to lose;Knowing my wife is fly as hellI mind my ‘Ps’ and ‘Qs’.Oh what a fuss she made…

While to my quiet heart a still voice calls,Calls me to join my kindred of the Dead:Grant that I may, O Lord, ere rest be mine,Write to Thy praise one radiant, ringing line.For all of worth that in this clay abides,The leaping rapture and the ardent flame,The hope, the high resolve, the faith that guides:All,…