Sleet! and hail! and thunder!

He was so fast and showy, quite a treasure;Although he sometimes kicked and shied aslant.I had a chaise, and christened it Enjoyment,With yellow body and the wheels of red,Because it was only used for one employment,Namely, to go wherever Pleasure led.I had a wife, her nickname was Delight:A son called Frolic, who was never still:Alas!…

It was the Time of Roses,—We plucked them as we passed!That churlish season never frown’dOn early lovers yet:—Oh, no—the world was newly crown’dWith flowers when first we met!‘Twas twilight, and I bade you go,But still you held me fast;It was the Time of Roses,—We pluck’d them as we pass’d.—What else could peer thy glowing cheek,That…

Hues of all flow’rs, that in their ashes lie,Trophied in that fair light whereon they fed,—Tulip, and hyacinth, and sweet rose red,—Like exhalations from the leafy mould,Look here how honor glorifies the dead,And warms their scutcheons with a glance of gold!—Such is the memory of poets old,Who on Parnassus’ hill have bloom’d elate;Now they are…

IThou Great Unknown!I do not mean Eternity, nor Death,That vast incog!For I suppose thou hast a living breath,Howbeit we know not from whose lungs ’tis blown,Thou man of fog!Parent of many children—child of none!Nobody’s son!Nobody’s daughter—but a parent still!Still but an ostrich parent of a batchOf orphan eggs,—left to the world to hatchSuperlative Nil!A vox…

A warmth in the light, and a bliss everywhere,When young hearts yearn together?All sweets below, and all sunny above,Oh! there’s nothing in life like making love,Save making hay in fine weather!”

Hereafter she may have a sonWill kiss and clasp her neck in vain.Love thy mother, little one!Gaze upon her living eyes,And mirror back her love for thee,—Hereafter thou mayst shudder sighsTo meet them when they cannot see.Gaze upon her living eyes!Press her lips the while they glowWith love that they have often told,—Hereafter thou mayst…