The Night
Watchman, what of the night? See you a streak of light? Whither, O Captain of the quest, The course we steer for Port of Rest? How shall he answer-he Who never put to sea? Within his tabernacle wall He cannot even hear us call. Behind the jealous door That he must pass no more, […]
The Mob
Why stand dumbfounded and aghast, As at invading armies sweeping by, Surprised by haggard face and threatening cry, The storm unheralded, that rose so fast? Men, with gaunt wives and hungry children, cast Upon the wintry streets to thieve or die, They cannot always suffer silently; Patience gives out. The poor worm turns at […]
The Midnight Mass
An Incident of the French Revolution. THE light lay trembling in a silver bar Along the western borders of the sky; From out the shadowy dome a little star Stole forth to keep its patient watch on high; And night came down, with solemn, soft embrace, On storied Brittany. Another night lay over all […]
The Magic Wand
As an April garden Breathes the scent of rain- Rain that calls her treasures Back to life again- So my spirit quickens to the opening strain. In its sheath of darkness Fancy’s folded wing Thrills and stirs and quivers To another spring, When the bow is drawn across the trembling string. In their grave […]
The Legend Of Lady Gertrude
I. Fallen the lofty halls, where vassal crowds Drank in the dawn of Gertrude’s natal day. The dungeon roof an Alpine snow-wreath shrouds, The strong, wild eagle’s eyrie in the clouds- The robber-baron’s nest-is swept away. II. Bare is the mountain brow of lordly towers; Only the sunbeams stay, the moon and stars, The […]
The Last Battle Of The Cid
Low he lay upon his dying couch, the knight without a stain, The unconquered Cid Campeadór, the bright breastplate of Spain, The incarnate honour of Castille, of Aragon and Navarre, Very crown of Spanish chivalry, Rodrigo of Bivar! Sick he lay, and grieved in spirit, for that Paynim dogs should dare Camp around his […]
The Kind Word
Speak kindly, wife; the little ones will grow Fairest and straightest in the warmest sun. We talk so often of the seed we sow; But, maybe, when we think our labour done, And when we look to gather in the grain, We’ll find these stones, we fling about, again Strewing the fruitless sod, Having […]
The Hands That Hang Down
O Lord, I am so tired! My heart is sick and sore. I work, and work, and do no good- And I can try no more! I lay my treasures up, And think they’re worth such care; And the next time I go to look, There’s only rubbish there! I tug hard at the […]
The Hand In The Dark
How calm the spangled city spread below! How cool the night! How fair the starry skies! How sweet the dewy breezes! But I know What, under all their seeming beauty, lies. That million-fibred heart, alive, is wrung With every grief that human creatures fear. Could its dumb anguish find a fitting tongue The very […]
The Future Verdict
How will our unborn children scoff at us In the good years to come, The happier years to come, Because, like driven sheep, we yielded thus, Before the shearers dumb. What are the words their wiser lips will say? “These men had gained the light; “These women knew the right; “They had their chance, […]
The Easter Decorations
O take away your dried and painted garlands! The snow-cloth’s fallen from each quicken’d brow, The stone’s rolled off the sepulchre of winter, And risen leaves and flowers are wanted now. Send out the little ones, that they may gather With their pure hands the firstlings of the birth,- Green-golden tufts and delicate half-blown […]
The Dawn
All the wild waves rock’d in shadow, And the world was dim and grey, Dark and silent, hush’d and breathless, Waiting calmly for the day. And the golden light came stealing O’er the mountain-tops at last- Flooding vale and wood and upland,- It was morning-night was past. There they lay-the silvery waters, Fruitful forests, […]
The Dawn Of Gods Sabbath
The dawn of God’s dear Sabbath Breaks o’er the earth again, As some sweet summer morning After a night of pain; It comes as cooling showers To some exhausted land, As shade of clustered palm trees ‘Mid weary wastes of sand. Lord, we would bring for offering Though marred with earthly soil, Our week […]
The Crown Of Thorns
“And unto Adam He said…. cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns…. shall bring it forth.” “And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head.” In bitterest sorrow did the ground bring forth Its fatal seed. Thine eye beheld the birth- Beheld the travail of accursèd earth; E’en […]
The Coo Of The Cushat
Over the smooth lawns, broider’d with violets, Over the hedges of snow-white thorn, Over the billowy, pink apple-blossoms, The musical coo of the cushat is borne. In the still depths of the dim old plantations, Where the sweet whispering night-wind stirs The delicate scent from the dew-sprinkled flowers, It sings by its nest in […]
The Candle Of The Lord
“The Spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Our spirit-ay, our own!-the tree whose fruits Have never fail’d-the sign upon the door ‘Twixt us and God’s intelligent dumb brutes, That parts us evermore! Our spirit-last, best gift-still […]
The Baptistry
One winter eve, at twilight, when the sound Of sorrowful winds scarce troubled Nature’s rest, As she lay sleeping, with her hair unbound, Holding her grey robe to her shivering breast, I enter’d through a low-arch’d oaken door, Circled with curious sculpture; and I crept With slow, hush’d footsteps, o’er the shadow’d floor, Where […]
Sic Vos Non Vobis
Ye, that the untrod paths have braved, With heart and brain unbound; Who ask not that your souls be saved, But that the Truth be found; Whose fiery cross is borne unseen, Whose meek brows, bleeding but serene With only thorns are crowned; Who, still and steadfast, stand for Right, Though none acclaim and […]
Seed Time And Harvest
“Thou waterest her furrows, thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof; thou makest it soft with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it.” Fret not thyself so sorely, heart of mine, For that the pain hath roughly broke thy rest,- That thy wild flowers lie dead upon thy breast, Whereon […]
Recollection
A wave-worn boulder, with green sea-moss wrapping A silken mantle o’er its jagged sides; And silvery, seething waters softly lapping Through gulfs and channels hollow’d by the tides: A lime-cliff overhead, o’erhanging grimly, A dash of sunlight on its breast of snow; The white line of the breakers, stretching dimly Along the narrow sea-beach […]
Practising The Anthem
A summer wind blows through the open porch, And, ‘neath the rustling eaves, A summer light of moonrise, calm and pale, Shines through a vale of leaves. The soft gusts bring a scent of summer flowers, Fresh with the falling dew, And round the doorway, glimmering white as snow, The tender petals strew. Clear […]
Practising Anthem
A summer wind blows through the open porch, And, ‘neath the rustling eaves, A summer light of moonrise, calm and pale, Shines through a vale of leaves. The soft gusts bring a scent of summer flowers, Fresh with the falling dew, And round the doorway, glimmering white as snow, The tender petals strew. Clear […]
Peace
The red-rose flush fades slowly in the west. The golden water, basking in the light, Pales to clear amber and to silver white. The velvet shadow of a flame-crowned crest Lies dark and darker on its shining breast, Till lonely mere and isle and mountain-height Grow dim as dreams in tender mist of night, […]
On Australian Hills
Earth, outward tuning on her path in space This pensive southern face, Swathing its smile and shine In that soft veil that day and darkness twine, The silver-threaded twilight thin and fine, With April dews impearled, Looms like another and diviner world. Here April brings her garnered harvest-sheaf, Her withered autumn leaf, Tintings of […]
Mirage
Is it a will-o’-the-wisp, or is dawn breaking, That our horizon wears so strange a hue? Is it but one more dream, or are we waking To find that dreams, at last, are coming true? Aye, surely, in that golden glimmer streaking The cloudy sky-line of the life of man We see the blessed […]
Memoriam
“He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him a long life, even for ever and ever.” Life-length of days-the time to work and strive In his Lord’s vineyard; to bring heavenly light Into the drear, dark places of the earth, And make them fair and fruitful in His sight. Life-it seem’d all so […]
Mates
It boots not to retrace the path To ages dim and hoar, When Man, at the domestic hearth, First learned the art of war, And-since in battle one must fall- Held his defeated spouse in thrall, That she should fight no more; And thereby doomed to sleep and sloth Strength that in action strengthened […]
Lord Nevils Advice
“Friend,” quoth Lord Nevil, “thou art young To face the world, and thou art blind To subtle ways of womankind; The meshes thou wilt fall among. “Take an old married man’s advice; Use the experience I have earned; Watch well where women are concerned,- They’re not all birds of paradise! “Be circumspect, or thou […]
Lord Nevil039s Advice
“Friend,” quoth Lord Nevil, “thou art young To face the world, and thou art blind To subtle ways of womankind; The meshes thou wilt fall among. “Take an old married man’s advice; Use the experience I have earned; Watch well where women are concerned,- They’re not all birds of paradise! “Be circumspect, or thou […]
Looking In The Fire
The snow falls soft and thick. My cedar bough Sways up and down, and scratches on the glass. The wind sighs in the chimney, as I sit, With elbows on my knees, before the fire, Resting a crumpled chin in hollow’d palms. There is great trouble in the cold and dark; And other girls […]
Looking Fire
The snow falls soft and thick. My cedar bough Sways up and down, and scratches on the glass. The wind sighs in the chimney, as I sit, With elbows on my knees, before the fire, Resting a crumpled chin in hollow’d palms. There is great trouble in the cold and dark; And other girls […]
Learn
Learn, learn, learn,- Our beautiful world is not a field for sheep; Not just a place wherein to laugh and weep, To eat and drink, to dance and sigh and sleep. And then to moulder into senseless dust. Learn, learn, learn,- Look up and learn-you cannot look too high! Not for the earthly wealth […]
Last Battle Cid
Low he lay upon his dying couch, the knight without a stain, The unconquered Cid Campeadór, the bright breastplate of Spain, The incarnate honour of Castille, of Aragon and Navarre, Very crown of Spanish chivalry, Rodrigo of Bivar! Sick he lay, and grieved in spirit, for that Paynim dogs should dare Camp around his […]
Influence
As in the deeps of embryonic night, Out of unfathomable obscurities Of Nature’s womb, the little life-germs rise, Pushing and pulsing upward to the light; As, when the first day dawns on waking sight, They leap to liberty and recognize The golden sunshine and the morning skies Their home and goal and heritage and […]
Individuality
Phew! ‘T’is a stuffy and stupid place, This social edifice by Custom wrought- This fenced enclosure wherein all are caught, The great and small, the noble and the base, And squeezed and flattened to one common face. Air, air for springing fancy, errant thought! Scope to make something of the seeming nought! Room for […]
In Memoriam
“He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him a long life, even for ever and ever.” Life-length of days-the time to work and strive In his Lord’s vineyard; to bring heavenly light Into the drear, dark places of the earth, And make them fair and fruitful in His sight. Life-it seem’d all so […]
Honour
Me let the world disparage and despise – As one unfettered with its gilded chains, As one untempted by its sordid gains, Its pleasant vice, its profitable lies; Let Justice, blind and halt and maimed, chastise The rebel spirit surging in my veins, Let the Law deal me penalties and pains And make me […]
Home Sick
O time, great Healer! canst thou still The crying hearts that feel the knife? O great Restorer, canst thou fill The wide gaps broken out of life By love and duty’s bitter strife? O Friend, and canst thou, as they say, Soothe all our troubles on thy breast, Till, calm in death, they pass […]
Holy Communion
Father, for Jesus’ sake, Low at the footstool of Thy throne, I pray That Thou, into Thine arms of love, to-day My trembling soul wilt take. Thine eyes can see, I know, How many a dark and fearful spot of sin Stains the white garment Thou didst clothe it in, Once undefiled as snow. […]
Hand Dark
How calm the spangled city spread below! How cool the night! How fair the starry skies! How sweet the dewy breezes! But I know What, under all their seeming beauty, lies. That million-fibred heart, alive, is wrung With every grief that human creatures fear. Could its dumb anguish find a fitting tongue The very […]