Title Poet Year Written Collection Body
“Welcome, welcome, do I sing” William Browne 1611 English

    Welcome, welcome, do I sing,
    Far more welcome than the spring;
    He that parteth from you never
    Shall enjoy a spring forever.

Love, that to the voice is near,
  Breaking from your ivory pale,
Need not walk abroad to hear
  ...

“We parted in silence” Louisa Macartney Crawford English

We parted in silence, we parted by night,
  On the banks of that lonely river;
Where the fragrant limes their boughs unite,
  We met—and we parted forever!
The night-bird sung, and the stars above
  Told many a touching story,
Of friends long...

“We have been friends together” Caroline Elizabeth Sarah English

We have been friends together
  In sunshine and in shade,
Since first beneath the chestnut-tree
  In infancy we played.
But coldness dwells within thy heart,
  A cloud is on thy brow;
We have been friends together,
  Shall a light word part...

“We are seven” William Wordsworth 1790 English

            A Simple child,
  That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
  What should it know of death?

I met a little cottage girl:
  She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
  That...

“We are brethren a’” Robert Nicoll English

A Happy bit hame this auld world would be
If men, when they ’re here, could make shift to agree,
An’ ilk said to his neighbor, in cottage an’ ha’,
“Come, gi’e me your hand,—we are brethren a’.”

I ken na why ane wi’ anither should fight,
When to ’gree...

“Waly, waly” Anonymous English

O Waly, waly, up the bank,
  O waly, waly, doun the brae,
And waly, waly, yon burn-side,
  Where I and my love were wont to gae!
I leaned my back unto an aik,
  I thocht it was a trustie tree,
But first it bowed and syne it brak’,—
  Sae my...

“Under the shade of the trees” Margaret Junkin Preston English

   [The last words of Stonewall Jackson 1 were: “Let us cross the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”]

WHAT are the thoughts that are stirring his breast?
  What is the mystical vision he sees?
—“Let us pass over the river, and rest
  Under the shade of...

“Too late I stayed” William Robert Spencer English

Too late I stayed,—forgive the crime!
  Unheeded flew the hours:
How noiseless falls the foot of Time
  That only treads on flowers!

And who, with clear account, remarks
  The ebbings of this glass,
When all its sands are diamond sparks,...

“To heaven approached a Sufi Saint” Jalal ad-Din Rumi 1227 English

From the Persian by William R. Alger

TO heaven approached a Sufi Saint,
  From groping in the darkness late,
And, tapping timidly and faint,
  Besought admission at God’s gate.

Said God, “Who seeks to enter here?”
  “’T is I, dear Friend,” the...

“Times go by turns” Robert Southwell 1581 English

The Lopped tree in time may grow again;
Most naked plants renew both fruit and flower;
The sorest wight may find release of pain,
The driest soil suck in some moist’ning shower;
Times go by turns and chances change by course,
From foul to fair, from better...

“Till death us part” Arthur Penrhyn Stanley English

      “TILL death us part,”
      Thus speaks the heart
When each to each repeats the words of doom;
      For better and for worse,
      Through blessing and through curse,
We shall be one, till life’s last hour shall come.

      Life with its...

“Thy braes were bonny” John Logan 1768 English

Thy braes were bonny, Yarrow stream!
  When first on them I met my lover;
Thy braes how dreary, Yarrow stream!
  When now thy waves his body cover.

Forever now, O Yarrow stream!
  Thou art to me a stream of sorrow;
For never on thy banks shall I...

“Three years she grew” William Wordsworth 1790 English

Three years she grew in sun and shower;
Then Nature said, “A lovelier flower
  On earth was never sown:
This child I to myself will take;
She shall be mine, and I will make
  A lady of my own.

“Myself will to my darling be
Both law and...

“Thou hast sworn by thy God, my Jeanie” Allan Cunningham 1804 English

Thou hast sworn by thy God, my Jeanie,
  By that pretty white hand o’ thine,
And by a’ the lowing stars in heaven,
  That thou wad aye be mine!
And I hae sworn by my God, my Jeanie,
  And by that kind heart o’ thine,
By a’ the stars sown thick owre...

“Thou art gone to the grave” Reginald Heber English

Thou art gone to the grave—but we will not deplore thee,
  Though sorrows and darkness encompass the tomb;
The Saviour has passed through its portals before thee,
  And the lamp of His love is thy guide through the gloom.

Thou art gone to the grave—we no longer...

“Those evening bells” Thomas Moore 1799 English

Those evening bells! those evening bells!
How many a tale their music tells
Of youth, and home, and that sweet time
When last I heard their soothing chime!

Those joyous hours are passed away;
And many a heart that then was gay
Within the tomb now...

“They come! the merry summer months” William Motherwell English

They come! the merry summer months of beauty, song, and flowers;
They come! the gladsome months that bring thick leafiness to bowers.
Up, up, my heart! and walk abroad; fling cark and care aside;
Seek silent hills, or rest thyself where peaceful waters glide;
Or,...

“They are dear fish to me” Anonymous English

The Farmer’s wife sat at the door,
  A pleasant sight to see;
And blithesome were the wee, wee bairns
  That played around her knee.

When, bending ’neath her heavy creel,
  A poor fish-wife came by,
And, turning from the toilsome road,
  ...

“They are all gone” Henry Vaughan 1641 English

They are all gone into the world of light,
  And I alone sit lingering here!
Their very memory is fair and bright,
    And my sad thoughts doth clear;

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
  Like stars upon some gloomy grove,—
Or those faint...

“There’s nae luck about the house” Jean Adam English

And are ye sure the news is true?
  And are ye sure he ’s weel?
Is this a time to think of wark?
  Ye jauds, fling by your wheel.
Is this a time to think of wark,
  When Colin ’s at the door?
Gie me my cloak! I ’ll to the quay
  And see him...