A Child

Her voice was like the song of birds;
Her eyes were like the stars;
Her little waving hands were like
Birds’ wings that beat the bars.

And when those waving hands were still,—
Her soul had fled away,—
The music faded from the air,
The color from the day.

More poems by Richard Watson Gilder

“Great Nature is an army gay”

Great Nature is an army gay,
Resistless marching on its way;
I hear the bugles clear and sweet, …
After-Song

Through love to light! Oh wonderful the way
That leads from darkness to the perfect day!
From darkness and from sorrow of the night …
Ah, Be Not False

Ah, be not false, sweet Splendor!
Be true, be good;
Be wise as thou art tender; …
Dawn

THE Night was dark, though sometimes a faint star
A little while a little space made bright.
The night was long and like an iron bar …