The life of man Is an arrow’s flight, Out of darkness Into light, And out of light Into darkness again; Perhaps to pleasure, Perhaps to pain! There must be Something, Above, or below; Somewhere unseen A mighty Bow, A Hand that tires not, A sleepless Eye That sees the arrows Fly, and fly; One who knows Why we live—and die.
[April, 1861] men of the North and West, Wake in your might. Prepare, as the rebels have done, For the fight! You cannot shrink from the test; Rise! Men of the North and West! They have torn down your banner of stars; They have trampled the laws; They have stifled the freedom they...
Not what we would, but what we must, Makes up the sum of living; Heaven is both more and less than just In taking and in giving. Swords cleave to hands that sought the plough, And laurels miss the soldier’s brow. Me, whom the city holds, whose feet Have worn its stony highways, Familiar...
There are gains for all our losses, There are balms for all our pain, But when youth, the dream, departs, It takes something from our hearts, And it never comes again. We are stronger, and are better, Under manhood’s sterner reign; Still we feel that something sweet Followed youth, with...
The life of man Is an arrow’s flight, Out of darkness Into light, And out of light Into darkness again; Perhaps to pleasure, Perhaps to pain! There must be Something, Above, or below; Somewhere unseen A mighty Bow, A Hand that tires not, A sleepless Eye That sees the arrows Fly...
Last night, when my tired eyes were shut with sleep, I saw the one I love, and heard her speak,— Heard, in the listening watches of the night, The sweet words melting from her sweeter lips: But what she said, or seemed to say, to me I have forgotten, though, till morning broke, I kept repeating...
