Star-dust and vaporous light,— The mist of worlds unborn,— A shuddering in the awful night Of winds that bring the morn. Now comes the dawn: the circling earth; Creatures that fly and crawl; And Man, that last, imperial birth; And Christ, the flower of all.
Great Nature is an army gay, Resistless marching on its way; I hear the bugles clear and sweet, I hear the tread of million feet. Across the plain I see it pour; It tramples down the waving grass; Within the echoing mountain-pass I hear a thousand cannon roar....
This bronze doth keep the very form and mould Of our great martyr’s face. Yes, this is he: That brow all wisdom, all benignity; That human, humorous mouth; those cheeks that hold Like some harsh landscape all the summer’s gold; That spirit fit for sorrow, as the sea For storms to beat...
When late I heard the trembling cello play, In every face I read sad memories That from dark, secret chambers where they lay Rose, and looked forth from melancholy eyes. So every mournful thought found there a tone To match despondence: sorrow knew its mate; Ill fortune sighed, and mute despair...
What is a sonnet? ’T is the pearly shell That murmurs of the far-off murmuring sea; A precious jewel carved most curiously; It is a little picture painted well. What is a sonnet? ’T is the tear that fell From a great poet’s hidden ecstasy; A two-edged sword, a star, a song,—ah me! Sometimes a...
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 Lay heavy on the land: till o’er the sea Slowly, within the East, there grew a light Which half was starlight, and half seemed to be The herald of a greater. The...
