George Eliot

  • From “The Spanish Gypsy”
    DAY is dying! Float, O song,
      Down the westward river,
    Requiem chanting to the Day,—
      Day, the mighty Giver.

    Pierced by shafts of Time he bleeds,
      Melted rubies sending
    Through the river and the sky,
      ...

  • O, May I join the choir invisible
    Of those immortal dead who live again
    In minds made better by their presence; live
    In pulses stirred to generosity,
    In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
    Of miserable aims that end with self,
    In thoughts sublime...

  • Two lovers by a moss-grown spring:
    They leaned soft cheeks together there,
    Mingled the dark and sunny hair,
    And heard the wooing thrushes sing.
          O budding time!
          O love’s blest prime!

    Two wedded from the portal stept:
    The bells...