Helen Fiske Jackson

  • My body, eh? Friend Death, how now?
      Why all this tedious pomp of writ?
    Thou hast reclaimed it sure and slow
      For half a century, bit by bit.

    In faith thou knowest more to-day
      Than I do, where it can be found!
    This shriveled lump of suffering...

  • Father, i scarcely dare to pray,
      So clear I see, now it is done,
    That I have wasted half my day,
      And left my work but just begun;

    So clear I see that things I thought
      Were right or harmless were a sin;
    So clear I see that I have sought,...

  • Along ancona’s hills the shimmering heat,
    A tropic tide of air, with ebb and flow
    Bathes all the fields of wheat until they glow
    Like flashing seas of green, which toss and beat
    Around the vines. The poppies lithe and fleet
    Seem running, fiery torchmen, to...

  • With sails full set, the ship her anchor weighs.
    Strange names shine out beneath her figure head.
    What glad farewells with eager eyes are said!
    What cheer for him who goes, and him who stays!
    Fair skies, rich lands, new homes, and untried days
    Some go to...

  • In what a strange bewilderment do we
    Awake each morn from out the brief night’s sleep.
    Our struggling consciousness doth grope and creep
    Its slow way back, as if it could not free
    Itself from bonds unseen. Then Memory,
    Like sudden light, outflashes from...

  • At the king’s gate the subtle noon
      Wove filmy yellow nets of sun;
    Into the drowsy snare too soon
        The guards fell one by one.

    Through the king’s gate, unquestioned then,
      A beggar went, and laughed, “This brings
    Me chance at last, to see if...