The Flood of Years

A mighty Hand, from an exhaustless Urn,
Pours forth the never-ending Flood of Years,
Among the nations. How the rushing waves
Bear all before them! On their foremost edge,
And there alone, is Life. The Present there
Tosses and foams, and fills the air with...

Poet: William Cullen Bryant
Elegiac

O, it is great for our country to die, where ranks are contending!
  Bright is the wreath of our fame; glory awaits us for aye,—
Glory, that never is dim, shining on with light never ending,—
  Glory that never shall fade, never, O never, away!

O, it is sweet...

Poet: James Gates Percival
The Coral Grove

Deep in the wave is a coral grove,
Where the purple mullet and gold-fish rove,
Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue,
That never are wet with falling dew,
But in bright and changeful beauty shine,
Far down in the green and glassy brine.
...

Poet: James Gates Percival
New England

Hail to the land whereon we tread,
    Our fondest boast!
The sepulchre of mighty dead,
The truest hearts that ever bled,
Who sleep on glory’s brightest bed,
    A fearless host:
No slave is here;—our unchained feet
Walk freely, as the...

Poet: James Gates Percival
From "Zophiel"

High towered the palace and its massive pile,
  Made dubious if of nature or of art,
So wild and so uncouth; yet, all the while,
  Shaped to strange grace in every varying part.

And groves adorned it, green in hue, and bright
  As icicles about a laurel-...

Poet: Maria Gowen Brooks
The Respite

The banquet-cups, of many a hue and shape,
  Bossed o’er with gems, were beautiful to view;
But, for the madness of the vaunted grape,
  Their only draught was a pure limpid dew,

To Spirits sweet; but these half-mortal lips
  Longed for the streams that...

Poet: Maria Gowen Brooks
Song of Egla

Day in melting purple dying,
Blossoms all around me sighing,
Fragrance from the lilies straying,
Zephyr with my ringlets playing,
    Ye but waken my distress:
    I am sick of loneliness.

Thou to whom I love to hearken,
Come ere night...

Poet: Maria Gowen Brooks
Farewell to Cuba

Adieu, fair isle! I love thy bowers,
  I love thy dark-eyed daughters there;
The cool pomegranate’s scarlet flowers
  Look brighter in their jetty hair.

They praised my forehead’s stainless white;
  And when I thirsted, gave a draught
From the...

Poet: Maria Gowen Brooks
I Would Not Live Alway

I would not live alway—live alway below!
Oh no, I ’ll not linger when bidden to go:
The days of our pilgrimage granted us here
Are enough for life’s woes, full enough for its cheer:
Would I shrink from the path which the prophets of God,
Apostles, and...

Poet: William Augustus Muhlenberg
Heaven's Magnificence

Since o’er thy footstool here below
    Such radiant gems are strown,
Oh, what magnificence must glow,
    My God, about thy throne!
So brilliant here these drops of light,
There the full ocean rolls, how bright!

If night’s blue curtain of the...

Poet: William Augustus Muhlenberg