Under the violets, blue and sweet,
Where low the willow droops and weeps,
Where children tread with timid feet,
When twilight o’er the forest creeps,
She sleeps,—my little darling sleeps.
Breathe low and soft, O wind! breathe low
Where so much loveliness is laid!
Pour out thy heart in strains of woe,
O bird! that in...
From “Night Thoughts,” Night II.
CELESTIAL Happiness, whene’er she stoops
To visit Earth, one shrine the goddess finds,
And one alone, to make her sweet amends
For absent Heaven—the bosom of a friend;
Where heart meets heart, reciprocally soft,
Each other’s pillow to repose divine.
Beware the counterfeit; in passion’s flame
...
From “Night Thoughts,” Night VI.
AS in a wheel, all sinks, to reascend:
Emblems of man, who passes, not expires.
With this minute distinction, emblems just,
Nature revolves, but man advances; both
Eternal, that a circle, this a line.
That gravitates, this soars. Th’ aspiring soul,
Ardent, and tremulous, like flame, ascends,
Zeal...
From “Night Thoughts,” Night I.
THE BELL strikes one: we take no note of time,
But from its loss. To give it, then, a tongue,
Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke,
I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright,
It is the knell of my departed hours:
Where are they? With the years beyond the flood.
It is the signal that demands despatch;...
From “Night Thoughts,” Night I.
BE wise to-day; ’t is madness to defer;
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life.
Procrastination is the thief of time;
Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene.
If not so...
