When she comes home again! A thousand ways
I fashion, to myself, the tenderness
Of my glad welcome: I shall tremble—yes;
And touch her, as when first in the old days
I touched her girlish hand, nor dared upraise
Mine eyes, such was my faint heart’s sweet distress.
Then silence: and the perfume of her dress:
The room will sway a little,...
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When love comes knocking at thy gate,
Bid him at once depart:
He will be patient, and will wait
The bidding of thy heart.Tell him he knocketh there in vain;
That he may ne’er come in:
He ’ll smiling leave, but come again,
Thy loving heart to win.Then, when at last he knocks in tears,
Oh! open wide Love’s... -
Where Helen comes, as falls the dew,
Where Helen comes Peace cometh too!
From out the golden, western lands,
White lilies blooming in her lands,
A light of beauty in her face,
She passeth on with nameless grace.
Before her fly the shades of life—
The darking, wheeling bats of strife—
They flee her very garments’ stir,
And... -
Come, all ye jolly shepherds
That whistle through the glen,
I ’ll tell ye of a secret
That courtiers dinna ken:
What is the greatest bliss
That the tongue o’ man can name?
’T is to woo a bonny lassie
When the kye comes hame!
When the kye comes hame,
When the kye comes hame,
’Tween the gloaming and... -
Somewhere, out on the blue seas sailing,
Where the winds dance and spin;
Beyond the reach of my eager hailing,
Over the breakers’ din;
Out where the dark storm-clouds are lifting,
Out where the blinding fog is drifting,
Out where the treacherous sand is shifting,
My ship is coming in.Oh, I have watched till my...
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Before He comes we weigh the Time!
'Tis Heavy and 'tis Light.
When He depart, an Emptiness
Is the prevailing Freight. -
Spring comes on the World —
I sight the Aprils —
Hueless to me until thou come
As, till the Bee
Blossoms stand negative,
Touched to Conditions
By a Hum. -
There comes a warning like a spy
A shorter breath of Day
A stealing that is not a stealth
And Summers are away — -
There comes an hour when begging stops,
When the long interceding lips
Perceive their prayer is vain.
"Thou shalt not" is a kinder sword
Than from a disappointing God
"Disciple, call again." -
Victory comes late —
And is held low to freezing lips —
Too rapt with frost
To take it —
How sweet it would have tasted —
Just a Drop —
Was God so economical?
His Table's spread too high for Us —
Unless We dine on tiptoe —
Crumbs — fit such little mouths —
...