Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors.—...
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Written on the Road between Florence and Pisa
OH, talk not to me of a name great in story;
The days of our youth are the days of our glory,
And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty
Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty.What are garlands and crowns to the brow that is wrinkled?
’T is but as a dead flower with May-dew... -
“give us a song!” the soldiers cried,
The outer trenches guarding,
When the heated guns of the camps allied
Grew weary of bombarding.The dark Redan, in silent scoff,
Lay grim and threatening under;
And the tawny mound of the Malakoff
No longer belched its thunder.There was a pause. A guardsman said:
“We... -
From Fidessa
TONGUE! never cease to sing Fidessa’s praise;
Heart! howe’er she deserve, conceive the best;
Eyes! stand amazed to see her beauty’s rays;
Lips! steal one kiss and be for ever blessed;
Hands! touch that hand wherein your life is closed;
Breast! lock up fast in thee thy life’s sole treasure;
Arms! still embrace, and never be... -
The Gray sea, and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startling little waves, that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed in the slushy sand.Then a mile of warm, sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross, till a farm appears:
A tap at... -
Come over, come over
The river to me,
If ye are my laddie,
Bold Charlie machree.Here ’s Mary McPherson
And Susy O’Linn,
Who say ye ’re faint-hearted,
And darena plunge in.But the dark rolling water,
Though deep as the sea,
I know willna scare ye,
Nor keep ye frae me;For stout is yer back,...
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His hand at last! By his own fingers writ,
I catch my name upon the wayworn sheet:
His hand—oh, reach it to me quick! And yet,
Scarce can I hold, so fast my pulses beat.O feast of soul! O banquet richly spread!
O passion-lettered scroll from o’er the sea!
Like a fresh burst of life to one long dead,
Joy, strength, and bright... -
She gave her life to love. She never knew
What other women give their all to gain.
Others were fickle. She was passing true.
She gave pure love, and faith without a stain.She never married. Suitors came and went:
The dark eyes flashed their love on one alone.
Her life was passed in quiet and content.
The old love reigned. No... -
It is not Beauty I demand,
A crystal brow, the moon’s despair,
Nor the snow’s daughter, a white hand,
Nor mermaid’s yellow pride of hair:Tell me not of your starry eyes,
Your lips that seem on roses fed,
Your breasts, where Cupid tumbling lies
Nor sleeps for kissing of his bed,—A bloomy pair of vermeil cheeks...
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Thou wast all that to me, love,
For which my soul did pine:
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and a shrine
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.Ah, dream too bright to last!
Ah, starry Hope, that didst arise
But to be overcast!
A voice from out the Future cries,...