“look up,” she said; and all the heavens blazed
With countless myriads of quiet stars,
Whereon a moment silently he gazed,
And drank that peace no trouble ever mars.
Then looking down into her face upturned,
Two other stars that did outshine the rest
Upward to him with such soft splendor yearned
That all her secret was at once confessed....
-
-
Thou for whose birth the whole creation yearned
Through countless ages of the morning world,
Who, first in fiery vapors dimly hurled,
Next to the senseless crystal slowly turned,
Then to the plant which grew to something more,—
Humblest of creatures that draw breath of life,—
Wherefrom through infinites of patient pain
Came conscious man... -
Little, i ween, did Mary guess,
As on her arm her baby lay,
What tides of joy would swell and beat,
Through ages long, on Christmas day.And what if she had known it all,—
The awful splendor of his fame?
The inmost heart of all her joy
Would still, methinks, have been the same:The joy that every mother knows...
-
I said: “My heart, now let us sing a song
For a fair lady on her wedding-day;
Some solemn hymn or pretty roundelay,
That shall be with her as she goes along
To meet her joy, and for her happy feet
Shall make a pleasant music, low and sweet.”Then said my heart: “It is right bold of thee
To think that any song that we could... -
Ho! pony. Down the lonely road
Strike now your cheeriest pace!
The woods on fire do not burn higher
Than burns my anxious face;
Far have you sped, but all this night
Must feel my nervous spur;
If we be late, the world must wait
The tidings we aver:—
To home and hamlet, town and hearth,
To thrill child, mother,... -
A little face there was,
When all her pains were done,
Beside that face I loved:
They said it was a son.
A son to me—how strange!—
Who never was a man,
But lived from change to change
A boy, as I began.More boyish still the hope
That leaped within me then,
That I, matured in him,
Should found... -
The royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: “Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!”The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.He bowed his head, and bent his...
-
A purple cloud hangs half-way down;
Sky, yellow gold below;
The naked trees, beyond the town,
Like masts against it show,—Bare masts and spars of our earth-ship,
With shining snow-sails furled;
And through the sea of space we slip,
That flows all round the world. -
Lend me thy fillet, Love!
I would no longer see:
Cover mine eyelids close awhile,
And make me blind like thee.Then might I pass her sunny face,
And know not it was fair;
Then might I hear her voice, nor guess
Her starry eyes were there.Ah! Banished so from stars and sun—
Why need it be my fate?
If... -
if i were very sure
That all was over betwixt you and me,—
That, while this endless absence I endure
With but one mood, one dream, one misery
Of waiting, you were happier to be free,—Then I might find again
In cloud and stream and all the winds that blow,
Yea, even in the faces of my fellowmen,
The old companionship;...