Friends of the Muse, to you of right belong
The first staid footsteps of my square-toed song;
Full well I know the strong heroic line
Has lost its fashion since I made it mine;
But there are tricks old singers will not learn,
And this grave measure still must serve my turn.
So the old bird resumes the selfsame note
His first young summer...
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Dost deem him weak that owns his strength is tried?
Nay, we may safely lean on him that grieves:
The pine has immemorially sighed,
The enduring poplar’s are the trembling leaves.To feel, and bow the head, is not to fear;
To cheat with jest—that is the coward’s art:
Beware the laugh that battles back the tear;
He ’s false to all... -
A viewless thing is the wind,
But its strength is mightier far
Than a phalanxed host in battle line,
Than the limbs of a Samson are.And a viewless thing is Love,
And a name that vanisheth;
But her strength is the wind’s wild strength above,
For she conquers shame and Death. -
(Suggested by Mr. Watts’s Picture of Love and Death)
YEA, Love is strong as life; he casts out fear,
And wrath, and hate, and all our envious foes;
He stands upon the threshold, quick to close
The gate of happiness ere should appear
Death’s dreaded presence—ay, but Death draws near,
And large and gray the towering outline grows,
Whose... -
She ’s somewhere in the sunlight strong,
Her tears are in the falling rain,
She calls me in the wind’s soft song,
And with the flowers she comes again.Yon bird is but her messenger,
The moon is but her silver car;
Yea! sun and moon are sent by her,
And every wistful waiting star. -
From “In Memoriam”: Introduction
STRONG Son of God, immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made... -
He was weak, and I was strong — then —
So He let me lead him in —
I was weak, and He was strong then —
So I let him lead me — Home.
'Twasn't far — the door was near —
'Twasn't dark — for He went — too —
'Twasn't loud, for He said nought —
That was all I cared to know.
... -
Strong Draughts of Their Refreshing Minds
To drink — enables Mine
Through Desert or the Wilderness
As bore it Sealed Wine —
To go elastic — Or as One
The Camel's trait — attained —
How powerful the Stimulus
Of an Hermetic Mind —