We are two travellers, Roger and I.
Roger ’s my dog.—Come here, you scamp!
Jump for the gentlemen,—mind your eye!
Over the table,—look out for the lamp!
The rogue is growing a little old;
Five years we ’ve tramped through wind and weather,
And slept out-doors when nights were cold,
And ate and drank—and starved—together.
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The speckled sky is dim with snow,
The light flakes falter and fall slow;
Athwart the hill-top, rapt and pale,
Silently drops a silvery veil;
And all the valley is shut in
By flickering curtains gray and thin.But cheerily the chickadee
Singeth to me on fence and tree;
The snow sails round him as he sings,
White as the... -
Around this lovely valley rise
The purple hills of Paradise.O, softly on you banks of haze,
Her rosy face the Summer lays!Becalmed along the azure sky,
The argosies of cloudland lie,
Whose shores, with many a shining rift,
Far off their pearl-white peaks uplift.
Through all the long midsummer-day
The meadow-sides are... -
The word of God to Leyden came,
Dutch town by Zuyder-Zee;
Rise up, my children of no name,
My kings and priests to be.
There is an empire in the West,
Which I will soon unfold;
A thousand harvests in her breast,
Rocks ribbed with iron and gold.Rise up, my children, time is ripe!
Old things are passed away.... -
Nae shoon to hide her tiny taes,
Nae stockin’ on her feet;
Her supple ankles white as snaw,
Or early blossoms sweet.Her simple dress o’ sprinkled pink,
Her double, dimplit chin,
Her puckered lips, and baumy mou’,
With na ane tooth within.Her een sae like her mither’s een,
Twa gentle, liquid things;
... -
The twilight hours like birds flew by,
As lightly and as free;
Ten thousand stars were in the sky,
Ten thousand on the sea;
For every wave with dimpled face,
That leaped upon the air,
Had caught a star in its embrace,
And held it trembling there. -
Why thus longing, thus for ever sighing,
For the far-off, unattained, and dim,
While the beautiful, all round thee lying,
Offers up its low, perpetual hymn?Wouldst thou listen to its gentle teaching,
All thy restless yearnings it would still;
Leaf and flower and laden bee are preaching
Thine own sphere, though humble, first to... -
Her casement like a watchful eye
From the face of the wall looks down,
Lashed round with ivy vines so dry,
And with ivy leaves so brown.
Her golden head in her lily hand
Like a star in the spray o’ the sea,
And wearily rocking to and fro,
She sings so sweet and she sings so low
To the little babe on her knee.
But... -
One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o’er and o’er;
I am nearer home to-day
Than I ever have been before;Nearer my Father’s house,
Where the many mansions be;
Nearer the great white throne,
Nearer the crystal sea;Nearer the bound of life,
Where we lay our burdens down;
Nearer leaving the cross,... -
Dear lord, thy table is outspread;
What other could such feast afford?
And thou art waiting at the head,
But I am all unworthy, Lord;
Yet do I hear thee say,—
(Was ever love so free?)
Come hither, son, to-day
And sit and sup with me.O master! I am full of doubt,
My heart with sin and fear...