• Azaleas—whitest of white!
      White as the drifted snow
    Fresh-fallen out of the night,
      Before the coming glow
    Tinges the morning light;
      When the light is like the snow,
        White,
    And the silence is like the light:
      Light, and silence, and snow,—
        All—white!
    White! not a hint
    Of the creamy tint...

  • The red rose whispers of passion,
      And the white rose breathes of love;
    Oh, the red rose is a falcon,
      And the white rose is a dove.

    But I send you a cream-white rosebud
      With a flush on its petal tips;
    For the love that is purest and sweetest
      Has a kiss of desire on the lips.

  • Sarvent, marster! Yes, sah, dat ’s me—
      Ole Unc’ Gabe ’s my name;
    I thankee, Marster, I ’m ’bout, yo’ see.
      “An’ de ole ’ooman?” She ’s much de same,
    Po’ly an’ ’plainin’, thank de Lord!
    But de Marster ’s gwine ter come back from ’broad.

    “Fine ole place?” Yes, sah, ’t is so;
      An’ mighty fine people my white folks war—
    But you...

  • There was a rose-tree grew so high
    And white with all its seven roses,
    It seemed a cloud ’twixt earth and sky.

    There was one rose among the seven
    That grew alone on topmost bough,
    Like a white star caught down from heaven.

    I plucked it that it should not be
    Deflowered by rainy, wild west winds
    In all its white virginity.

    ...
  • All in our marriage garden
      Grew, smiling up to God,
    A bonnier flower than ever
      Suckt the green warmth of the sod;
    O, beautiful unfathomably
      Its little life unfurled;
    And crown of all things was our wee
      White Rose of all the world.

    From out a balmy bosom
      Our bud of beauty grew;
    It fed on smiles for...

  • Sent by a Yorkish Lover to His Lancastrian Mistress

    IF this fair rose offend thy sight,
      Placed in thy bosom bare,
    ’T will blush to find itself less white,
      And turn Lancastrian there.

    But if thy ruby lip it spy,
      As kiss it thou mayest deign,
    With envy pale ’t will lose its dye,
      And Yorkish turn again.

  • My letters! all dead paper,… mute and white!—
    And yet they seem alive and quivering
    Against my tremulous hands which loose the string
    And let them drop down on my knee to-night.
    This said,… he wished to have me in his sight
    Once, as a friend: this fixed a day in spring
    To come and touch my hand … a simple thing,
    Yet I wept for it! this,…...

  • The Sea was bright, and the bark rode well;
    The breeze bore the tone of the vesper bell;
    ’T was a gallant bark with a crew as brave
    As ever launched on the heaving wave.
    She shone in the light of declining day,
    And each sail was set, and each heart was gay.

    They neared the land where in beauty smiles
    The sunny shore of the Grecian Isles...

  •         THE Wisest of the wise
            Listen to pretty lies,
              And love to hear them told;
            Doubt not that Solomon
            Listened to many a one,—
    Some in his youth, and more when he grew old.

            I never sat among
            The choir of Wisdom’s song,
              But pretty lies loved I
            As much...

  • From “Sospiri di Roma”

    HERE where the sunlight
    Floodeth the garden,
    Where the pomegranate
    Reareth its glory
    Of gorgeous blossom;
    Where the oleanders
    Dream through the noontides;
    And, like surf o’ the sea
    Round cliffs of basalt,
    The thick magnolias
    In billowy masses
    Front the sombre green of the...