What Of The Night
To you, who look below, Where little candles glow – Who listen in a narrow street, Confused with noise of passing feet – To you ’tis wild and dark; No light, no guide, no ark, For travellers lost on moor and lea, And ship-wrecked mariners at sea. But they who stand apart, With hushed […]
Vows
Nay, ask me not. I would not dare pretend To constant passion and a life-long trust. They will desert thee, if indeed they must. How can we guess what Destiny will send- Smiles of fair fortune, or black storms to rend What even now is shaken by a gust? The fire will burn, or […]
To Morrow
The lighthouse shines across the sea; The homing fieldfares sing for glee: “Behold the shore!” Alas for shattered wing and breast! The lighthouse breakers make their nest, And hedges bloom for them no more- No more. In their old church the lovers stand. His wedding ring is on her hand, All partings o’er. Alas […]
The Winged Mariners
Through the wild night, the silence and the dark, Through league on league of the uncharted sky, Lonelier than dove of fable from its ark, The fieldfares fly. Mate with his tiny mate, and younglings frail, That only knew the crevice of their tree Until, in faith stupendous, they set sail Across the sea. […]
The Watchman
Through jewelled windows in the walls The tender daylight smiles; Majestic music swells and falls Adown the stately aisles; Shadows of carven roof and rood, Of stony saints and angels, brood Above the altar-glow; They cannot dim the shining face Of one conspicuous in his place Amid the forms below. He that was once […]
The Virgin Martyr
Every wild she-bird has nest and mate in the warm April weather, But a captive woman, made for love – no mate, no nest has she. In the spring of young desire, young men and maids are wed together, And the happy mothers flaunt their bliss for all the world to see: Nature’s sacramental […]
The Vain Question
Why should we court the storms that rave and rend, Safe at our household hearth? Why, starved and naked, without home or friend, Unknowing whence we came or where we wend, Follow from no beginning to no end An uncrowned martyr’s path? Is it worth while to waste our all in vain? To seek, […]
The Soldiers Grave
‘Twas long ago, in the summer-time, On a day as sad as this, That I laid my babe in its father’s arms, And he gave it his farewell kiss; When the army sail’d from the English shores In a mist of sun and rain, To the vine-clad hills and citadels And the olive groves […]
The Silence In The Church
(No. 1.) O Holy Spirit, we entreat, Send down Thy quickening fire; Let Thine own presence, dread and sweet, These waiting hearts in spire. In every thought and word and deed, Breathe Thou the breath of life- The fulness of the grace they need For their appointed strife. Help them to hold, in clasp […]
The Season
And must I wear a silken life, Hemmed in by city walls? And must I give my garden up For theatres and balls? Nay, though the cage be made of gold, ‘Tis better to be free; The green of the green meadows, love, Is quite enough for me. I’d rather ramble through the lanes […]
The Resting Place
“Because I live, ye shall live also.” Calmly the Paschal moonlight now is sleeping On mossy hillock and on headstone grey, Where still our Mother holds in faithful keeping Such as, while living, in her dear arms lay. Ah! loving and beloved, we know ye rest, E’en in the grave, upon her hallow’d breast. […]
The Old Manor House
An old house, crumbling half away, all barnacled and lichen-grown, Of saddest, mellowest, softest grey,-with a grand history of its own- Grand with the work and strife and tears of more than half a thousand years. Such delicate, tender, russet tones of colour on its gables slept, With streaks of gold betwixt the stones, […]
The Old Maids Story
Ay, many and many a year’s gone by, Since the dawn of that day in spring, When we met in the pine-woods, Harry and I, And he gave me this golden ring. I had lovers in plenty, of high degree, Who wooed in my father’s hall; But none were so noble and brave as […]
The Night
Watchman, what of the night? See you a streak of light? Whither, O Captain of the quest, The course we steer for Port of Rest? How shall he answer-he Who never put to sea? Within his tabernacle wall He cannot even hear us call. Behind the jealous door That he must pass no more, […]
The Mob
Why stand dumbfounded and aghast, As at invading armies sweeping by, Surprised by haggard face and threatening cry, The storm unheralded, that rose so fast? Men, with gaunt wives and hungry children, cast Upon the wintry streets to thieve or die, They cannot always suffer silently; Patience gives out. The poor worm turns at […]
The Midnight Mass
An Incident of the French Revolution. THE light lay trembling in a silver bar Along the western borders of the sky; From out the shadowy dome a little star Stole forth to keep its patient watch on high; And night came down, with solemn, soft embrace, On storied Brittany. Another night lay over all […]
The Magic Wand
As an April garden Breathes the scent of rain- Rain that calls her treasures Back to life again- So my spirit quickens to the opening strain. In its sheath of darkness Fancy’s folded wing Thrills and stirs and quivers To another spring, When the bow is drawn across the trembling string. In their grave […]
The Legend Of Lady Gertrude
I. Fallen the lofty halls, where vassal crowds Drank in the dawn of Gertrude’s natal day. The dungeon roof an Alpine snow-wreath shrouds, The strong, wild eagle’s eyrie in the clouds- The robber-baron’s nest-is swept away. II. Bare is the mountain brow of lordly towers; Only the sunbeams stay, the moon and stars, The […]
The Last Battle Of The Cid
Low he lay upon his dying couch, the knight without a stain, The unconquered Cid Campeadór, the bright breastplate of Spain, The incarnate honour of Castille, of Aragon and Navarre, Very crown of Spanish chivalry, Rodrigo of Bivar! Sick he lay, and grieved in spirit, for that Paynim dogs should dare Camp around his […]
The Kind Word
Speak kindly, wife; the little ones will grow Fairest and straightest in the warmest sun. We talk so often of the seed we sow; But, maybe, when we think our labour done, And when we look to gather in the grain, We’ll find these stones, we fling about, again Strewing the fruitless sod, Having […]
The Hands That Hang Down
O Lord, I am so tired! My heart is sick and sore. I work, and work, and do no good- And I can try no more! I lay my treasures up, And think they’re worth such care; And the next time I go to look, There’s only rubbish there! I tug hard at the […]
The Hand In The Dark
How calm the spangled city spread below! How cool the night! How fair the starry skies! How sweet the dewy breezes! But I know What, under all their seeming beauty, lies. That million-fibred heart, alive, is wrung With every grief that human creatures fear. Could its dumb anguish find a fitting tongue The very […]
The Future Verdict
How will our unborn children scoff at us In the good years to come, The happier years to come, Because, like driven sheep, we yielded thus, Before the shearers dumb. What are the words their wiser lips will say? “These men had gained the light; “These women knew the right; “They had their chance, […]
The Easter Decorations
O take away your dried and painted garlands! The snow-cloth’s fallen from each quicken’d brow, The stone’s rolled off the sepulchre of winter, And risen leaves and flowers are wanted now. Send out the little ones, that they may gather With their pure hands the firstlings of the birth,- Green-golden tufts and delicate half-blown […]
The Dawn
All the wild waves rock’d in shadow, And the world was dim and grey, Dark and silent, hush’d and breathless, Waiting calmly for the day. And the golden light came stealing O’er the mountain-tops at last- Flooding vale and wood and upland,- It was morning-night was past. There they lay-the silvery waters, Fruitful forests, […]
The Dawn Of Gods Sabbath
The dawn of God’s dear Sabbath Breaks o’er the earth again, As some sweet summer morning After a night of pain; It comes as cooling showers To some exhausted land, As shade of clustered palm trees ‘Mid weary wastes of sand. Lord, we would bring for offering Though marred with earthly soil, Our week […]
The Crown Of Thorns
“And unto Adam He said…. cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns…. shall bring it forth.” “And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head.” In bitterest sorrow did the ground bring forth Its fatal seed. Thine eye beheld the birth- Beheld the travail of accursèd earth; E’en […]
The Coo Of The Cushat
Over the smooth lawns, broider’d with violets, Over the hedges of snow-white thorn, Over the billowy, pink apple-blossoms, The musical coo of the cushat is borne. In the still depths of the dim old plantations, Where the sweet whispering night-wind stirs The delicate scent from the dew-sprinkled flowers, It sings by its nest in […]
The Candle Of The Lord
“The Spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Our spirit-ay, our own!-the tree whose fruits Have never fail’d-the sign upon the door ‘Twixt us and God’s intelligent dumb brutes, That parts us evermore! Our spirit-last, best gift-still […]
The Baptistry
One winter eve, at twilight, when the sound Of sorrowful winds scarce troubled Nature’s rest, As she lay sleeping, with her hair unbound, Holding her grey robe to her shivering breast, I enter’d through a low-arch’d oaken door, Circled with curious sculpture; and I crept With slow, hush’d footsteps, o’er the shadow’d floor, Where […]
Sic Vos Non Vobis
Ye, that the untrod paths have braved, With heart and brain unbound; Who ask not that your souls be saved, But that the Truth be found; Whose fiery cross is borne unseen, Whose meek brows, bleeding but serene With only thorns are crowned; Who, still and steadfast, stand for Right, Though none acclaim and […]
Seed Time And Harvest
“Thou waterest her furrows, thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof; thou makest it soft with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it.” Fret not thyself so sorely, heart of mine, For that the pain hath roughly broke thy rest,- That thy wild flowers lie dead upon thy breast, Whereon […]
Recollection
A wave-worn boulder, with green sea-moss wrapping A silken mantle o’er its jagged sides; And silvery, seething waters softly lapping Through gulfs and channels hollow’d by the tides: A lime-cliff overhead, o’erhanging grimly, A dash of sunlight on its breast of snow; The white line of the breakers, stretching dimly Along the narrow sea-beach […]
Practising The Anthem
A summer wind blows through the open porch, And, ‘neath the rustling eaves, A summer light of moonrise, calm and pale, Shines through a vale of leaves. The soft gusts bring a scent of summer flowers, Fresh with the falling dew, And round the doorway, glimmering white as snow, The tender petals strew. Clear […]
Practising Anthem
A summer wind blows through the open porch, And, ‘neath the rustling eaves, A summer light of moonrise, calm and pale, Shines through a vale of leaves. The soft gusts bring a scent of summer flowers, Fresh with the falling dew, And round the doorway, glimmering white as snow, The tender petals strew. Clear […]
Peace
The red-rose flush fades slowly in the west. The golden water, basking in the light, Pales to clear amber and to silver white. The velvet shadow of a flame-crowned crest Lies dark and darker on its shining breast, Till lonely mere and isle and mountain-height Grow dim as dreams in tender mist of night, […]
On Australian Hills
Earth, outward tuning on her path in space This pensive southern face, Swathing its smile and shine In that soft veil that day and darkness twine, The silver-threaded twilight thin and fine, With April dews impearled, Looms like another and diviner world. Here April brings her garnered harvest-sheaf, Her withered autumn leaf, Tintings of […]
Mirage
Is it a will-o’-the-wisp, or is dawn breaking, That our horizon wears so strange a hue? Is it but one more dream, or are we waking To find that dreams, at last, are coming true? Aye, surely, in that golden glimmer streaking The cloudy sky-line of the life of man We see the blessed […]
Memoriam
“He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him a long life, even for ever and ever.” Life-length of days-the time to work and strive In his Lord’s vineyard; to bring heavenly light Into the drear, dark places of the earth, And make them fair and fruitful in His sight. Life-it seem’d all so […]
Mates
It boots not to retrace the path To ages dim and hoar, When Man, at the domestic hearth, First learned the art of war, And-since in battle one must fall- Held his defeated spouse in thrall, That she should fight no more; And thereby doomed to sleep and sloth Strength that in action strengthened […]