At Midnight by Sara Teasdale
Now at last I have come to see what life is, Nothing is ever ended, everything only begun, And the brave victories that seem so splendid Are never really won. Even love that I built my spirit’s house for, Comes like a brooding and a baffled guest, And music and men’s praise and even laughter […]
Past and Future by Elizabeth Browning
My future will not copy fair my past On any leaf but Heaven’s. Be fully done, Supernal Will! I would not fain be one Who, satisfying thirst and breaking fast Upon the fulness of the heart, at last Saith no grace after meat. My wine hath run Indeed out of my cup, and there is […]
Change Upon Change by Elizabeth Browning
On a Foreign War Ship’s Salute to the Queen’s Standard at Osborne by John Campbell
With their deep voice, monotonous and slow, The cannon’s thunders roll along the sea; But ’tis in reverence, and to work no woe Those sounds here reach the shore and onward flee Past the oak woods that climb the grassy lea, To strike thy terraces, and palace fair With stately salutation offered thee […]
Norse Lullaby by Eugene Field
The sky is dark and the hills are white As the storm-king speeds from the north to-night, And this is the song the storm-king sings, As over the world his cloak he flings: “Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;” He rustles his wings and gruffly sings: “Sleep, little one, sleep.” On yonder mountain-side a […]
Fortune and the Boy by Jean de La Fontaine
Beside a well, uncurb’d and deep, A schoolboy laid him down to sleep: (Such rogues can do so anywhere.) If some kind man had seen him there, He would have leap’d as if distracted; But Fortune much more wisely acted; For, passing by, she softly waked the child, […]
Brown Penny by William Butler Yeats
I Whispered, “I am too young,” And then, “I am old enough”; Wherefore I threw a penny To find out if I might love. “Go and love, go and love, young man, If the lady be young and fair.” Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, I am looped in the loops of her hair. O […]
A Sketch by William Wordsworth
The little hedgerow birds, That peck along the road, regard him not. He travels on, and in his face, his step, His gait, is one expression; every limb, His look and bending figure, all bespeak A man who does not move with pain, but moves With thought. He is insensibly subdued To settled quiet: he […]
A Letter by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dear brother, would you know the life, Please God, that I would lead? On the first wheels that quit this weary town Over yon western bridges I would ride And with a cheerful benison forsake Each street and spire and roof, incontinent. Then would I seek where God might guide my steps, Deep […]
A Story of the Rebellion by Frances Harper
The treacherous sands had caught our boat, And held it with a strong embrace And death at our imprisoned crew Was sternly looking face to face. With anxious hearts, but failing strength, We strove to push the boat from shore; But all in vain, for there we […]