Hast never come to thee an hour, A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting all these bubbles, fashions, wealth? These eager business aims--books, politics, art, amours, To utter nothingness?
Southeast, and storm, and every weathervane shivers and moans upon its dripping pin, ragged on chimneys the cloud whips, the rain howls at the flues and windows to get in,...
In the dark of wedlock nightly sky, the wither of hope and estranged replies, cause a white face to flicker with transparent eye, calumny of purpose to slowly die.
Where, under Loughrigg, the stream Of Rotha sparkles, the fields Are green, in the house of one Friendly and gentle, now dead, Wordsworth's son-in-law, friend, Four years since, on a mark'd...
'Tis merry ov a zummer's day, When vo'k be out a-haul'n hay, Where boughs, a-spread upon the ground, Do me'ke the staddle big an' round; An' grass do stand in pook, or lie...
The dirge is played, the throbbing death-peal rung, The sad-voiced requiem sung; On each white urn where memory dwells The wreath of rustling immortelles Our loving hands have hung,...
Heap Cassia, sandal-buds and stripes Of labdanum, and aloe-balls, Smeared with dull nard an Indian wipes From out her hair: such balsam falls Down sea-side mountain pedestals,...
Fain would I wish what my heart cannot will: Between it and the fire a veil of ice Deadens the fire, so that I deal in lies; My words and actions are discordant still....
The far green westward heavens are bland, The far green Wiltshire downs are clear As these deep meadows hard at hand: The sight knows hardly far from near,...
He called her in from me and shut the door. And she so loved the sunshine and the sky! - She loved them even better yet than I That ne'er knew dearth of them - my mother dead,...
The editor sat with his head in his hands And his elbows at rest on his knees; He was tired of the ever-increasing demands On his time, and he panted for ease. The clamor for copy was scorned with a sneer,...
On - Thro' the gleaming gray I ran to the storm and clang - To the red, red hill where the great tree swayed - And scattered bells like autumn leaves. How the red bells rang!...
There are three fine devils eating my heart-- They left me, my grief! without a thing; Sickness wrought, and Love wrought, And an empty pocket, my ruin and my woe. Poverty left me without a shirt,...
Yet look at the thousands whose every day prayer, Far more than their own or their neighbor's salvation, Absorbs every thought, every dream, and all care, "To eat or to wear, is anything new in creation?"
Fasten your hair with a golden pin, And bind up every wandering tress; I bade my heart build these poor rhymes: It worked at them, day out, day in, Building a sorrowful loveliness...
I wander by the edge Of this desolate lake Where wind cries in the sedge: i(Until the axle break That keeps the stars in their round, And hands hurl in the deep The banners of East and West,...
Now heaven in mercy be kind to the wretch, Who marries for money or fashion or folly; He'd better accept of the noose of Jack Ketch Than such a "help-meet;" or at once marry Dolly...
The world an abject vassal to her charms, And kings competing for a single smile, Yet love she knew not, till upon this isle She gave surrender to abducting arms....
What makes me love thee now, thou dreary scene, And see in each swell'd heap a peaceful bed? I well remember that the time has been, To walk a church-yard when I us'd to dread;...