Works

I love to see the sun go down
Behind the western hill;
I love to see the night come on,
When everything is still.

I love to see the moon and stars
Shine brightly in the sky;...

"What is the rainbow, mother dear,
With many-colored light?
Have the clouds parted just to show
The floor of heaven so bright?

"Or is it wings of angels pure
That touch along the sky?...

"Come to the window, mother!
Look out, and you will see
How fast these little clouds sail on,
Above our old elm tree!

"And tell me, dearest mother,
Are these the sheep of heaven,...

Don't kill the spider, little Fred,
But come and stand by me,
And watch him spin that slender thread,
Which we can hardly see.

How patiently, now up, now down,
He brings that tiny line!...

"Tell me a Sunday story,"
A dear child said to me;
And I bent down and kissed her
And placed her on my knee.

"Once, long ago, in countries
Far, very far away,...

"Once songs as lullabies to thee I sung,
To sleep hath sung thee now an angel's tongue."

From the German of Ruckert.



A lovely babe was lying
Upon its mother's breast;...

"My little Edward, how could you
Tell me a thing that was not true?
And make me feel thus grieved and sad
To find I have a child so bad?

"And then, to do a deed so mean,...

The happiest hour of all the day
To me, is always last;
When both my studies and my play,
My walks and work, are past.

When round the bright warm fire we come,
With hearts so light and free,...

"I hear the birds sing, mother,
Yet know not what they say;
I've listened to them often
Until they flew away.

"Say if their words, dear mother,
To you are clear and plain,...

"They tell me in a sunny land
Our Willie is at play;
And with him is a happy band
Of children, good and gay.

"They say their shining robes of white
Are free from spot or stain;...

With my breath so keen and chilling,
I have stripped the branches bare;
And my snow-flakes white are filling,
Feather-like, the frosty air.

Coming o'er the lofty mountains,...