Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower Of beauty is thy earthly dower! Twice seven consenting years have shed Their utmost bounty on thy head: And these grey rocks; that household lawn;...
Fair Lady! can I sing of flowers That in Madeira bloom and fade, I who ne'er sate within their bowers, Nor through their sunny lawns have strayed? How they in sprightly dance are worn...
All praise the Likeness by thy skill portrayed; But 'tis a fruitless task to paint for me, Who, yielding not to changes Time has made, By the habitual light of memory see...
Let thy wheel-barrow alone Wherefore, Sexton, piling still In thy bone-house bone on bone? 'Tis already like a hill In a field of battle made, Where three thousand skulls are laid;...
Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?...
Up with me! up with me into the clouds! For thy song, Lark, is strong; Up with me, up with me into the clouds! Singing, singing, With clouds and sky about thee ringing, Lift me, guide me till I find...
Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they But hardier far, once more I see thee bend Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend, Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,...
Dear Child of Nature, let them rail! There is a nest in a green dale, A harbour and a hold; Where thou, a Wife and Friend, shalt see Thy own heart-stirring days, and be A light to young and old. ...
High is our calling, Friend! Creative Art (Whether the instrument of words she use, Or pencil pregnant with ethereal hues,) Demands the service of a mind and heart,...
Not in the mines beyond the western main, You say, Cordelia, was the metal sought, Which a fine skill, of Indian growth, has wrought Into this flexible yet faithful Chain; Nor is it silver of romantic Spain...
"'A little onward lend thy guiding hand To these dark steps, a little further on!'" What trick of memory to 'my' voice hath brought This mournful iteration? For though Time,...
Keep for the Young the impassioned smile Shed from thy countenance, as I see thee stand High on that chalky cliff of Britain's Isle, A slender volume grasping in thy hand (Perchance the pages that relate...
O thou! whose fancies from afar are brought; Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel, And fittest to unutterable thought The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol;...
The star which comes at close of day to shine More heavenly bright than when it leads the morn, Is friendship's emblem, whether the forlorn She visiteth, or, shedding light benign...
Such age how beautiful! O Lady bright, Whose mortal lineaments seem all refined By favouring Nature and a saintly Mind To something purer and more exquisite...
Amid the smoke of cities did you pass The time of early youth; and there you learned, From years of quiet industry, to love The living Beings by your own fireside,...
Lady! the songs of Spring were in the grove While I was shaping beds for winter flowers; While I was planting green unfading bowers, And shrubs--to hang upon the warm alcove,...
A stream to mingle with your favorite Dee Along the Vale of Meditation flows; So styled by those fierce Britons, pleased to see In Nature's face the expression of repose,...
Though many suns have risen and set Since thou, blithe May, wert born, And Bards, who hailed thee, may forget Thy gift, thy beauty scorn; There are who to a birthday strain Confine not harp and voice,...