Only a few more years! Weary years! Only a few more tears! Bitter tears! And then -- and then -- like other men, I cease to wander, cease to weep, Dim shadows o'er my way shall creep;...
We laugh when our souls are the saddest, We shroud all our griefs in a smile; Our voices may warble their gladdest, And our souls mourn in anguish the while.
One idle day -- A mile or so of sunlit waves off shore -- In a breezeless bay, We listless lay -- Our boat a "dream of rest" on the still sea -- And -- we were four.
To-day a bird on wings as white as foam That crests the blue-gray wave, With the vesper light upon its breast, flew home Seaward. The God who gave To the birds the virgin-wings of snow...
Far from "where the roses rest", Round the altar and the aisle, Which I loved, of all, the best -- I have come to rest awhile By the ever-restless sea -- Will its waves give rest to me? ...
Strange Sea! why is it that you never rest? And tell me why you never go to sleep? Thou art like one so sad and sin-oppressed -- (And the waves are the tears you weep) --...
'Twas the dusky Hallowe'en -- Hour of fairy and of wraith, When in many a dim-lit green, 'Neath the stars' prophetic sheen, As the olden legend saith, All the future may be seen,...
I walk down the Valley of Silence -- Down the dim, voiceless valley -- alone! And I hear not the fall of a footstep Around me, save God's and my own; And the hush of my heart is as holy...
A river went singing adown to the sea, A-singing -- low -- singing -- And the dim rippling river said softly to me, "I'm bringing, a-bringing -- While floating along -- A beautiful song...
A garland for a grave! Fair flowers that bloom, And only bloom to fade as fast away, We twine your leaflets 'round our Claudia's tomb, And with your dying beauty crown her clay. ...
Sweet heaven's smile Gleamed o'er the isle, That gems the dreamy sea. One far gone day, And flash'd its ray, More than a thousand years away, Pure Bridget, over thee.
Back to where the roses rest Round a shrine of holy name, (Yes -- they knew me when I came) More of peace and less of fame Suit my restless heart the best.
First champion of the Crucified! Who, when the fight began Between the Church and worldly pride So nobly fought, so nobly died, The foremost in the van; While rallied to your valiant side...
They come to ev'ry life -- sad, sunless days, With not a light all o'er their clouded skies; And thro' the dark we grope along our ways With hearts fear-filled, and lips low-breathing sighs. ...
Weary hearts! weary hearts! by the cares of life oppressed, Ye are wand'ring in the shadows -- ye are sighing for a rest: There is darkness in the heavens, and the earth is bleak below,...
The tears that trickled down our eyes, They do not touch the earth to-day; But soar like angels to the skies, And, like the angels, may not die; For ah! our immortality...