Ah what avails the sceptred race, Ah what the form divine! What every virtue, every grace! Rose Aylmer, all were thine. Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes May weep, but never see,...
They say that every idle word Is numbered by the Omniscient Lord. O Parliament! 'tis well that He Endureth for Eternity, And that a thousand Angels wait To write them at thy inner gate.
I strove with none, for none was worth my strife. Nature I loved and, next to Nature, Art: I warm'd both hands before the fire of life; It sinks, and I am ready to depart.
Over his millions Death has lawful power, But over thee, brave D'Ossoli! none, none. After a longer struggle, in a fight Worthy of Italy, to youth restor'd, Thou, far from home, art sunk beneath the surge...
Proud word you never spoke, but you will speak Four not exempt from pride some future day. Resting on one white hand a warm wet cheek, Over my open volume you will say,...
The wisest of the wise Listen to pretty lies And love to hear them told; Doubt not that Solomon Listen'd to many a one, Some in his youth, and more when he grew old.
One day, when I was young, I read About a poet, long since dead, Who fell asleep, as poets do In writing--and make others too. But herein lies the story's gist, How a gay queen came up and kist...
There falls with every wedding chime A feather from the wing of Time. You pick it up, and say 'How fair To look upon its colors are!' Another drops day after day Unheeded; not one word you say....
Yes; I write verses now and then, But blunt and flaccid is my pen, No longer talk'd of by young men As rather clever; In the last quarter are my eyes, You see it by their form and size;...
Those who have laid the harp aside And turn'd to idler things, From very restlessness have tried The loose and dusty strings. And, catching back some favourite strain, Run with it o'er the chords again....
Well I remember how you smiled To see me write your name upon The soft sea-sand--'_O! what a child!_ _You think you're writing upon stone!_' I have since written what no tide...