.^^. BecAuse I Loye YOU ANNA e, MACK LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. SlielfEi?-\iS4 -i^a UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BECAUSE I LOVE YOU BECAUSE I LOVE YOU pom^ of lolie SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY ANNA E; MACK Love is too precious to be named Save with a reverence deep and high." LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers lo MILK STREET BOSTON ^/37^"^ / ^ - v^ Copyright, 1894 By Lee and Shepard All rights reserved Because I Love You John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. MY DEAREST FRIEND, THESE POEMS, EXPRESSING WHAT IS TRUEST AND NOBLEST AND BEST IN HUMAN AFFECTION, AND LEADING TO THE DEARER LOVE OF GOD, ARE SELECTED AND ARRANGED BECAUSE I LOVE YOU. ANNA E. MACK. 'T^HE Editor wishes to thank most cordially the authors who have so kindly permitted the use of their poems, and the publishers for permission to use copyrighted poems, — Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, Roberts Brothers, Macmillan & Co., George Gottsberger Peck; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., and, others, — by whose permission, and by arrangement with whom, selections have been made from the fol- lowino; authors, whose works they publish: — George Arnold. Alice and Phcebe Gary. Ralph Waldo Emerson. John Hay. Oliver Wendell Holmes. William Dean Howells. George Houghton. Ellen Mackay Hutchinson. Lucy Larcom. Oscar Laighton. Henry Wadsworth Long- fellow. James Russell Lowell. S. Weir Mitchell. River Forest, III. E. S. Phelps-Ward. Laura C. Redden. Margaret J. Preston. John G. Sake. Frank Dempster Sherman. Edmund Clarence Sted- man. Stuart Sterne. Bayard Taylor. Celia Thaxter. Edith M. Thomas. John Greenleaf Whittier. Elizabeth Whittier. Mrs. a. D. T. Whitney. A. E. M. LIST OF AUTHORS. Addison, Joseph. page With what a graceful tenderness he loves . . . 113 Love is not to be reasoned down or lost .... 140 Allen, Elizabeth Akers. Four Words 80 Angelo, Michael. Sonnet, "If it be true that any beauteous thing" 51 Arnold, Edwin. From " The Book of Love " 5 A Lover with his Loved One sailed the Sea ... 10 Oh, if thou be'st True Lover 37 On a Cyclamen 106 Too full of Love my soul is to find place .... 152 Naught is the same " as if Love had not been " . 196 Not Death is strong enough to part asunder . . 212 He and She 213 Arnold, Matthew. Calais Sands 55 Lovers 116 Ah, Love ! let us be true 148 Arnold, George. Among the Heather 165 A Farewell 211 Armstrong, George Francis. I loved thee for that dear deep lovingness ... 54 ix Bailey, Philip James. page If aught can make me seek 42 I remember the only wise thing I ever did . . . 49 It has been such a day as that, thou knowest . . 88 Bayly, Thomas Haynes. Won't You ? 92 Barlow, George. Love on Deck eg Life's Gifts 123 Love's Final Powers 149 Together 201 Beaumont and Fletcher. I did hear you talk far above singing 115 Best, Susie M. Herein is Love 11 Blake, William. Love seeketh not itself to please 12 Blake, James V. Wedded 132 Bolton, Sara K. One Face 77 BosTwicK, Helen Barron. Urvasi 81 Brewer, Daniel Chauncey. Softly the Evening Shadows 43 Brickhead, William Hunter. He was a friend indeed 18 Brooke, Stopford A. May and Love 1 14 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. A Woman's Shortcomings ., 13 My Kate 25 Three Kisses 113 My Letters 114 X Browning, Robert. page For life, with all it yields of joy or woe .... 4 Love is the only good in the world 126 Love among the Ruins 134 Bruce, Wallace. No life is so strong and complete 18 Buchanan, Robert. To Harriett 45 From " In the Garden " 115 Burns, Robert. From " The Cotter's Saturday Night" .... 8 A Red, Red Rose 59 My Jean 146 Byron, George Gordon Noel, Lord. Love 4 Gary, Alice. Love ! blessed Love ! if we could hang our walls . 2 From " Life's Mysteries " 91 Love's light is strange to you .f* Ah, me! . . . 128 The Unwise Choice 181. I hear a Dear, Familiar Tone 191 O winds ! ye are too rough, too rough .... 206 Gary, Phcebe. True Love 9 The chords of love must be strong as death . . 68 Life may to you bring every good 122 Carpenter, Henry Bernard. He sang out of his soul what he found there . . 140 Gassels, Walter R. Love took me softly by the Hand in Glemmer, Mary. For they alone have need of sorrow 143 Good-by, Sweetheart 166 Words for Parting 168 xi Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. page Answer to a Child's Question ii6 Thither where he lies buried 172 Cooke, Rose Terry. Pour out thy love like the rush of a river ... 30 Best 127 Craik, Dinah Maria Muloch. I love you. Words are small 70 The Boat of my Lover 163 Peace, wild- wrung hands ! hush, sobbing breath ! . 172 Three Meetings 209 Crofts, George W. I Love You, Dear 71 De Vere, Aubrey. Happy are They who kiss Thee 48 Dickens, Charles. Song 201 Dorr, Julia C. R. Thornless Roses 195 Douglas. Annie Laurie 64 Eliot, George. Two Lovers 107 I think we had the chief of all love's joys ... 1x5 Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Give all to love 39 Friendship 47 Eros 138 Gannett, W. C. In Twos 199 Gardiner, Celia E. But oh ! 'twas hard to have him go, — to know . 164 Gilder, Richard Watson. Oh, Love is not a Summer Mood 7 xii Gilder, Richard Watson {conthmed). page The Smile of her I love 66 Not from the whole wide world I choose thee . . 88 A Woman's Thought 183 After-Song 207 Goethe. The Loved One Ever Near 164 Gray, Maxwell. Rondel 178 Greenwell, Dora. Home 102 Halm. A Question 12 Havergal, Francis Ridley. From " The Message of an ^olian Harp," — We cannot love too much 31 Hay, John. Love's Prayer 66 Hayne, Paul Hamilton. Love scorns Degrees 141 Two Epochs 203 Hemans, Felicia Dorothea. Happy, happier far than thou 99 Love and Death 212 Henley, William Ernest. Love Notes 117 Hood, Thomas. 1 Love Thee 72 Holmes, Oliver Wendell. The Girdle of Friendship 21 Where we love is home 108 O lady, there be many things no Holland, Josiah Gilbert. A Tribute 24 xiii Holland, Josiah Gilbert [continued). pagb From " The Mistress of the Manse " 45 Eureka 123 From " Katrina " 132 HoLLEY, Marietta. Summer lOO Holm, Saxe. I cannot think but God must know 190 Houghton, George. Four-Leaf Clover 94 HowELLS, William Dean. Gone 161 HowiTT, Mary. OLife! what after- joy hast thou 122 Hugo, Victor. An Extravaganza 129 Hunt, Leigh. For there are two heavens, sweet 105 Better Things 131 Hutchinson, Ellen Mackay. All the Year Round .144 Ingelow, Jean. Learn that to love is the one way to know ... 32 Love 67 Lovers 90 A weak white girl 98 Love's Thread of Gold 133 Divided 191 I have the Courage to be Gay 196 Jackson, Helen Hunt. Love's Fulfilling 35 Two Truths 1 53 Forgiven 157 A Woman's Death-Wound 182 Burnt Ships 184 xiv Jewett, Sophie. page A Friendship 49 Juan II., King of Castile. I never knew it, Love, till now 141 Kemble, Frances Anne. Absence 162 Ketchum, Annie Chambers. I cannot tell the spell that binds thine image . . 1 50 Kingsley, Charles. Oh, That we Two were Maying 112 Laighton, Oscar. The Clover Blossoms 63 Landon, Letitia Elizabeth. All true deep feeling purifies the heart .... 50 From " The Ancestress " 79 She was sent forth 200 Lanier, Sidney. Evening Song 96 Larcom, Lucy. A Friend 19 In the Air 50 The cup of love the hands of two hold .... 95 The Little Brown Cabin 100 And in that twilight hush, God drew their hearts . 105 The gate of Heaven is Love 138 There is hope that is never put by 180 Locker, Frederick. A Nice Correspondent 61 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. From " The Spanish Student " S;^ So these lives that had run thus far in separate channels 98 From "The Hanging of the Crane" 106 Something the heart must have to cherish . . . 1 11 From '* The Children of the Lord's Supper " « . 138 XV Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth {continued). page From " Evangeline " 149 I do not love thee less for what is done .... 152 friend ! O best of friends ! Thy absence more . 160 From " Michael Angelo " 161 The Two Locks of Hair 175 From " Evangeline " 192 Lowell, James Russell. Love 3 With my love this knowledge too was given . . 52 Her fittest triumph is to show that good . . . . 158 Think not in death my love could ever cease . . 180 Lynch, Anne C. Go forth in life not seeking Love ... . . 34 Lytton, Edward Robert Bulwer. And love ? What was love, then 14 O, near Ones, dear Ones 23 Mackay, Charles. A Love Extravaganza 65 Protestations 82 Gone 127 Manville, Marion. Scotch Heather 174 Marston, Philip Bourke. What the Rose saw 89 Parting Words 168 MacDonald, George. The Sea-Shell 38 Miller, Joaquin. From " The Sea of Fire " 7 In a Gondola 60 1 simply say that she is good 124 Mitchell, S Weir. From «' The Cup of Youth " -]-] Morris, Lewis. page What shall I do for my Love 36 MouLTON, Louise Chandler. At End 217 O'Shaughnessy, Arthur. A Love Symphony 78 Palgrave, Francis Turner. Love's Language 118 Parker, Benjamin S. There is a glory in tree and blossom 119 Patmore, Coventry. From " The Angel in the House " 46 Going to Church 51 She was mine loi Perry, Nora. Tying her Bonnet under her Chin 56 Perry, Carlotta. Love is Eternal 210 Peterson, Frederick. The Sweetest Flower that blows 72 Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart. A Letter 155 Planche, James Robinson. They Parted 165 Preston, Margaret J. We Two 217 Procter, Adelaide Anne. Because 75 A Shadow 177 Redden, Laura C. Which is Best 193 Redi, Francesco. Love, the Musician 48 XVll Riley, James Whitcomb. page At Noon and Midnight 153 A Life Lesson 189 Rogers, Samuel. Marriage 99 Rollins, Alice Wellington. I know myself the Best Beloved of all . . . . 112 RossETTi, Christina G. Sonnet, — Trust me, I have not earned your dear rebuke 34 Sonnet, — O my heart's heart and you who are to me 7 5 RossETTi, Dante Gabriel. There will I ask of Christ the Lord 210 Sangster, Margaret Elizabeth. Our Own 154 It isn't the thing you do, dear 157 Saxe, John Godfrey. Kiss me softly 92 Scott, Sir Walter. From " Lay of the Last Minstrel " 134 Shakespeare, William. True Love 6 Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Love's Philosophy 95 Sherman, Frank Dempster. On a Clock 118 The Last Letter 142 Spofford, Harriet Prescott. Measure for Measure 74 Stearne, Stuart. Song from "Piero Da Castiglione" 117 Stedman, Edmund Clarence. From " Alice of Monmouth " 15 Song from a Drama Ti xviii Stoddard, Richard Henry. page From " The Castle in the Air " 37 Under the Rose 65 The Two Anchors 103 Perhaps it will all come right at last 188 Swinburne, Algernon Charles. Nothing is better, I well know 1 22 Taylor, Bayard. Proposal 93 The Song of the Camp 125 Taylor, Henry. From " Artevelde" 150 Tennyson, Alfred. Am I not the nobler through thy love ? . . . . 42 From " The Gardener's Daughter " 91 Indeed I love thee 95 From " Queen Mary," — The Happiest Hour . . 96 From "Harold" 147 We kissed again with Tears 1 56 Not to be with you, not to see your face .... 160 Days and Hours 167 What Sequel? 196 Love is come with a song and a smile 198 From " Enoch Arden " 202 Love and Death 207 Thaxter, Celia. For Thoughts 102 Presage 185 Thomas, Edith M. The Heart's Call 145 TiMROD, Henry. 1 meet her on the dusty street 54 Unknown. We love but Few 20 xix Washburn, William T. page A Face 44 Whittier, John Greenleaf. " I 'm sorry that I spelt the word " 71 Benedicite 84 The Two Loves 129 From ** The Singer " 208 From " Snow-Bound " 208 From " To Lydia Maria Child " 212 Whittier, Elizabeth. The Wedding Veil 173 Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T. The Violet 216 Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. Love's Coming 5 Friendship 22 Love Much 33 God measures souls by their capacity 47 Woolsey, Sarah Channing. Some Lover's Dear Thought 43 Love and Life 144 XX I. Love! blessed Love ! if we could hang our walls witli The spletidors of a thousand rosy Mays^ Surely they would not shine so well as thou dost, Lighting our dusty days. Without thee what a dim and woful story Our years would be ^ oh, excellence sublime ! sup of the life eternal, brightly growing In the low soil of time. ■ Alice Gary POEMS OF LOVE LOVE TRUE Love is but a humble, low-born thing, And hath its food served up in earthenware ; It is a thing to walk with hand in hand, Through the every-dayness of this work-day world, Baring its tender feet to every roughness. Yet letting not one heart-beat go astray From Beauty's law of plainness and content ; A simple, fireside thing, whose quiet smile Can warm earth's poorest hovel to a home. Which, when our autumn cometh, as it must. And life in the chill wind shivers bare and leafless, Shall still be blest with Indian-summer youth In bleak November, and, with thankful heart, Smile on its ample stores of garnered fruit. As full of sunshine to our aged eyes As when it nursed the blossoms of our spring. Such is true Love, which steals into the heart With feet as silent as the lightsome dawn That kisses smooth the rough brows of the dark, And hath its will through blissful gentleness, — Not like a rocket, which, with savage glare, Whirs suddenly up, then bursts, and leaves the night 3 Painfully quivering on the dazed eyes; A Love that gives and takes, that seeth faults, Not with flaw-seeking eyes hke needle-points. But, loving kindly, ever looks them down With the o'ercoming faith of meek forgiveness; A Love that shall be new and fresh each hour, As is the golden mystery of sunset, Or the sweet coming of the evening star ; Alike, and yet most unlike, every day. And seeming ever best and fairest iiouu. James Russell Lowell LOVE YES, Love indeed is light from Heaven, A spark of that immortal fire With angels shared, by Allah given, To lift from earth our low desire. Devotion wafts the soul above. But Heaven itself descends in Love. A feeling from the Godhead caught, To wean from self each sordid thought! A ray of Him who formed the whole ; A glory circling round the soul ! Lord Byron FOR life, with all it yields of joy or woe, And hope and fear. Is just our chance o' the prize of learning Love, - How Love might be, hath been, indeed, and is. Robert Browning. 4 FROM "THE BOOK OF LOVE" THE Poet leads us — as I think — To this chief wisdom: that Love is not Love Except it tear forth Self-love from the breast, And so absorb the Lover in that frame Of imaged fairness, where he finds soul's lamp So draw, and daze, and tangle him with beams (Ever so darkly radiating from God), Beams all for him — albeit dull and dim — That he shall quite forget what else was dear, Wealth, comfort, peace, pleasure — nay, life itself — To live and die in light of those bright eyes. In reach of those sole arms, in blissful range Of music echoing from that one sweet mouth. Edwin Arnold LOVE'S COMING SHE had looked for his coming as warriors come. With the clash of arms and the bugle's call; But he came instead with a stealthy tread Which she did not hear at all. She had thought how his armor would blaze in the sun, As he rode like a Prince to claim his bride ; In the sweet, dim light of the falling night She found him at her side. She had dreamed how the gaze of his strange, bold eye Would wake her heart to a sudden glow ; She found in his face the familiar grace Of a friend she used to know. She had dreamed how his coming would stir her soul, As the ocean is stirred by the wild storm's strife ; He brought her the balm of a heavenly calm, And a peace which crowned her life. Ella Wheeler Wilcox TRUE LOVE LET me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove : O, no ! it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests and is never shaken ; It is the star to every wandering bark. Whose worth 's unknown although his height be taken. Love 's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come ; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. William Shakespeare OH, LOVE IS NOT A SUMMER MOOD OH, love is not a summer mood. Nor flying phantom of the brain. Nor youthful fever of the blood. Nor dream, nor fate, nor circumstance. Love is not born of blinded chance, Nor bred in simple ignorance. Love is the flower of maidenhood ; Love is the fruit of mortal pain ; And she hath winter in her blood. True love is steadfast as the skies, And once alight she never flies ; And love is strong, and love is wise. Richard Watson Gilder FROM "THE SEA OF FIRE" HOW still she was. She only knew His love. She saw no life beyond. She loved with love that only lives Outside itself and selfishness, — A love that glows in its excess ; A love that melts pure gold, and gives Thenceforth to all who come to woo No coins but this face stamped thereon, — Ay, this one image stamped upon Its face, with some dim date long gone. Joaquin Miller 7 FROM "THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT " BUT, hark ! a rap comes gently to the door, Jenny, wha kens the meaning o' the same. Tells how a neibor lad cam o'er the moor. To do some errands and convoy her hame. The wily mother sees the conscious flame Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek ; Wi' heart-struck anxious care inquires his name, While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak ; Weel pleased the mother hears it 's nae wild, worth- less rake. Wi' kindly welcome, Jenny brings him ben A strappin' youth ; he takes the mother's eye; Blithe Jenny sees the visit 's no ill ta'en ; The father cracks of horses, pleughs, and kye. The youngster's artless heart o'crflows wi' joy, But blate and lathefu', scarce can weel behave ; The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy What makes the youth sae bashfu' and sae grave : Weel pleased to think her bairn 's respected like the lave. happy love ! — where love like this is found ! O heart-felt raptures! — bliss beyond compare 1 've paced much this wear}', mortal round. And sage experience bids me this declare: — 8 If Heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare, One cordial in this melancholy vale, 'T is when a youthful, loving, modest pair In other's arms breathe out the tender tale. Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale. Robert Burns TRUE LOVE I THINK true love is never blind. But rather brings an added light, An inner vision quick to find The beauties hid from common sight. No soul can ever clearly see / ■ Another's highest, noblest part ; Save through the sweet philosophy And loving wisdom of the heart. Your unanointed eyes shall fall On him who fills my world with light ; You do not see my friend at all. You see what hides him from your sight. I see the feet that fain would climb ; You but the steps that turn astray ; I see the soul, the unharmed, sublime ; You, but the garment and the clay. 9 You see a mortal, weak, misled, Dwarfed ever by the earthly clod ; I see how manhood, perfected, May reach the stature of a god. Blinded I stood, as now you stand, Till on mine eyes, with touches sweet, Love, the deliverer, laid his hand, And lo ! I worship at his feet! Phcebe Gary A LOVER WITH HIS LOVED ONE SAILED THE SEA A LOVER, with his loved One sailed the sea, Voyaging home in tender company ; There blew a wind of Death upon the waters, There broke a billow of calamity ! It swept them from the deck to dreadful breast Of the black ocean. To that pair distressed The mariners flung forth a plank of rescue ; It reached them drowning on the tossing crest. Too slender 't was to help — if both should hold ; They saw him round the plank her weak arms fold. " Gir ! Dasti-yar-i-man ! " he uttered softly ; " Clasp ! hands ! dearer than Life to me ! " The cold lO Bitter salt swallowed him. But those who brought His beauteous Maid, saved by that sweet deed wrought, Spake saying, " Never lived there truer Lover, Majuum by such a marvel had been taught ! " Edwin Arnold HEREIN IS LOVE HEREIN is love: to take this strange sweet thing That we call life, and for love's sake to fling It to that outer darkness men deem death That love may have a longer, sweeter breath ; To face with unaffrighted heart the gloom, The terror and the agony of doom. Herein is love : to lift another's cross, To give away the gold and keep the dross, To trample into dust the worm of self, To crowd its clam'rings on the soul's back shelf ; Nor let it ever dare upraise its head. Deny its every call till it lies dead. Herein is love: to strip the shoulders bare. If need be, that a frailer one may wear A mantle to protect it from the storm, To bear the frost-king's breath so one be warm ; To crush the tears it would be sweet to shed, And smile so others may have joy instead. II Herein is love : to daily sacrifice The hope that to the bosom closest lies, To mutely bear reproach and suffer wrong, Nor lift the voice to show where both belong, Nay, now, nor tell it e'en to God above, — Herein is love, indeed, herein is love. Susie M. Best LOVE seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a heaven in hell's despair. William Blake A QUESTION MY heart, I will put thee a question, Say, what is love, I entreat? Two souls with one thought between them, Two hearts with a single beat. And say whence love comes hither? Here he is, we know, that is all. When he goes tell me how and whither ? If he goes, 't was not love at all. And what love loves most purely ? The love that has no self quest. And where is the deepest loving Where love is silentest. 12 And when is love at its richest? When most it has given away. And what is the tongue love useth ? The love that it cannot say. H. I. D. Ryder From the German of Halm A WOMAN'S SHORTCOMINGS SHE has laughed as softly as if she sighed ! She has counted six and over. Of a purse well filled, and a heart well tried, — Oh, each a worthy lover ! They "give her time; " for her soul must slip Where the world has set the grooving ; She will lie to none with her fair red lip, — But love seeks truer loving. She trembles her fan in a sweetness dumb, As her thoughts were beyond recalling ; With a glance for one and a glance for some. From her eyelids rising and falling, — Speaks common words with a blushful air; — Hears bold words, unreproving ! But her silence says, — what she never will swear, And love seeks better loving. Go, lady ! lean to the night-guitar, And drop a smile to the bringer; Then smile as sweetly, when he is far, At the voice of an in-door singer ; 13 Bask tenderly beneath tender eyes ; Glance lightly, on their removing, And join new vows to old perjuries, — But dare not call it loving ! Unless you can think, when the song is done, No other is soft in the rhythm ; Unless you can feel, when left by One That all men else go with him ; Unless you can know when upraised by his breath That your beauty itself wants proving ; Unless you can swear — " For life, for death ! " Oh, fear to call it loving ! Unless you can muse in a crowd all day, On the absent face that fixed you ; Unless you can love, as the angels may, With the breadth of heaven betwixt you ; Unless you can dream that his faith is fast, Though behooving and unbehooving ; Unless you can die when the dream is past, — Oh, never call it loving. Elizabeth Barrett Browning /And love? — What was love, then? not calm, not secure, scarcely kind, — But in one all intensest emotions combined; Life and death : pain and rapture. Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton (Owen Meredith) FROM "ALICE OF MONMOUTH" LOVE from that summer morn Melting the souls of these two; Love which some of you know Who read this poem to-day — Is it the same desire, The strong ineffable joy, Which Jacob and Rachel felt, When he served her father long years, And the years were swift as days, — So great was the love he bore ? Race advancing with time, Growing in thought and deed, Mastering land and sea. Say, does the heart advance, Are its passions more pure and strong? They, like Nature, remain No more and no less than of yore. Whoso conquers the earth, Winning its riches and fame, Comes to the evening at last, The sunset of threescore years. Confessing that love was real, All the rest was a dream ! The sum of his gains is dross ; The song in his praise is mute ; The wreath of his laurels fades ; But the kiss of his early love Still burns on his trembling lips, The spirit of one he loved 15 Hallows his dreams at night. A little while and the scenes Of the play of life are closed ; Come let us rest an hour, And by the pleasant streams, Under the fresh, green trees, Let us walk hand in hand, And think of the days that were. Edmund Clarence Stedman i6 11, A^o life is so strong and complete, Biit it yearns for the smile of a f'iend. Wallace Bruce He was a friend indeed. With all afriend'^s best virtues shining bright; It was no broken reed You lea^ied on, when you trusted to his might. William Hunter Brickhead A FRIEND LIFE offers no joy like a friend; Fulfilment and prophecy blend In the throb of a heart with its own, — A heart where we know and are known. Yet more than thy friend unto thee, Is the friendship hereafter to be. When the flower of thy life shall unfold Out of hindering, and darkness, and cold. Love mocks thee, whose mounting desire Doth not to the Perfect aspire ; Nor lovest thou the soul thou wouldst win To shut with thine emptiness in. A friend ! Deep is calling to deep ! A friend ! the heart wakes from its sleep To behold the world lit by one face ; With one heavenward step to keep pace. O heart wherein all hearts are known, Whose infinite throb stirs our own ! O Friend beyond friends ! what are we, Who ask so much less, yet have Thee ? Lucy Larcom 19 WE LOVE BUT FEW OH, yes, we mean all kind words that we say To old friends and to new ; Yet doth this truth grow clearer day by day : We love but few. We love ! we love ! What easy words to say And sweet to hear, When sunrise splendor brightens all the way, And, far and near, Are breath of flowers and carolling of birds, And bells that chime. Our hearts are light : we do not weigh our words At morning time ! But when the matin music all is hushed. And life's great load Doth weigh us down, and thick with dust Doth grow the road, Then do we say less often that we love. The words have grown ! With pleading eyes we look to Christ above And clasp our own. Their lives are bound to ours by mighty bands No mortal strait, Nor Death himself, with his prevailing hands, Can separate. 20 The world is wide, and many friends are dear, And friendships true ; Yet do these words read plainer year by year: We love but few. THE GIRDLE OF FRIENDSHIP SHE gathered at her slender waist The beauteous robe she wore; Its folds a golden belt embraced ; One rose-hued gem it bore. The girdle shrank ; its lessening round Still kept the shining gem, But now her flowing locks it bound, A lustrous diadem. And narrower still the circlet grew. Behold ! a glittering band, Its roseate diamond set anew, Her neck's white column spanned. Suns rise and set ; the straining clasp The shortened links resist. Yet flashes in a bracelet's grasp The diamond on her wrist. At length, the round of changes past The thieving years could bring. The jewel, glittering to the last, Still sparkles in a ring. 21 So link by link our friendships part. So loosen, break, and fall, A narrowing zone ; the loving heart Lives changeless through them all. Oliver Wendell Holmes FRIENDSHIP DEAR friend, I pray thee, if thou wouldst be proving Thy strong regard for me, Make me no vows. Lip-service is not loving ; Let thy faith speak for thee. Swear not to me that nothing can divide us, So little such oaths mean, But when distrust and envy creep beside us. Let them not come between. Say not to me the depths of thy devotion Are deeper than the sea ; But watch, lest doubt or some unkind emotion Embitter them for me. Vow not to love me ever and forever, Words are such idle things. But when we differ in opinions, never Hurt me by little stings. 22 I 'm sick of words, they are so lightly spoken, And spoken are but air. I 'd rather feel thy trust in me unbroken Than list to thy words so fair. If all the little proofs of trust are heeded, If thou art always kind. No sacrifice, no promise will be needed To satisfy my mind. Ella Wheeler Wilcox O NEAR ONES, DEAR ONES ONEAR ones, dear ones ! you, in whose right hands Our own rests calm ; whose faithful hearts all day Wide open wait till back from distant lands Thought, the tired traveller, wends his homeward way ! Helpmates and hearthmates, gladdeners of gone years, Tender companions of our serious days, Who color with your kisses, smiles, and tears, Life's warm web woven over wonted ways. Young children, and old neighbors, and old friends, Old servants, — you, whose smiling circle small Grows slowly smaller, till at last it ends Where in one grave is room enough for all ; 23 Oh, shut the world out from the heart you cheer ! Though small the circle of your smiles may be, The world is distant, and your smiles are near; This makes you more than all the world to me. Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton (Owen Meredith) A TRIBUTE NOT many friends my life has made ; Few have I loved, and few are they Who in my hand their hearts have laid ; And these were women. I am gray, But never have I been betrayed. These words — this tribute — for the sake Of truth to God and woman-kind! These — that my heart may cease to ache With love and gratitude confined, And burning from my lips to break ! These — to that sisterhood of grace That numbers in its sacred list My mother risen to her place ; My wife, but yester-morning kissed And folded in Love's last embrace ! 24 This tribute of a love profound As ever moved the heart of man, To those to whom my life is bound, To her in whom my life began ; And her whose love my life hath crowned. Immortal Love ! thou still hast wings To lift me to those radiant fields, Where music waits with trembling strings And verse her happy numbers yields And all the soul within me sings. So from the lovely Pagan dream I call no more the Tuneful Nine ; For Woman is my Muse Supreme, And she, with fire and flight divine. Shall light and lead me to my theme. JosiAH Gilbert Holland MY KATE SHE was not as pretty as women I know. And yet all your best made of sunshine and snow Drop to shade, melt to nought in the long-trodden ways, While she's still remembered on warm and cold days, — My Kate. 25 Her air had a meaning, her movements a grace ; You turned from the fairest to gaze on her face ; And when you had once seen her forehead and mouth, You saw as distinctly her soul and her truth, — My Kate. III. Such a blue inner light from her eyelids outbroke, You looked at her silence and fancied she spoke ; When she did, so peculiar yet soft was the tone, Though the loudest spoke also, you heard her alone, — My Kate. IV. I doubt if she said to you much that could act As a thought or suggestion, she did not attract In the sense of the brilliant or wise; I infer 'T was her thinking of others made you think of her, — My Kate. She never found fault with you, never implied Your wrong by her right; and yet men at her side Grew nobler, girls purer, as through the whole town The children were gladder who pulled at her gown, — My Kate. VI. None knelt at her feet confessed lovers in thrall ; They knelt more to God than they used, — that was all: 26 If you praised her as charming, some asked what you meant, But the charm of her presence was felt when she went, — My Kate. VII. The weak and the gentle, the ribald and rude, She took as she found them, and did them all good; It always was so with her, — see what you have ! She has made the grass greener even here, — with her grave, — My Kate. VIII. My dear one ! — when thou wast alive with the rest, I held thee the sweetest and loved thee the best ; And now thou art dead, shall I not take thy part, As thy smiles used to do for thyself, my sweet Heart, — My Kate. Elizabeth Barrett Browning 27 III. Pour out thy love like the rtish of a river Wasting its waters forever and ever; Through the burnt sands that reward not the giver; Silent or songful, thou nearest the sea. Scatter thy life as the stimmer shower's pouring I What if no bird through the pearl-rain is soaring ? What if no blossom looks upward adoring ? Look to the life that was lavished for thee ! Rose Terry Cooke FROM "THE MESSAGE OF AN (EOLIAN HARP" IVe Cannot Love too Much. "W: ELL for him That he has such a heart to meet his own, And well for you ; for 't is a blessed gift, Not shared by all ahke, — the power to love; And not less blessed for proportioned pain, Its fiery seal, its royal crown of thorns." " So seems it, Beatrice, to you, who find No lurking danger in its concentration Because you have so many near and dear. Not so to me. I tremble when I think How much I love him ; but I turn away From thinking of it, just to love him more; — Indeed, I fear, too much," " Dear Eleanor, — Do you love him as much as Christ loves us ? Let your lips answer me." " Why ask me, dear ? Our hearts are finite, Christ is infinite." " Then till you reach the standard of that love, Let neither fears nor well-meant warning voice Distress you with ' Too much.' For He hath said — I/oTV much — and who shall dare to change His measure ? " " T/ia^ ye should love as I have loved you.^'^ Oh, sweet command, that goes so far beyond The mightiest impulse of the tender heart ! A bare permission had been much ; but He 31 Who knows our yearnings and our fearfulness, Chose graciously to bid us do the thing That makes our earthly happiness, and set A limit that we need not fear to pass, Because we cannot. Oh, the breadth and length And depth and height of love that passeth knowledge ! Yet Jesus said, " As I have loved you." " O Beatrice, I long to feel the sunshine That this should bring; but there are other words Which fall in chill eclipse. 'T is written, ' Keep Yourselves from idols.' How shall I obey? " " Dear, not by loving less, but loving more. It is not that we love our precious ones Too much, but God too little. As the lamp A miner bears upon his shadowed brow. Is only dazzling in the grimy dark, And has no glare against the summer sky, So, set the tiny torch of our best love In the great sunshine of the Love of God, And, though full-fed and fanned, it casts no shade And dazzles not, o'erflowed with mightier light ! " Frances Ridley Havergal LEARN that to love is the one way to know Or God or man : it is not love received That maketh man to know the inner life Of them that love him ; his own love bestowed Shall do it. Jean Ingelow 32 LOVE MUCH LOVE much. Earth has enough of bitter in it; Cast sweets into its cup whene'er you can. No heart so hard but love at last may win it. Love is the grand primeval cause of man; All hate is foreign to the first great plan. Love much. Your heart will be led out to slaughter On altars built of envy and deceit. Love on, love on. 'T is bread upon the water; It shall be cast in loaves yet at your feet, Unleavened manna, most divinely sweet. Love much. Your faith will be dethroned and shaken. Your trust betrayed by many a fair, false lure. Remount your faith, and let new trusts awaken. Though clouds obscure them, yet the stars are pure ; Love is a vital force, and must endure. Love much. Men's souls contract with cold sus- picion ; Shine on them with warm love, and they expand. 'T is love, not creeds, that from a low condition Leads mankind up to heights supreme and grand. Oh, that the world would see and understand ! Love much. There is no waste in freely giving; More blessed it is, even, than to receive. He who loves much, -alone finds live worth living; Love on through doubt and darkness, and believe There is no thing which love may not achieve. Ella Wheeler Wilcox 3 33 SONNET Or puoi la quantitate, Comprender de I'amor che a te mi scalda. — Dante. Non vo' che da tal nodo amor mi scioglia. — Petrarca. TRUST me, I have not earned your dear rebuke : I love, as you would have me, God the most ; Would love not you, but Him, must one be lost. Nor with Lot's wife cast back a faithless look, Unready to forego what I forsook. This say I, having counted up the cost ; This, though I be the feeblest of God's host ; The sorriest sheep Christ shepherds with His crook. Yet while I love my God the most, I deem That I can never love you overmuch ; I love Him more, so let me love you too. Yea, as I apprehend it, love is such I cannot love you if I love not Him, I cannot love Him if I love not you. Christina G. Rossetti GO FORTH IN LIFE NOT SEEKING LOVE GO forth in life, O friend, not seeking love ; A mendicant that with imploring eye And outstretched hand asks of the passers-by The alms his strong necessities may move. 34 For such poor love, to pity near allied, Thy generous spirit may not stoop and wait, A suppliant, whose prayer may be denied, Like a spurned beggar's at a palace gate ; But thy heart's affluence, lavish, uncontrolled, The largess of thy love, give full and free, As monarchs in their progress scatter gold ; And be thy heart like the exhaustless sea. That must its wealth of cloud and dew bestow. Though tributary streams or ebb or flow, Anne C. Lynch LOVE'S FULFILLING O H, Love is weak Which counts the answers and the gains, Weighs all the losses and the pains. And eagerly each fond word drains, A joy to seek. When Love is strong, It never tarries to take heed, Or know if its return exceed Its gift; in its sweet haste no greed, No strifes belong. It hardly asks If it be loved at all ; to take So barren seems, when it can make Such bliss for the beloved sake, Oh, bitter tasks ! 35 Its ecstasy Could find hard death so beauteous, It sees through tears how Christ loved us, And speaks, in saying, " I love thus," No blasphemy. So much we miss If Love is weak ; so much we gain If Love is strong: God thinks no pain Too sharp or lasting to ordain To teach us this. Helen Hunt Jackson WHAT SHALL I DO FOR MY LOVE? WHAT shall I do for my love, Who is so tender And dear and true, Loving and true and tender, My strength and my defender — What shall I do ? I will cleave unto my love, Who am too lowly For him to take. With a self-surrender holy I will cleave unto him solely, I will give my being wholly For his dear sake. Lewis Morris 36 OH, IF THOU BE'ST TRUE LOVER OH, if thou be'st true lover, wash not hand From that dear stain of Love ! from worldly brand Of wealth and self-love wash it ! At the last Those win who, spite of Fortune's tempests, stand, Glad to wreck all for Love. I say to thee — I, Sadi — launch not on that boundless Sea ! But if thou puttest forth, hoist sail, quit anchor. To storm and wave trust thyself hardily! Edwin Arnold FROM "THE CASTLE IN THE AIR" I LIVE for Love, for Love alone, and who Dare chide me for it ? Who dare call it folly? It is a holy thing, if aught is holy. And true, indeed, if Truth herself is true : Earth yearns for earth, — its sensuous life is dear; Mortals should love mortality while here, And seize the glowing hours before they fly; And eyes should answer eyes, and lips should meet. And hearts unlocked to kindred hearts should beat, Till all that live on earth in love should live and die. Richard Henry Stoddard 37 THE SEA-SHELL « T ISTEN, darling, and tell me -■ — ' What the murmurer says to thee, Murmuring 'twixt a song and a moan, Chansins neither tune nor tone." " Yes, I hear it, — far and faint, Like thin-drawn prayer of drowsy saint; Like the falling of sleep on a weary brain, When the fevered heart is quiet again." " By smiling lips and fixed eye, You are hearing more than song or sigh; The wrinkled thing has curious ways — I want to know what words it says." " I hear a wind on a boatless main Sigh like the last of a vanishing pain ; On the dreaming waters dreams the moon. But I hear no words in the murmured tune." " If it does not say that I love thee well, 'T is a senseless, ill-curved, worn-out shell ; If it is not of love, why sigh or sing ? 'T is a common, mechanical, useless thing." 38 " It whispers of love — 'tis a prophet shell — Of a peace that comes and all shall be well; It speaks not a word of your love to me, But it tells me to love you eternally." George MacDonald GIVE all to love ; Obey thy heart; Friends, kindred, days, Estate, good-fame, Plans, credit, and the Muse, Nothing refuse. Ralph Waldo Emerson 39 IV. Am I not the nobler through thy love f Or three times less unworthy ? Alfred Tennyson If aught can make me seek Other to be than that lost sotil, I fear me, It is that thou lov^st me j Heaven were not Heaveji Without thee. Philip James Bailey SOFTLY THE EVENING SHADOWS SOFTLY the evening shadows Kiss the trailing robes of day; And clustering round the roses At my feet, they seem to say, As the meadows lose their being, And the lengthened shadows wane : " Have you done your every duty Pour I'amour de Madeleine? " Are you nobler, stronger, better. Than you were when early dawn Blazoned all the day with splendor At the advent of the morn ? Have you sought with manly courage Some far distant height to gain? Are your aspirations higher Pour I'amour de Madeleine ? " Daniel Chauncey Brewer SOME LOVER'S DEAR THOUGHT I OUGHT to be kinder always, For the light of his kindly eyes ; I ought to be wiser always, Because he is so just and wise; And gentler in all my bearing, And braver in all my daring. For the patience that in him lies. 43 I must be as true as the Heaven, While he is as true as the day, Nor balance the gift with the given, For he giveth to me alway. And I must be firm and steady. For my Love, he is that already, And I follow him as I may. O dear little golden fetter. You bind me to difficult things ; But my soul, while it strives, grows better, And I feel the stirring of wings As I stumble, doubting and dreading, Up the path of his stronger treading, Intent on his beckonings. Sarah Woolsey (Susan Coolidge) A FACE I WANDERED through the night alone; A face from out the darkness shone, A garnered flame of beauty given To guide a blinded soul to Heaven. O lovely face, with ray divine, Forever on my pathway shine ; Where'er my wayward footsteps roam, Be thou my star, my faith, my home ! William T. Washburn 44 FROM "THE MISTRESS OF THE MANSE HIS love enwrapped her as a robe, Which seemed by its supernal charm To shield from every poisoned probe Of earthly pain and earthly harm This one choice creature of the globe. The love he bore her lifted him Into a bright, sweet atmosphere That filled with beauty to the brim The world beneath him, far and near, And stained the clouds that draped its rim. JosiAH Gilbert Holland TO HARRIETT HERE at the halfway House of Life I linger, Worn with the way, a weary-hearted singer, Resting a little space ; And lo ! the good God sends me, as a token Of peace and blessing (else my heart were broken), The sunbeam of thy face. My fear falls from me like a garment ; slowly New strength returns upon me, calm and holy ; I kneel, and I atone — Thy hand is clasped in mine — we lean together — Henceforward, through the sad or shining weather, 1 shall not walk alone. Robert Buchanan 45 FROM "THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE" T HEN to my room I went, and closed and lock'd the door, And cast myself down on my bed ; And there, with many a blissful tear, I vow'd to love, and pray'd to wed The maiden who had grown so dear; Thank'd God who had set her in my path, And promised as I hoped to win, I never would sully my faith By the least selfishness or sin; Whatever in her sight I 'd seem, I 'd really be ; I 'd never blend With my delight in her a dream 'T would change her cheek to comprehend ; And, if she wished it, I 'd prefer Another's to my own success ; And always seek the best for her With unofficious tenderness. Rising, I breathed a brighter clime. And found myself all self above. And, with a charity sublime. Contemned not those who did not love; And I could not but feel that then I shone with something of her grace, And went forth to my fellow-men My commendation in my face. Coventry Patmore 46 FRIENDSHIP A RUDDY drop of manly blood The surging sea outweighs, The world uncertain comes and goes, The lover rooted stays. I fancied he was fled, — And, after many a year. Glowed unexhausted kindliness, Like daily sunrise there. My careful heart was free again; O friend, my bosom said, Through thee alone the sky is arched, Through thee the rose is red; All things through thee take nobler form, And look beyond the earth. The mill-round of our fate appears A sun-path in thy worth. Me, too, thy nobleness has taught To master my despair ; The fountains of my hidden life Are through thy friendship fair. Ralph Waldo Emerson GOD measures souls by their capacity For entertaining his best angel. Love. Who loveth most is nearest kin to God, Who is all Love or nothing. Ella Wheeler Wilcox 47 HAPPY ARE THEY WHO KISS THEE HAPPY are they who kiss thee, morn and even, Parting the hair upon thy forehead white ; For them the sky is bluer and more bright, And purer their thanksgivings rise to Heaven. Happy are they to whom thy songs are given ; Happy are they on whom thy hands alight; And happiest they for whom thy prayers at night In tender pity so oft have striven. Away with vain regrets and selfish sighs — Even I, dear friend, am lonely, not unblest; Permitted sometimes on that form to gaze. Or feel the light of those consoling eyes ; If but a moment on my cheek it stays, I know that gentle beam from all the rest ! Aubrey De Vere LOVE, THE MUSICIAN LOVE is the minstrel ; for in God's own sight, Tlie master of all melody he stands, And holds a golden rebeck in his hands, And leads the chorus of the saints in light; But ever and anon those chambers bright Detain him not, for down to these low lands He flies, and spreads his musical commands, And teaches men some fresh, divine delight. 48 For with his bow he strikes a single chord Across a soul, and wakes in it desire To grow more pure and lovely, and aspire To that ethereal country where, outpoured From myriad stars that stand before the Lord, Love's harmonies are like a flame of fire. Edmund W. Gosse Italian of Frajicesco Redi A FRIENDSHIP SMALL fellowship of daily commonplace We hold together, dear, constrained to go Diverging ways. Yet day by day I know My life is sweeter for thy life's sweet grace ; And if we meet but for a moment's space, Thy touch, thy word, sets all the world aglow. Faith soars serener, haunting doubts shrink low Abashed before the sunshine of thy face. Nor press of crowd, nor waste of distance serves To part us. Every hush of evening brings Some hint of thee, true-hearted friend of mine ; And as the farther planet thrills and swerves When toward it through the darkness Saturn swings, Even so my spirit feels the spell of thine. Sophie Jewett (Ellen Burroughs) I REMEMBER the only wise thing I ever did, The only good, was to love thee. Philip James Bailey 4 49 IN THE AIR THE scent of a blossom from Eden! The flower was not given to me, But it freshened my spirit forever, As it passed, on its way to thee ! In my soul is a lingering music : The song was not meant for me, But I listen, and listen, and wonder To whom it can lovelier be. The sounds and the scents that float by us — They cannot tell whither they go ; Yet however it fails of its errand, Love makes the world sweeter, I know. I know that love never is wasted, Nor truth, nor the breath of a prayer ; And the thought that goes forth as a blessing Must live, as a joy in the air. Lucy Larcom ALL true deep feeling purifies the heart; Am I not better by my love for you .'' At least I am less selfish ; I would give My life to buy you happiness ! Letitia Elizabeth Landon 50 SONNET IF it be true that any beauteous thing Raises the pure and just desires of man From earth to God, the eternal Fount of all, Such I believe my love : for as in her So fair, in whom I all beside forget, I view the gentle work of her Creator, I have no care for any other thing, Whilst thus I love. Nor is it marvellous, Since the effect is not of my own power, If the soul doth, by nature tempted forth. Enamoured through the eyes, Repose upon the eyes which it resembleth, And through them riseth to the primal love, As to its end, and honors in admiring: For who adores his Maker must needs love his work. William Wordsworth Italian of Michael Angela GOING TO CHURCH HER soft voice, singularly heard, Beside me in the Psalms, withstood The roar of voices, like a bird Sole warbling in a windy wood : And when we knelt, she seemed to be An angel teaching me to pray ; And all through the high Liturgy My spirit rejoiced without allay, 51 Being for once borne clearly above All banks and bars of ignorance, By this bright springtide of pure love, And floated in a free expanse. Whence it could see from side to side, The obscurity from every part Winnow'd away and purified By the vibrations of my heart. Coventry Patmore WITH my love this knowledge too was given, Which each calm day doth strengthen more and more, That they who love are but one step from Heaven. James Russell Lowell 52 V. 1 7neet her on the dusty street, And daisies spring about her feet; Or, touched to life beneath her tread, An English cowslip lifts its head. Henry Timrod I loved thee for that dear, deep loving ness Resting within thy tender, brooding eyes; I loved thee for thy wealth of womanhood, Thy quiet guestio?iitigs, thy sweet replies, Thy patie?it brows that knew no bitter mood. George Francis Armstrong CALAIS SANDS A THOUSAND knights have reined their steeds A To watch this line of sand hills run Along the never silent Strait, To Calais glittering in the sun. To look toward Ardres' Golden Field Across this wide aerial plain, Which glows as if the Middle Age Were gorgeous upon earth again. Oh, that to share this famous scene I saw, upon the open sand, Thy lovely presence at my side, Thy shawl, thy look, thy smile, thy hand ! How exquisite thy voice would come, My darling, on this lonely air! How sweetly would the fresh sea-breeze _ Shake loose some locks of soft brown hair! But now my glance but once hath roved O'er Calais and its famous plain; To England's chffs my gaze is turned. O'er the blue Strait mine eyes I strain. Thou comest ! Yes, the vessels' cloud Hangs dark upon the rolling sea ! — Oh, that yon sea-bird's wings were mine, To' win one instant's glimpse from thee! 55 I must not spring to grasp thy hand, To woo thy smile, to seek thine eye ; But I may stand far off, and gaze. And watch thee pass unconscious by, And spell thy looks, and guess thy thoughts, Mixed with the idlers on the pier, — Ah, might I always rest unseen, So I might have thee always near ! To-morrow hurry through the fields Of Flanders to the storied Rhine ! To-night those soft-fringed eyes shall close Beneath one roof, my queen ! with mine. Matthew Arnold TYING HER BONNET UNDER HER CHIN 'TRYING her bonnet under her chin, •^ She tied her raven ringlets in ; But not alone in the silken snare Did she catch her lovely floating hair. For, tying her bonnet under her chin. She tied a young man's heart within. They w^ere strolling together up the hill, Where the wind comes blowing merry and chill ; And it blew the curls a frolicsome race All over the happy peach-colored face. Till, scolding and laughing, she tied them in, Under her beautiful, dimpled chin. 56 And it blew a color, bright as the bloom Of the pinkest fuchsia's tossing plume, All over the cheeks of the prettiest girl That ever imprisoned a romping curl, Or, tying her bonnet under her chin, Tied a young man's heart within. Steeper and steeper grew the hill ; Madder, merrier, chillier, still The western wind blew down and played The wildest tricks with the little maid, As, tying her bonnet under her chin, She tied a young man's heart within. O western wind, do you think it was fair To play such tricks with the floating hair? To gladly, gleefully, do your best To blow her against the young man's breast, Where he as gladly folded her in. And kissed her mouth and dimpled chin ? Ah ! Ellery Vane, you little thought An hour ago, when you besought This country lass to walk with you, After the sun had dried the dew, What perilous danger you 'd be in As she tied her bonnet under her chin. Nora Perry 57 LOVE ON DECK " T NEVER loved you much," she said, -■- " But I wanted to pass the time. The hours pass slow on a ship, you know, In a lazy, tropical chme. Have I hurt you much ? Forgive me, then, If I own that I was wrong. Cure the smart, and heal your heart, By writing it all in a song." The waves flowed free, and the waves flowed wide. As they sat and whispered side by side. " I never cared much for you," he said, " But I wanted a subject fit. V I 'd verses to make, and I thought I could take ^- Your heart and model from it. Have I pained you much? Forgive me, dear. A ship is a dreary place ; It is wrong to flirt, but you are n't much hurt, And you have a lovely face ! " The waves flowed free, and the waves flowed strong. And the good ship bore them both along. Each looked at each. They did not smile : The tears were in cither's eyes. And the cliffs of England rose the while From the waves, a white surprise. 58 Hand sought for hand, — *' Shall we gravel}^ end What first was a freak of the heart ? Shall we meet once more on the English shore, But this time never to part ? " The cliffs rose white from the sunny seas, And church-bells sounded on the breeze. George Barlow A RED, RED ROSE OH, my luve 's hke a red, red rose, That 's newly sprung in June : Oh, my luve 's like the melodie That's sweetly played in tune. As fair art thou, my bonnie lass. So deep in luve am I ; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt in the sun, I will luve thee still, my dear. While the sands o' Hfe shall run. And fare thee weel, my only luve ! And fare thee weel awhile! And I will come again, my luve, Though it were ten thousand mile. Robert Burns 59 IN A GONDOLA I. 'r-p WAS night in Venice. Then down to the tide, -L Where a tall and shadowy gondolier Leaned on his oar, like a lifted spear : — 'T was night in Venice. Then side by side We sat in his boat. Then oar a-trip On the black boat's keel, then dip and dip : — These boatmen should build their boats more wide, For we were together and side by side. II. The sea it was level as seas of light, As still as the light ere a hand was laid To the making of lands, or the seas were made. 'T was fond as a bride on her bridal night. When a great love swells in her soul like a sea, And makes her but less than divinity. 'T was night, — the soul of the day I wis : A woman's face hiding from her first kiss. III. 'T was night in Venice. On o'er the tide — These boats they are narrow as they can be ; These crafts they are narrow enough, and we, To balance the boat, sat side by side — Out under the arch of the Bridge of Sighs, On under the arch of the star-sown skies; We two were together on the Adrian Sea, — The one fair woman of the world to me. 60 IV. These narrow-built boats, they rock when at sea, And they make one afraid. So she leaned to me ; And that is the reason alone there fell Such golden folds of abundant hair Down over my shoulder, as we sat there. These boatmen should build their boats more wide, Wider for lovers : as wide — ah, well ! But who is the rascal to kiss and tell ? Joaquin Miller A NICE CORRESPONDENT THE glow and the glory are plighted To darkness, for evening is come ; The lamp in Glebe Cottage is lighted, The birds and the sheep-bells are dumb. I 'm alone, for the others have flitted To dine with a neighbor at Kew ; Alone, but I 'm not to be pitied, — I 'm thinking of you ! I wish you were here ! Were I duller Than dull, you 'd be dearer than dear ; I 'm drest in your favorite color, — Dear Fred, how I wish you were here ! I 'm wearing my lazuli necklace, The necklace you fasten'd askew; Was there ever so rude or so reckless A darling as you ? 6i I want you to come and pass sentence On two or three books with a plot : Of course you know " Janet's Repentance " ? I 'm reading Sir Waverley Scott. That story of Edgar and Lucy, How thrilling, romantic, and true ! The Master (his bride was a goosey!) Reminds me of you. They tell me Cockaigne has been crowning A Poet whose garland endures ; It was you that first told me of Browning, — That stupid old Browning of yours ! His vogue and his verve are alarming, I 'm anxious to give him his due, But, Fred, he 's not nearly so charming A poet as you ! I heard how you shot at The Beeches I saw how you rode Chanticleer, I have read the report of your speeches. And echoed the echoing cheer. There 's a whisper of hearts you are breaking. Dear Fred, I believe it, I do ! Small marvel that Folly is making Her idol of you. Alas for the world, and its dearly Bought triumph, its fugitive bliss ; Sometimes I half wish I were merely A plain or a penniless miss ; 62 But, perhaps, one is blest with "a measure Of pelf," and I 'm not sorry, too, That I 'm pretty, because 't is a pleasure, My dearest, to you! Your whim is for frolic and fashion, Your taste is for letters and art: — This rhyme is the commonplace passion That glows in a fond woman's heart ; Lay it by in some sacred deposit For relics, — we all have a few ! Love, some day they '11 print it, because it Was written to you. Frederick Locker THE CLOVER BLOSSOMS THE clover blossoms kiss her feet. She is so sweet, While I who may not kiss her hand Bless all the wild flowers in the land. Soft sunshine falls across her breast, She is so blest, I 'm jealous of its arms of gold ; Oh that these arms her form might fold ! Gently the breezes kiss her hair. She is so fair ! Let flowers and sun and breeze go by, O dearest ! Love me or I die. Oscar Laighton 63 ANNIE LAURIE MAXWELTON braes are bonnie Where early fa's the dew, And it 's there that Annie Laurie Gie'd me her promise true, — Gie'd me her promise true, Which ne'er forgot will be ; And for bonnie Annie Laurie I *d lay me doune and dee. Her brow is like the snaw-drift Her throat is like the swan; Her face it is the fairest That e'er the sun shone on, — That e'er the sun shone on, — And dark blue is her ee ; And for bonnie Annie Laurie I 'd lay me doune and dee. Like dew on the gowan lying Is the fa' o' her fairy feet ; And like winds in summer sighing Her voice is low and sweet — Her voice is low and sweet — And she 's a' the world to me ; And for bonnie Annie Laurie I 'd lay me doune and dee. Douglas 64 UNDER THE ROSE SHE wears a rose in her hair, At the twilight's dreamy close ; Her face is fair, how fair Under the rose ! I steal like a shadow there, As she sits in rapt repose, And whisper my loving prayer Under the rose ! She takes the rose from her hair, And her color comes and goes ; And I — a lover will dare Under the rose ! Richard Henry Stoddard A LOVE EXTRAVAGANZA GROW greener, grass, where the river flows Her feet have pressed you : Blow fresher, violet ! lily ! rose ! Her eyes have blessed you. Sing sweeter, birds upon the trees. Her ears have heard you : Sound up to heaven, ye harmonies ! Her hands have stirred you. Charles Mackay 9 6s THE SMILE OF HER I LOVE THE smile of her I love is like the dawn Whose touch makes Memnon sing; Oh, see where wide the golden sunlight flows — The barren desert blossoms as the rose ! The smile of her I love — when that is gone, O'er all the world night spreads her shadowy wing. Richard Watson Gilder LOVE'S PRAYER IF Heaven would hear my prayer, My dearest wish would be. Thy sorrows not to share, But take them all on me; If Heaven would hear my prayer. I 'd beg with prayers and sighs That never a tear might flow From out thy lovely eyes. If Heaven might grant it so ; Mine be the tears and sighs. No cloud thy brow should cover, But smiles each other chase From lips to eyes all over Thy sweet and sunny face ; The clouds my heart should cover. 66 That all thy path be light Let darkness fall on me ; If all thy days be bright, Mine black as night could be; My love would light my night. For thou art more than life, And if our faith should set Life and my love at strife, How could I then forget 1 love thee more than life ? John Hay LOVE I LEANED out of window, I smelt the white clover, Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate ; a Now if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover — Hush, nightingale, hush ! O sweet nightingale, wait Till I listen and hear If a step draweth near, For my love he is late ! «*The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer, A cluster of stars hangs like fruit in the tree, The fall of the water comes sweeter, comes clearer ; To what art thou listening, and what dost thou see ? Let the star-clusters grow. Let the sweet waters flow, And cross quickly to me. 67 " You night-moths that hover where honey brims over From sycamore blossoms, or settle or sleep ; You glow-worms, shine out and the pathway discover To him that comes darkling along the rough steep. Ah, my sailor, make haste, For the time runs to waste, And my love lieth deep — " Too deep for swift telling ; and yet, my one lover, I 've conned thee an answer, it waits thee to-night." By the sycamore passed he, and through the white clover, Then all the sweet speech I had fashioned took flight; But I '11 love him more, more Than e'er wife loved before. Be the days dark or bright. Jean Ingelow THE cords of love must be strong as death Which hold and keep a heart. Not daisy-chains, that snap in the breeze. Or break with their weight apart. Phcebe Cary 68 VI. T love you. Words are small ; ^Tis life speaks plain : In twenty years Perhaps you may '^now all. Dinah Maria Muloch Craik I LOVE YOU, DEAR " T LOVE you, dear ! " and saying this, JL My heart responds, " 'T is true ! 't is true 1 " And thrills with more than earthly bliss While still I say, " I love but you ! " "Why should I love you, dear?" you ask, As tho' true love could reason why ; If love could think, 't would be a task For me to love, and love would die. I love you just because I do, • The key I do not care to find. For fear the strands would break in two That me a willing captive bind. The fact is all I want to know, I will not grieve while that is given; To lose my love would be my woe ; To keep it as it is, is heaven. George W. Crofts " T 'M sorry that I spelt the word, •^ I hate to go above you. Because" — the brown eyes lower fell — " Because, you see, I love you! " John Greenleaf Whittier THE SWEETEST FLOWER THAT BLOWS THE sweetest flower that blows I give you as we part ; For you it is a rose ; For me it is my heart. The fragrance it exhales (Ah, if you only knew !)» Which but in dying fails, It is my love of you. The sweetest flower that grows I give you as we part ; You think it but a rose ; Ah, me ! it is my heart. Frederick Peterson I LOVE THEE I LOVE thee — I love thee ! 'T is all that I can say ; It is my vision in the night, My dreaming in the day ; The very echo of my heart, The blessing when I pray. I love thee — I love thee ! Is all that I can say. 72 I love thee — I love thee ! Is ever on my tongue. In all my proudest poesy That chorus still is sung; It is the verdict of my eyes Amidst the gay and young : I love thee — I love thee ! A thousand maids among. I love thee — I love thee ! Thy bright and hazel glance, The mellow lute upon those lips, Whose tender tones entrance. But most dear heart of hearts, thy proofs. That still these words enhance ! I love thee — I love thee ! Whatever be thy chance. Thomas Hood SONG FROM A DRAMA I KNOW not if moonlight or starlight Be soft on the land and the sea, — I catch but the near light, the far light. Of eyes that are beaming for me; The scent of the night, of the roses, May burden the air for thee, Sweet, — 'T is only the breath of thy sighing I know as I lie at thy feet. 73 The winds may be sobbing or singing, Their touch may be fervent or cold, The night bells may toll or be ringing, — I care not while thee I enfold ! The feast may go on, and the music Be scattered in ecstasy round, — Thy whisper, " I love thee ! 1 love thee ! '* Hath flooded my soul with its sound. I think not of time that is flying, How short is the hour I have won, How near is this living to dying, How the shadow still follows the sun ; There is naught upon earth, no desire Worth a thought, though 't were had by a sign ! , I love thee ! I love thee ! bring nigher Thy spirit, thy kisses, to mine. Edmund Clarence Stedman MEASURE FOR MEASURE WHAT love do I bring you ? The earth Full of love were far lighter ; The great hollow sky full of love Something slighter. Earth full and heaven full were less Than the full measure given : Nay, say a heart full, — the heart Holds earth and heaven! Harriet Prescott Spofford 74 SONNET Amor che a nullo amato amar perdona. — Dante Amor m'addusse in si gioiosa spene. — Petrarca OMY heart's heart and you who are to me More than myself myself, God be with you, Keep you in strong obedience, leal and true To him whose noble service setteth free, Give you all good we see or can foresee, Make your joys many and your sorrows few, Bless you in what you bear and what you do, Yea, perfect you as He would have you be. So much for you; but what for me, dear friend? To love you without stint and all I can To-day, to-morrow, world without an end : To love you much, and yet to love you more, As Jordan at its flood sweeps either shore ; Since woman is the helpmeet made for man. Christina G. Rossetti BECAUSE IT is not because your heart is mine — mine only — Mine alone, It is not because you choose me weak and lonely For your own ; Not because the earth is fairer, and the skies Spread above you Are more radiant for the shining of your eyes — That I love you 1 IS >/ Jt is not because the world's perplexed meaning Grows more clear ; And the Parapets of Heaven, with angels leaning, Seem more near ; And Nature sings of praise with all her voices Since yours spoke, Since within my silent heart, that now rejoices. Love awoke ! Nay, not even because your hand holds heart and life. At your will Soothing, hushing all its discord, making strife Calm and still ; Teaching Trust to fold her wings, nor ever roam From her nest ; Teaching Love that her securest, safest home Must be Rest. But because this human Love, though true and sweet, — Yours and mine, — Has been sent by Love more tender, more complete, More divine, That it leads our hearts to rest at last in Heaven, Far above you ; Do I take you as a gift that God has given — And I love you ! Adelaide Anne Procter 76 ONE FACE ONE face looks up from every page, From snowy cloud or tranquil sea ; One face that can all woes assuage, Dearer than all the world to me. The eyes are mild, the brow is fair; The voice is sweet as song of bird : How oft my hand upon the hair Has rested with no spoken word ! The years will come and go again ; Their joys and sorrows they will trace On lip, and brow, and busy brain, — And heaven will hold that one dear face. Sara K. Bolton T FROM "THE CUP OF YOUTH" CASPAR. ELL me again you love me. GELOSA. Small my need, 'T is in my eyes ; 't is on my lips ; my heart Beats to this music all the long day through, I am like a bird that hath one only note For song, for prayer, for thanks, for everything. CASPAR. You cannot know how passing sweet it is To change the camp, the field, the storms of war For this and you : to watch the gray morn wane. And see the slumbrous sea leap here and there To silver dreams. GELOSA. The hand of time seems stayed, And joy to own the ever constant hours, So full of still assurance is the night. Love hath the quiet certainty of Heaven Rich with the promise of unchanging years. S. Weir Mitchell A LOVE SYMPHOxNY ALONG the garden ways just now I heard the flowers speak. The white rose told me of your brow, The red rose of your cheek ; The lily of your bended head. The bindweed of your hair ; Each looked his loveliest and said You were more fair. I went into the wood anon. And heard the wild birds sing How sweet you were ; they warbled on> Piped, trilled the self-same thing. 78 Thrush, blackbird, linnet without pause, The burden did repeat ; And still began again because You were more sweet. And then I went down to the sea, And heard it murmuring too Part of an ancient mystery. All made of me and you. How many a thousand years ago I loved, and you were sweet — Longer I could not stay, and so I fled back to your feet. Arthur O'Shaughnessy FROM "THE ANCESTRESS" I HAVE no hope that does not dream of thee ; I have no joy that is not shared by thee ; I have no fear that does not dread for thee. All that I once took pleasure in, — my lute Is only sweet when it repeats thy name ; My flowers — I only gather them for thee. The book drops listless down, — I cannot read. Unless it is to thee ; my lonely hours Are spent in shaping forth our future lives After my own romantic fantasies. He is the star round which my thoughts revolve Like satellites. Letitia Elizabeth Landon 79 FOUR WORDS BELOVED, the briefest words are best; And all the fine euphonious ways In which the truth has been expressed Since Adam's early Eden days, Could never match-the simple phrase, — Sweetheart, I love you ! If I should say the world were blank Without your face ; if I should call The stars to witness, rank on rank. That I am true although they fall, — 'T would mean but this, — and this means all,— Sweetheart, I love you ! And so, whatever change is wrought By time or fate, delight or dole. One single, happy, helpful thought Makes strong and calm my steady soul, And these sweet words contain the whole, — Sweetheart, I love you ! I will not wrong their truth to-day By wild, impassioned vows of faith, Since all that volumes could convey Is compassed thus in half a breath, Which holds and hallows life and death, — Sweetheart, I love 3'ou ! Elizabeth Akers Allen 80 URVASI TIS a story told by Kalidasa, — Hindoo poet, — in melodious rhyme, How, with train of maidens, young Urvasi Came to keep great Indra's festal time. 'T was her part in worshipful confession Of the god-name on that sacred day, Walking flower-crowned in the long procession, I love Puru-shotta-ma, to say. Pure as snow on Himalayan ranges. Heaven-descended, soon to heaven withdrawn, Fairer than the moon-flower of the Ganges Was Urvasi, daughter of the Dawn. But it happened that the gentle maiden Loved one Puru-Avas, — fateful name ! — And her heart, with its sweet secret laden, Faltered when her time of utterance came. " I love " — then she stopped, and people wondered ; " I love " — she must guard her secret well ; Then from sweetest lips that ever blundered '* I love Puru-Avas," trembling fell. Oh what terror seized on poor Urvasi ! Misty grew the violets of her eyes, And her form bent like a broken daisy, While around her rose the mocking cries. 8i But great Indra said, " The maid shall marry Him whose image in her faithful heart She so near to that of God doth carry, Scarce her lips can keep their names apart." Call it then not weakness or dissembling If, in striving the high name to reach, Through our voices runs the tender trembling Of an earthly name too dear for speech ! Ever dwells the lesser in the greater, In God's love the human ; we by these Know He holds love's simplest stammering sweeter Than cold praise of wordy Pharisees. Helen Barron Bostwick PROTESTATIONS IF the apple grow on the apple-tree, And the wild wind blow o'er the wild wood free, And the dark stream flow to the darker sea, And they all had ceased growing and blowing and flowing, I cannot help loving thee ! I cannot help loving thee ! As flows the dark blue stream to the deeper sea, I cannot help loving thee! I cannot help loving thee ! 82 Yet if wild winds blow never more on lea, And ne'er blossoms grow on the healthy tree, And the faithless stream flow not to the sea, And they all should cease blowing and growing and flowing, I '11 never cease loving thee ! I '11 never cease loving thee ! As flows the dark blue stream to the deeper sea, I '11 never cease loving thee ! I '11 never cease loving thee ! Charles Mackay FROM "THE SPANISH STUDENT" PRECIOSA. I LOVE thee as the good love heaven; But not that I am worthy of that heaven. How shall I more deserve it? VICTORIAN. Loving more. PRECIOSA. I cannot love thee more ; my heart is full. VICTORIAN. Then let it overflow, and I will drink it. As in the summer-time the thirsty sands Drink the swift waters of the Manzanares, And still do thirst for more. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 83 BENEDICITE GOD'S love and peace be with thee, where Soe'er this soft autumnal air Lifts the dark tresses of thy hair! Whether through city casements comes Its kiss to thee, in crowded rooms, Or out among the woodland blooms, It freshens o'er thy thoughtful face. Imparting, in its glad embrace, Beauty to beauty, grace to grace ! Fair Nature's book together read, The old wood-paths that knew our tread, The maple shadows overhead, The hills we climbed, the river seen By gleams along its deep ravine, — All keep thy memory fresh and green. Where'er I look, where'er I stray. Thy thought goes with me on my way, And hence the prayer I breathe to-day; O'er lapse of time and change of scene, The weary waste which lies between Thyself and me, my heart I lean. 84 Thou lack'st not friendship's spell-word, nor The half unconscious power to draw All hearts to thine by love's sweet law. With these good gifts of God is cast Thy lot, and many a charm thou hast To hold the blessed angels fast. If, then, a fervent wish for thee The gracious heavens will heed from me, What should, dear heart, its burden be ? The sighing of a shaken reed, — What can I more than meekly plead The greatness of our common need? God's love, — unchanging, pure, and true, — The paraclete white shining through His peace, — the fall of Hermon's dew ! With such a prayer on this sweet day. As thou mayest hear and I may say, I greet thee, dearest, far away ! John Greenleaf Whittier 85 VII. It has been such a day as thai, thou knoiuest, when first I said I loved thee ; that long, sunny day We passed upon the waters, — heeding naught, Seeing naught but each other. Philip James Bailey Not from the whole wide world I choose thee, — Sweetheart, light of the laftd and the sea 1 The wide, wide world could ?iot eftclose thee, For thou art the whole wide world to me. Richard Watson Gilder o WHAT THE ROSE SAW THE ROSE. H, Lily sweet, I saw a pleasant sight. THE LILY. Wliere saw you it, and when ? THE ROSE. Here, when the night Lay calmly over all and covered us. And no wind blew, however tremulous, I heard afar the light fall of her feet And murmur of her raiment soft and sweet. THE LILY. What said she to thee when she came anear? THE ROSE. No word, but o'er me bent till I could hear The beating of her heart, and feel her blood Swell to a blossom that which was a bud. Alas, I have no words to tell the bliss When on my trembling petals fell her kiss ; Sweeter than soft rain falling after heat, Or dew at dawn, was that kiss soft and sweet. Then fell another shadow on the ground. And for a little space there was no sound : I knew who stood beside her, saw his face Shining and happy in that happy place. I know not what they said ; but this I know They kissed and passed : where think you did they go ? Philip Bourke Marston 89 A LOVERS CRASH of boughs ! — one through them break- ins: Mercy is startled, and fain would fly, But e'en as she turns, her steps o'ertaking, He pleads with her, " Mercy, it is but I ! " Mercy ! " he touches her hand unbidden, — " The air is balmy, I pray you stay, — Mercy ? " Her downcast eyes are hidden. And never a word she has to say, Till closer drawn, her prison'd fingers He takes to his lips with a yearning strong; And she murmurs low, that late she lingers, Her mother will want her and think her long. " Good mother is she ! then honor duly The lightest wish in her heart that stirs ; But there is a bond yet dearer truly, And there is a love that passeth hers. " Mercy, Mercy ! " Her heart attendeth, — Love's birthday blush on her brow lies sweet ; She turns her face when his own he bendeth. And the lips of the youth and the maiden meet. Jean Ingelow 90 FROM "LIFE'S MYSTERIES" A H, how the colder pulse still starts ■^^^ To think of that one hour sublime, We hugged heaven down into our hearts, And clutched eternity in time ! When love's dear eyes first looked in ours, When love's dear brows were strange to frowns, When all the stars were burning flowers That we might pluck and wear for crowns. Alice Gary FROM "THE GARDENER'S DAUGHTER" JL HEN, in that time and place, I spoke to her. Requiring, tho' I knew it was mine own. Yet for the pleasure that I took to hear. Requiring at her hand the greatest gift, A woman's heart, the heart of her I loved ; And in that time and place she answered me And in the compass of three little words, More musical than ever came in one, The silver fragments of a broken voice, Made me most happy, faltering " I am thine." Alfred Tennyson 91 WON'T YOU DO you remember when you heard My lips breathe love's first faltering word ? You do, sweet — don't you? When, having wandered all the day, Linked arm in arm I dared to say, You '11 love me — won't you ? And when you blushed, and could not speak, I fondly kissed your glowing cheek ; Did that affront you? Oh, surely not ; your eye exprest No wrath, but said, perhaps in jest, " You '11 love me — won't you ? " I 'm sure my eyes replied, " I will ; " And you believe that promise still ; You do, sweet — don't you? Yes, yes, when age has made our eyes Unfit for questions or replies. You '11 love me — won't you ? Thomas Haynes Bayly K KISS ME SOFTLY ISS me softly and speak to me low, Malice has ever a vigilant ear ; What if malice were lurking near ? Kiss me, dear ! Kiss me softly and speak to me low. 92 Kiss me softly and speak to me low, — Envy too has a watchful ear ; What if env^y should chance to hear? Kiss me, dear ! Kiss me softly and speak to me low. Kiss me softly and speak to me low, — Trust me, darling, the time is near When lovers may love with never a fear, — Kiss me, dear ! Kiss me softly and speak to me low. John Godfrey Saxe PROPOSAL THE violet loves a sunny bank. The cowslip loves the lea, The scarlet creeper loves the elm ; But I love — thee. The sunshine kisses mount and vale, The stars, they kiss the sea. The west winds kiss the clover bloom. But I kiss — thee. The oriole weds his mottled mate. The lily 's bride o' the bee ; Heaven's marriage ring is round the earth — Shall I wed thee ? Bayakd Taylor 93 FOUR-LEAF CLOVER ♦' TF one find a four-leaf clover" ■L (She said, sitting on the grass), " He can wish whate'er he likes to, — And that wish shall come to pass." " Do you say so?" then down kneeling 'Mong the sorrel and cropt grass. Looked I for a four-leaf clover And my wish to come to pass. Long I searched among the sorrel, Close beside me she searched too ; Now and then some commonplaces Broke the silence, — but it grew. For my heart was full of yearning, And my mouth of eager words, But I dared not give them utterance,— So I hearkened to the birds ; And kept looking, looking, looking. While beside me she looked too — Two bent figures in the twilight. Green hills paling into blue. " Ha, 1 have one ! " " Yes, and wished for ? " " You, and shall it be ? " I cried, Eyes cast down she asked demurely, " Hath the clover not repHed ? " George Houghton 94 LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY THE fountains mingle with the river, And the rivers with the ocean The winds of heaven mix forever With a sweet emotion ; Nothing in the world is single, All things by a law divine In one another's being mingle — Why not I with thine ? See the mountains kiss high heaven, And the waves clasp one another ; No sister flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother; And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea,— What are all these kissings worth, If thou kiss not me? Percy Bysshe Shelley THE cup of love the hands of two hold. Lucy Larcom Indeed I love thee: come Yield thyself up; my hopes and thine are one. Accomplish thou my manhood and thyself; Lay thy sweet hand in mine and trust to me. Alfred Tennyson 95 FROM "QUEEN MARY The Happiest Hour, I .T was May time, And I was walking with the man I loved, — I loved him, but I thought I was not loved ; And both were silent, letting the wild brook Speak for us, till he stoop'd and gathered one From out a bed of thick forget-me-nots, Look'd hard and sweet at me and gave it me. I took it, tho' I did not know I took it, And put it in my bosom, and all at onee I felt his arm about me, and his lips. Alfred Tennyson EVENING SONG LOOK off, dear Love, across the sallow sands, And mark yon meeting of the sun and sea ; How long they kiss in sight of all the lands — Ah, longer, longer, we ! Now in the sea's red vintage melts the sun, As Egypt's pearl dissolved in rosy wine. And Cleopatra night drinks all. 'T is done, Love, lay thine hand in mine. Come forth, sweet stars, and comfort heaven's heart ; Glimmer, ye waves, round else unlighted sands. O Night ! divorce our sun and sky apart, — Never our lips, our hands. Sidney Lanier 96 VIII. A weak white girl Held all his heartstrings in her s?nall white hand; His youth, and power ^ aiid majesty were hers,, And not his own. Jean Ingelow So these lives that had run thus far in separate channels, Coming in sight of each other^ then swerving and flowing asunder, Parted by barriers strong, but drawing nearer and nearer. Rushed together at last, and one was lost in the other. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow MARRIAGE ' I ^HEN before all they stand, — the holy vow -■- And ring of gold, no fond illusions now, Bind her as his. Across the threshold led, And every tear kissed off as soon as shed. His house she enters, — there to be a light. Shining within, when all without is night; A guardian angel o'er his life presiding; Doubling his pleasures and his cares dividing. Winning him back when mingling in the throng, Back from a world we love, alas ! too long, To fireside happiness, to hours of ease, Blest with that charm, — the certainty to please. How oft her eyes read his ; her gentle mind To all his wishes, all his thoughts inclined ; Still subject, — ever on the watch to borrow Mirth of his mirth and sorrow of his sorrow ! The soul of music slumbers in the shell. Till waked and kindled by the master's spell. And feeling hearts — touch them but rightly — pour A thousand melodies unheard before. Samuel Rogers HAPPY, happier far than thou With the laurel on thy brow, She that makes the humblest hearth Lovely but to one on earth. Felicia Dorothea Hemans 99 THE LITTLE BROWN CABIN I DREAM of it, tossing about in my skiff, The little brown cabin just under the cliff; The wild rose blown in at the window I see, And Rose at the door, looking out after me ; My sweetheart, my wife, The Rose of my life ! The sun in the doorway strikes gold from her hair : The breeze fills the little brown house with salt air. And she leans to its breath, as if over the sea It were bringing a kiss and a message from me; My pretty wild Rose, The sweetest that grows ! I have not one wish from my darling apart : The thought of her sweetens my soul and my heart ; And my boat like a bird flies across the blue sea To the little brown cabin where Rose waits for me, The Rose of my life, My own blessed wife ! Lucy Larcom N SUMMER OW sinks the summer sun into the sea; Sure never such a sunset shone as this, That on its golden wing has borne such bliss, Dear Love, to thee and me. 100 Ah, life was drear and lonely, missing thee, Though what my loss I did not then divine ; But all is past, — the sweet words, thou art mine, Make bliss for thee and me. How swells the light breeze o'er the blossoming lea, Sure never winds swept past so sweet and low, No lonely, unblest future waiteth now, Dear Love, for thee and me. Look upward o'er the glowing west, and see, Surely the star of evening never shone With such a holy radiance — oh, my own. Heaven smiles on thee and me. Marietta Holley SHE WAS MINE "' nnHY tears o'erprize thy loss ! Thy wife J- In what was she particular? Others of comely face and life. Others as chaste and warm there are, And when they speak they seem to sing ; Beyond her sex she was not wise ; And there is no more common thing Than kindness in a woman's eyes. Then wherefore weep so long and fast, Why so exceedingly repine ? Say, how has thy Beloved surpass'd So much all others ? " " She was mine." Coventry Patmore lOI T HOME. WO birds within one nest; Two hearts within one breast ; Two spirits in one fair, Firm league of love and prayer, Together bound for aye, together blest. An ear that waits to catch A hand upon the latch ; A step that hastens its sweet rest to win, A world of care without, A world of strife shut out, A world of love shut in. Dora Greenwell FOR THOUGHTS A PANSY on his breast she laid. Splendid and dark with Tyrian dyes, "Take it, 't is like your tender eyes. Deep as the midnight heaven," she said. The rich rose mantling in her cheek, Before him like the dawn she stood, Pausing upon life's height, subdued, Yet triumphing, both proud and meek; And white as winter stars, intense With steadfast fire, his brilliant face Bent toward her with an eager grace, Pale with a rapture half suspense. 102 " You give me then a thought, O sweet ! " He cried, and kissed the purple flower, And bowed by Love's resistless power Trembling he sank before her feet. She crowned his beautiful bowed head With one caress of her white hand ; " Rise up, my flower of all the land ; For all my thoughts are yours," she said. Celia Thaxter THE TWO ANCHORS IT was a gallant sailor man. Had just come home from sea, And, as 1 passed him in the town He sang " Ahoy ! " to me. I stopped, and saw I knew the man, Had known him from a boy; And so I answered, sailor-like, " Avast ! " to his " Ahoy ! " I made a song for him one day, — His ship was then in sight, — "The little anchor on the left The great one on the right." I gave his hand a hearty grip, " So you are back again ? They say you have been pirating Upon the Spanish main, Or was it some rich Indiaman You robbed of all her pearls .-^ 103 Of course you have been breaking hearts Of poor Kanaka girls ! " " Wherever I have been," he said, " I kept my ship in sight, — < The little anchor on the left, The great one on the right.' " " I heard last night that you were in, I walked the wharves to-day, But saw no ship that looked hke yours; Where does the good ship lay? I want to go on board of her." " And so you shall," said he ; " But there are many things to do When one comes home from sea. You know the song you made for me? I sing it day and night, — * The little anchor on the left, The great one on the right.' " " But how 's your wife and little one ? " " Come home with me," he said. " Go on, go on ; I follow you." I followed where he led. He had a pleasant little house; The door was open wide. And at the door the dearest face — A dearer one inside. He hugged his wife and child ; he sang, His spirits were so light, " The little anchor on the left. The great one on the right." 104 'T was supper-time, and we sat down, The sailor's wife and child And he and I ; he looked at them, And looked at me, and smiled. " I think of this when I am tossed Upon the stormy foam, And though a thousand leagues away, I am anchored here at home." Then, giving each a kiss, he said, " I see in dreams at night This httle anchor on my left. This great one on my right." Richard Henry Stoddard AND in that twihght hush, God drew their hearts Indissolubly close. For what is love But his most perfect weaving, — intertwine Of the soul's deathless fibres threading in Our human lives, one weft with the divine. Lucy Larcom FOR there are two heavens, sweet. Both made of love, — one, inconceivable Ev'n by the other, so divine it is ; The other, far on this side of the stars, By men called home. Leigh Hunt 105 ON A CYCLAMEN Plucked at Cana of Galilee and presented to a bride. ONLY a flower! but, dear, it grew On the green mountains which en-ring Kana-el-Jelil ; looking to The village and the little spring ! The Love which did those bridals bless Ever and ever on you shine ! Make happier all your happiness, And turn its water into wine ! Edwin Arnold FROM "THE HANGING OF THE CRANE" O FORTUNATE, O happy day. When a new household finds its place Among the myriad homes of earth, Like a new star just sprung to birth, And rolled on its harmonious way Into the boundless realms of space ! For two alone, there in the hall, Is spread the table round and small; Upon the polished silver shine The evening lamps ; but, more divine, The light of love shines over all ; Of love that says not mine and thine. But ours, for ours is mine and thine. 1 06 They want no guests, to come between Their tender glances like a screen, And tell them tales of land and sea, And whatsoever may betide The great, forgotten world outside ; They want no guests ; they needs must be Each other's own best company. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow TWO LOVERS TWO lovers by a moss-grown spring : They leaned soft cheeks together there, Mingled the dark and sunny hair. And heard the wooing thrushes sing. O budding time ! O love's best prime ! Two wedded from the portal stept: The bells made happy caroUings, The air was soft as fanning wings. White petals on the pathway slept. O pure-eyed bride ! O tender pride ! Two faces o'er a cradle bent ; Two hands above the head were locked ; These pressed each other while they rocked, Those watched a life that love had sent. O solemn hour ! O hidden power ! 107 Two parents by the evening fire: The red light fell about their knees On heads that rose by slow degrees Like buds upon the lily spire. O patient life ! O tender strife ! The two still sat together there, The red light shone about their knees ; But all the heads by slow degrees Had gone and left that lonely pair. O voyage fast ! O vanished past ! The red light shone upon the floor And made the space between them wide, They drew their chairs up side by side, Their pale cheeks joined, and said : " Once more ! " O memories ! O past that is ! George Eliot WHERE we love is home. Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts, Though o'er us shines the jasper-lighted dome : — The chain may lengthen but it never parts ! Oliver Wendell Holmes 1 08 IX. O lady, there bi many things That seejn right fair, below, above; But sure not one among them all Is half so sweet as love. Oliver Wendell Holmes LOVE TOOK ME SOFTLY BY THE HAND LOVE took me softly by the hand, Love led me all the country o'er, And showed me beauty in the land, That I had never dreamt before. Never before, O Love ! sweet Love ! There was a glory in the morn, There was a calmness in the night, A mildness by the south wind borne, That I had never felt aright, Never aright, O Love ! sweet Love! But now it cannot pass away, I see it wheresoe'er I go, And in my heart by night and day, Its gladness waveth to and fro, By night and day, O Love ! sweet Love ! Walter R. Cassels SOMETHING the heart must have to cherish, Must love and joy and sorrow learn, Something with passion clasp, or perish. And in itself to ashes burn. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow III I KNOW MYSELF THE BEST BELOVED OF ALL I KNOW myself the best beloved of all The many dear to him ; yet not indeed Because of his swift thought for every need Of my love's craving ; I could scarcely call My very own the power to enthrall Such chivalry as his, that turns to heed Each slightest claim, nor thinks to ask the meed Of Love returned where Love's sweet offerings fall. Not then because of all he is to me ; But by this surer token : when he earns The right to his own happiness, or yearns For some sweet, sudden, answering sympathy, Ah me! with what quick-beating heart I see For his own joy it is to me he turns ! Alice Wellington Rollins OH, THAT WE TWO WERE MAYING OH, that we two were Maying, Down the stream of the soft spring breeze ; Like children with violets playing, In the shade of the whispering trees. Oh, that we two sat dreaming On the sward of some sheep-trimmed down, Watching the white mist steaming Over river and mead and town. 112 Oh, that we two lay sleeping In our nest in the churchyard sod, With our limbs at rest on the quiet earth's breast, And our souls at home with God. Charles Kingsley THREE KISSES ^" FIRST time he kissed me, he but only kissed The fingers of this hand wherewith I write, And ever since it grew more clean and white, — Slow to world-greetings, — quick with its " Oh, list ! " When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst I could not wear here plainer to my sight Than that first kiss. The second passed in height The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed ! That was the chrism of love, with love's own crown. With sanctifying sweetness, did precede. The third upon my lips was folded down In perfect, purple state! since when, indeed I have been proud and said, " My Love, my own." Elizabeth Barrett Browning WITH what a graceful tenderness he loves ! And breathes the softest, the sincerest vows ! Complacency, and truth, and manly sweetness Dwell ever on his tongue and smooth his thoughts. Joseph Addison » 113 MY LETTERS MY letters all dead paper — mute and white ! — And yet they seem alive and quivering Against my tremulous hands which loose the string And let them drop down on my knee to-night. This said — He wished to have me in his sight Once, as a friend ; this fixed a day in spring To come and touch my hand, — a simple thing, Yet I wept for it ! — this — the paper 's light — Said, Dear, I love thee; and I sank and quailed, As if God's future thundered on my past ; This said, / aui thine, — and so its ink has paled With lying at my heart, that beat too fast ; And this — O Love, thy words have ill availed, If what this said I dared repeat at last ! Elizabeth Barrett Browning MAY AND LOVE. MAY in the woods and in my heart, And we beside the river ; King love between us flying Said, " Children, love forever." I heard him, and I thought she heard, Her lips began to quiver, And so I shyly kissed her ; Love laughed along the river! Stopford a. Brooke 114 FROM "IN THE GARDEN" AND tJiis is Love! until this hour I never lived; but like a flower Close prest i' the bud, with sleeping senses, I drank the dark dim influences Of sunlight, moonlight, shade, and dew. At last I open, thrilling thro' With Love's strange scent, which seemeth part Of the warm life within my heart. Part of the air I breathe — O bliss ! Was ever night so sweet as this ? It is enough to breathe, to be, As if one were a flower, a tree ; A leaf o' the bough, just stirring light With the warm breathing of the night ! Robert Buchanan I DID hear you talk Far above singing ; after you were gone, I grew acquainted with my heart, and searched What stirred it so. Alas ! I found it love. Beaumont and Fletcher I THINK we had the chief of all love's joys Only in knowing that we loved each other. George Eliot 115 LOVERS TWO young fair lovers, Where the warm June wind, Fresh from the sunny fields, Plays fondly round them. Stand, tranced in joy, With sweet, join'd voices. And with eyes brimming ; "Ah," they cry, " Destiny, Prolong the present ! Time, stand still here ! " Matthew Arnold ANSWER TO A CHILD'S QUESTIOxN DO you ask what the birds say ? The sparrow, the dove. The linnet, and thrush say, " I love, and I love ! " In winter they 're silent, the wind is so strong; What it says I don't know, but it sings a loud song. But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather, And singing and loving, all come back together. But the lark is so brimful of gladness and love. The green fields below him, the blue sky above. That he sings and he sings, and forever sings he, I love my Love, and my Love loves me. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ii6 LOVE NOTES '"jpHE nightingale has a lyre of gold, -L The lark's is a clarion call, And the blackbird plays but a box-wood flute, But I love him best of all. P'or his song is all of the joy of life, And we in the mad spring weather, We two have listened till he sang Our hearts and lips together. William Ernest Henley SONG FROM "PIERO DA CASTIGLIONE OJOY of life, O joy of love ! When cloudless skies are blue above, In starry spring ! When happy warblers on the wing Do mating build their nests and sing, — O joy of life ! O joy of Hfe, O joy of love ! When God in cloudless skies above Knits heart to heart That time, nor fate, nor death can part. Stuart Stearne 117 ON A CLOCK LONELY once, my love away, To this slave of Time I cried : " Faster on your journey glide, Let your feet no second stay ; Speed the dreary night and day ! " He all heedless, obstinate, Never quickened in his gait. Happy once, my love in sight, To this slave of Time I prayed: " Be your journey slowly made, Loiter with me in delight ; Stay the happy day and night ! " Obstinate, he heard at last, — Heard, and hurried twice as fast. Frank Dempster Sherman LOVE'S LANGUAGE nPHEIR little language the children -■- Have, on the knee as they sit ; And only those who love them Can find the key to it. The words thereof and the grammar Perplex the logician's art ; But the heart goes straight with the meaning, And the meaning is clear to the heart. ii8 So thou, my Love, hast a language That in Httle says all to me ; — But the world cannot guess the sweetness Which is hidden with love and thee. Francis Turner Palgrave THERE is a glory in tree and blossom, A trill in the wild bird's tone, A balm in the summer breezes, That Love revealeth, alone. Benjamin S. Parker 19 X. O Life ! what after-joy hast thou Like Love's first certain gladness ? Mary Howitt Nothing is better, / well know, Thati love. Algernon Charles Swinburne Life may to you bring every good Which from a Father'' s haiid can fall : But if true lips have said to me, " / love you,'''' I have known it all ! Phcebe Gary LIFE'S GIFTS WHEN I grow gray and men shall say to me, " What was the worth of living, truly told ? Lo ! thou hast lived thy life out ; thou art old ; Thou hast gathered fruit from many a green-leaved tree. And kissed love's lips by many a summer sea. And twined soft hands in locks of shining gold, But all thy days are dead days now, behold ! Life passes onward, — what is life to thee ? " Then will I answer, — as thy gracious eyes, Love, gleam upon me from dim far-off skies, — *' Life had its endless deathless charm, — and still That charm weaves rapture round me at my will. Life has its glory, — for I have seen Thee; And roses, and June sunsets, — and the sea." George Barlow EUREKA WHOM I crown with love is royal. Matters not her blood or birth ; She is queen, and I am loyal To the noblest of the earth. Neither place, nor wealth, nor title. Lacks the man my friendship owns ; His distinction, true and vital, Shines supreme o'er crowns and thrones. 123 Where true love bestows its sweetness, Where true friendship lays its hand, Dwells all greatness, all completeness, All the wealth of every land. Man is greater than condition, And where man himself bestows, He begets, and gives position To the gentlest that he knows. Neither miracle nor fable Is the water changed to wdne ; Lords and ladies at my table Prove Love's simplest fare divine. And if these accept my duty, If the loved my homage own, I have won all worth and beauty ; I have found the magic stone. JosiAH Gilbert Holland I SIMPLY say that she is good, And loves me with pure womanhood. . When that is said, why, what remains? Joaquin Miller 124 THE SONG OF THE CAMP " /""^IVE us a song ! " the soldiers cried, V-J The outer trenches guarding, When the heated guns of the camps allied Grew weary of bombarding. The dark Redan, in silent scoff, Lay, grim and threatening, under; And the tawny mound of the Malakoff No longer belched its thunder. There was a pause. A guardsman said : " We storm the forts to-morrow : Sing while we may, another day Will bring enough of sorrow." They lay along the battery's side, Below the smoking cannon ; Brave hearts from Severn and from Clyde, And from the banks of Shannon. They sang of love and not of fame : Forgot was Britain's glory ; Each heart recalled a different name, But all sang " Annie Laurie." Voice after voice caught up the song. Until its tender passion Rose like an anthem, rich and strong, — Their battle-eve confession. 125 Dear girl, her name he dared not speak, But, as the song grew louder, Something upon the soldier's cheek Washed off the stains of powder. Beyond the darkening ocean burned The bloody sunset's embers, While the Crimean valleys learned How English love remembers. And once again a fire of hell Rained on the Russian quarters With scream of shot, and burst of shell, And bellowing of the mortars. And Irish Nora's eyes are dim For a singer, dumb and gory. And English Mary mourns for him Who sang of " Annie Laurie." Sleep, soldiers ! still in honored rest Your truth and valor wearing ; The bravest are the tenderest. The loving are the daring. Bayard Taylor LOVE is the only good in the world, Henceforth be loved as heart can love. Or brain devise, or hand approve. Robert Browning 126 GONE " /^^ONE is the freshness of my youthful prime; ^<-^ Gone the illusions of a later time ; Gone is the thought that wealth is worth its cost Or aught I hold so good as what I 've lost ; Gone are the beauty and the nameless grace That once I worshipped in dear Nature's face. Gone is the mighty music that of yore Swept through the woods or rolled upon the shore; Gone the desire of glory in men's breath To waft my name beyond the deeps of Death ; Gone is the hope that in the darkest day Saw bright to-morrow with empurpling ray ; Gone, gone, all gone, on which my heart was cast, Gone, gone forever to the awful Past : — All gone — but Love ! " Oh, coward to repine ! Thou hast all else, if Love indeed be thine ! Charles Mackay BEST " T OVE is better than house and lands : -L' So, Sir Stephen, I '11 ride with thee." She made one step where the courser stands. One light spring to the saddle-tree. 127 Love is better than kith or kin : So close she clung, and so close clasped he, They heard no sob of the bitter wind, Or snow that shuddered along the lea. Love is better than life and breath : The drifts are over the horse's knee, Softly they sink to the soft white death. And the snow shroud hides them silently. Houses and lands are gone for aye ; Kith and kin like the wild wind flee ; Life and death have vanished away ; But love hath blossomed eternally. Rose Terry Cooke LOVE'S light is strange to you ? Ah, me ! Your heart is an unquickened seed, And whatsoe'er your fortunes be, I tell you, you are poor indeed. What toucheth it, it maketh bright, Yet loseth nothing, like the sun, Within whose great and gracious light A thousand dew-drops shine as one. Alice Cary 128 AN EXTRAVAGANZA Enfant ! si j'etais roi, je donnerais I'empire. I'D give, Girl (were I but a king), Throne, sceptre, empire, — everything : My people suppliant on the knee; My ships that crowd the subject sea; My crown, my baths of porphyry, For one sweet look from thee ! Were I a god, I 'd give — the air, Earth, and the sea; the angels fair; The skies; the golden worlds around; The demons whom my laws have bound; Chaos and its dark progeny ; All space and all eternity, For 07ie love-kiss from thee ! Victor Hugo THE TWO LOVES SMOOTHING soft the nestling head Of a maiden fancy-led, Thus a grave-eyed woman said : "Richest gifts are those we make, Dearer than the love we take That we give for love's own sake. 129 " Well I know the heart's unrest ; Mine has been the common quest, — To be loved and therefore blest. At my feet as on a shrine Love has laid its gifts divine. " Sweet the offerings seemed, and yet With their sweetness came regret, And a sense of unpaid debt. " Heart of mine unsatisfied. Was it vanity or pride That a deeper joy denied ? " Hands that ope but to receive Empty close ; they only Hve Richly, who can richly give. " Still," she sighed with moistening eyes, " Love is sweet in any guise ; But its best is sacrifice ! *' He who, giving, does not crave Likest is to Him who gave Life itself the loved to save. " Love, that self-forgetful gives. Sows surprise of ripened sheaves. Late or soon its own receives." John Greexleaf Whittier 130 BETTER THINGS BETTER to smell a violet Than sip the careless wine ; Better to list one music tone Than watch the jewels' shine. Better to have the love of one Than smiles like morning dew; Better to have a living seed Than flowers of every hue. Better to feel a love within Than be lovely to the sight; Better a homely tenderness Than beauty's wild delight. Better to love than be beloved, Though lonely all the day ; Better the fountain in the heart Than the fountain by the way. Better the thanks of one dear heart Than a nation's voice of praise ; Better the twilight ere the dawn Than yesterday's mid-blaze. Better a death when work is done Than earth's most favored birth ; Better a child in God's great house Than the king of all the earth. Leigh Hunt 131 FROM "KATRINA" I DREW her head Down to my cheek, and said : " My angel wife ! Whatever torment or disquietude I may have suffered, you have never been Its cause or its occasion. You are all — You have been all — that womanhood can be To manhood's want; and in your woman's love And woman's pain, I have found every good My life has known since first our lives were joined. JosiAH Gilbert Holland W^EDDED HE took in both hands her lovely head, And looked in her eyes serene, Many years married, but still as fond As the fooHsh boy had been. And *' O my dear," said he, " and my love, My dear sweet love and my wife. If every kiss were a golden coin, You would be rich for life. " Nay, if of every kiss I have given Each were but a single penny, You would be rich with riches to spare — Sweet wife, think how many, how many ! 132 "Yea, truly," she said, " yet I 'd not barter one While I bind up my sheaves of caresses; But there 's many, oh, many a poor rich wife Who would give all of her gold for the kisses." James V. Blake LOVE'S THREAD OF GOLD. IN the night she told a story. In the night and all night through, While the moon was in her glory, And the branches dropped with dew. 'T was my life she told, and round it Rose the years as from a deep ; In the world's great heart she found it, Cradled like a child asleep. In the night I saw her weaving By the misty moonbeam cold. All the weft her shuttle cleaving With a sacred thread of gold. Ah ! she wept me tears of sorrow, Lulling tears so mystic sweet; Then she wove my last to-morrow. And her web lay at my feet. Of my life she made the story : I must weep — so soon 't was told ! But your name did lend it glory, And your love its thread of gold ! Jean Ingelow 133 FROM "LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL IN peace love tunes the shepherd's reed ; In war he mounts the warrior's steed ; In halls in gay attire is seen ; In hamlets dances on the green. Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above ; For Love is heaven, and heaven is Love. Sir Walter Scott LOVE AMONG THE RUINS I. WHERE the quiet-colored end of evening smiles Miles and miles On the solitary pastures where our sheep Half asleep Tinkle homeward thro' the twilight, stray or stop As they crop — II. Was the site once of a city great and gay, (So they say) Of our country's very capital, its prince Ages since Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far Peace or war. 134 III. Now — the country does not even boast a tree, As you see, To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills From the hills Intersect and give a name to, (else they run Into one) IV. Where the doomed and daring palace shot its spires Up like fires O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall Bounding all, Made of marble, men might march on nor be prest, Twelve abreast. V. And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass Never was ! Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o'erspreads And embeds Every vestige of the city, guessed alone, Stock or stone — VI. Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe Long ago ; Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame Struck them tame ; And that glory and that shame alike, the gold Bought and sold. ^35 VII. Now, — the single little turret that remains On the plains, By the caper overrooted, by the gourd Overscored, While the patching houseleek's head of blossoms winks Through the chinks — VIII. Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time Sprang sublime. And a burning ring all round, the chariots traced As they raced, And the monarch and his minions and his dames Viewed the games. IX. And I know while thus the quiet-colored eve Smiles to leave To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece In such peace, And the slopes and the rills in undistinguished gray Melt away — X, That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair Waits me there In the turret, whence the charioteers caught soul For the goal. When the king looked, where she looks now, breath- less, dumb Till I come. 136 XI. But he looked upon the city, every side, Far and wide, All the mountains topped with temples, all the glades' Colonnades, All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts, — and then, All the men ! XII. When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand, Either hand On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace Of my face. Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech Each on each. XIII. In one year they sent a million fighters forth South and north, And they built their gods a brazen pillar high As the sky, Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force — Gold, of course. XIV. Oh, heart ! oh, blood that freezes, blood that burns ! Earth's returns For whole centuries of folly, noise, and sin ! Shut them in, With their triumphs and their glories and the rest. Love is best. Robert Browning 137 FROM "THE CHILDREN OF THE LORD'S SUPPER" LOVE is the root of creation; God's essence; -^ worlds without number Lie in his bosom like children ; he made them for this purpose only. Only to love and be loved again, he breathed forth his spirit Into the slumbering dust, and upright standing, it laid its Hand on its heart, and felt it was warm with a flame out of heaven. Quench, oh, quench not that flame! It is the breath of your being, Love is life, but hatred is death. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow EROS THE sense of the world is short, — Long and vanous the report, — To love and be beloved ; Men and gods have not outlearned it; And, how oft so'er they 've turned it, 'T will not be improved. Ralph Waldo Emerson T HE gate of Heaven is Love, there is none other. Lucy Larcom 138 XI. He sang out of his soul what he found there. He sang of Love and Life and Sorrow and Deaths Of Knowledge and of sweet Philosophy ; He sang how Love is mightiest of all these. Henry Bernard Carpenter Love is not to be reasoned down or lost In high ambition., and a thirst of greatness. ''T is second life^ it grows into the soiil^ Wa7'iJis every vein, and beats in every pulse. Joseph Addison NEVER KNEW IT, LOVE, TILL NOW I ne'er imagined, Love, that thou Wert such a mighty one; at will, Thou canst both faith and conscience bow, And thy despotic law fulfil ; I never knew it, Love, till now. I thought 1 knew thee well, — I thought That I thy mazes had explored ; But I within thy nets am caught, And now I own thee sovereign lord. I ne'er imagined. Love, that thou Wert such a mighty one ; at will, Thou bid'st both faith and conscience bow, And thy despotic law fulfil ; I never knew it, Love, till now. Spanish of Juan II., King of Castile LOVE SCORNS DEGREES LOVE scorns degrees ! the low he lifteth high, The high he draweth down to that fair plain Whereon, in his divine equality. Two loving hearts may meet, nor meet in vain ; 'Gainst such sweet levelling Custom cries amain, But o'er its harshest utterance one bland sigh. Breathed passion-wise, doth mount victorious still, For Love, earth's lord must have his lordly will. Paul Hamilton Hayne 141 THE LAST LETTER LONG years within its sepulchre Of faintly scented cedar, Has lain this letter, dear to her Who was its constant reader ; The postmark on the envelope Sufficed the date to give her, And told the birth of patient hope That managed to outlive her. How often to this treasure-box, Tears in her eyes' soft fringes, She came with key and turned the locks, And on its brazen hinges Swung back the quaintly figured lid, And raised a sandal cover. Disclosing, under trinkets hid. This message from her lover. Then lifting it as 'twere a child, Her hand awhile caressed it Ere to the lips that sadly smiled Time and again she pressed it ; Then drew the small enclosure out And smoothed the wrinkled paper, Lest any line should leave a doubt Or any word escape her. Still held the olden charm its place Amid the tender phrases. Time seemed unwilling to efface The love-pervaded praises; 142 And though a thousand lovers might Have matched them all for passion, A poet were inspired to write In their unstudied fashion. From "Darling" slowly, word by word, She reads the tear-stained treasure ; The mists by which her eyes were blurred Grew out of pain and pleasure ; But when she reached that cherished name, And saw the last leave-taking, The mist a storm of grief became — Her very heart was breaking! I put it back, — this old-time note Which seems like sorrow's leaven, For she who read and he who wrote. Please God, are now in heaven. If lovers of to-day could win Such love as won this letter. The world about us would begin To gladden and grow better. Frank Dempster Sherman FOR they alone have need of sorrow, And they alone are poor. For whom, in life. Love's holy angel Hath opened not her door. Mary Clemmer 143 ALL THE YEAR ROUND GO, time and tide, go as you will — I cannot heed your ways. What care I for summer glow, What care I for ice and snow, When love doth fill my days? Into its ark through wind and rain My heart flies as the dove; Oh, rosy is the darkened day And rosy is the stormy way That lead me to my Love. How can I care if leaves be green Or gray with early rime ? Love, ruling, reigning in the soul With pure and passionate control. Makes its own summer-time. Ellen Mackay Hutchinson LOVE AND LIFE THE way is steep and hard to tread, and drear; Piercing and bleak the icy atmosphere, My feet are bruised and bleeding, and my eyes Can only with dim questionings seek the skies. How could I walk a step without thine aid.? How face the awful silence unafraid ? How bear the star-rays and the moon glance cold? Loose not thine hold ! 144 Earth and its kindly ways seem very far, And yet the shining skies no nearer are ; Except for thee, dear Love, I could not go Over the hard rocks, the untrodden snow, But had sat down content with lower things, With scanty crumbs and waning water-springs, — A winged thing, whose wings might not unfold. Loose not thine hold ! Loose not thine hold ! let me feel all the while The quickening impulse of thy tender smile Luring me on, and catch, as if in trance, The lovely reverence of thy downward glance, The pity and the splendor of thy face, The recognition like a soft embrace. Until my feet shall tread the streets of gold. Loose not thy hold ! Sarah Woolsey (Susan Coolidge) THE HEART'S CALL HE rides away at early light. Amid the tingling frost. And in the mist that sweeps her sight His form is quickly lost. He crosses now the silent stream, Now skirts the forest drear, Whose thickets cast a silver gleam From leafage thin and sear. H5 Long falls the shadow at his back (The morning springs before); His thoughts fly down the shadow'd track And haunt his cottage door. Miles gone, upon the hilltop bare He draws a sudden rein ; His name, her voice, rings on the air, Then all is still again ! She sits at home, she speaks no word, But deeply calls her heart ; And this it is that he has heard, Though they are miles apart. Edith M. Thomas MY JEAN THOUGH cruel fate should bid us part, Far as the pole and line. Her dear idea round my heart Should tenderly entwine. Though mountains rise, and deserts howl, And oceans roar between. Yet, dearer than my deathless soul, I still would love my Jean. Robert Burns 146 FROM "HAROLD" HAROLD. f^ALL me not King, but Harold. EDITH. Nay, thou art King! HAROLD. Thine, thine, or King or churl ! My girl, thou hast been weeping : turn not thou Thy face away, but rather let me be King of the moment to thee, and command That kiss my due when subject, which will make My kingship kinglier to me than to reign King of the world without it. Kiss me — thou art not A holy sister yet, my girl, to fear There might be more than brother in my kiss, And more than sister in thine own. EDITH. I dare not. HAROLD. Edith, Hadst thou been braver, I had better braved All— but I love thee and thou me — and that Remains beyond all chances and all churches, And that thou knowest. 147 EDITH. Ay, but take back thy ring. It burns my hand — a curse to thee and me. I dare not wear it. HAROLD. But I dare. God with thee ! lExit. EDITH. The King hath cursed him, if he marry me ; The Pope hath cursed him, marry me or no ! God help me ! I know nothing — can but pray For Harold — pray, pray, pray — no help but prayer, A breath that fleets beyond this iron world, And touches Him that made it. Alfred Tennyson AH, Love ! let us be true To one another ; for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain, Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight Where ignorant armies clash by night. Matthew Arnold 148 FROM "EVANGELINE" HALF-WAY down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence, Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction, — Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her, And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion. Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to meet him, Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his shoulder, and whispered, — " Gabriel ! be of good cheer ! for if we love one another, Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances may happen ! " Henry Wadsworth Longfellow LOVE'S FINAL POWERS THERE are strong powers of love that early years Know little of. — All added force of being Gives love new, deeper, tenderer eyes for seeing. And love wins sweetness from a lifetime's tears. All pangs and hopes and joys and trembling fears Add strength to love. As life's black darkness grows, Love's firmer step through that murk darkness goes, And dauntless over the grave's brink Love peers. 149 There are strange powers of love that youthful days Know little of. — There is a love beside Whose strength the passion of the ocean wide Is like the ripples whispering in blue bays : A love beside whose strength death's fingers wild Are weak as pink soft fingers of a child. George Barlow FROM "ARTEVELDE" ADRIANA. N. AY, said I not — And if I said it not, I say it now : I '11 follow thee through sunshine and through storm, I will be with thee in thy weal and w'oe, In thy afflictions, should they fall upon thee ; In thy temptations, when bad men beset thee, And should they crush thee, in the hour of death, Let but thy love be with me to the last. ARTEVELDE. My love is with thee ever ; that thou knowest. Henry Taylor I CAN NOT tell the spell that binds thine image Forever in my heart; I only know thou art to my existence Its very, vital part. Annie Chambers-Ketchum 150 XTI. Too full of love my soul is to fi?id place For fear or auger. Edwin Arnold I do not love thee less for what is dotie Aftd cannot be undone. Thy very weakness Hath brought thee nearer to me^ attd henceforth My love will have a sense of pity in it Making it less a worship than before. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow TWO TRUTHS "T^ARLING," he said, " I never meant -L^ To hurt you ; " and his eyes were wet. " I would not hurt you for the world ; Am I to blame if I forget ? " " Forgive my selfish tears ! " she cried, " Forgive ! I knew that it was not Because you meant to hurt me, sweet, — I knew it was that you forgot ! " But all the same, deep in her heart Rankled this thought, and rankles yet, — "When love is at its best, one loves So much that he cannot forget." Helen Hunt Jackson AT NOON AND MIDNIGHT FAR in the night, yet no rest for him ! The pillow next his own The wife's sweet face in slumber pressed — yet he awake, alone ! alone ! In vain he courted sleep; one thought would ever in his heart arise, — The harsh words that at noon had brought the tear- drops to her eyes. 153 Slowly on lifted arm he raised and listened. All was still as death. He touched her forehead as he gazed, and listened yet, with bated breath, Still silently as though he prayed, his lips moved lightly as she slept — For God was with him, and he laid his face with hers and wept. James Whitcomb Riley OUR OWN IF I had known in the morning, How wearily all the day The words unkind would trouble my mind That I said when you went away, I had been more careful, darling, Nor given you needless pain ; But — we vex our own with look and tone We might never take back again. For though in the quiet evening You may give me the kiss of peace, Yet it well might be that never for me The pain of the heart should cease! How many go forth in the morning Who never come home at night, And hearts have been broken for harsh words spoken That sorrow can ne'er set right. 154 We have careful thought for the stranger, And smiles for the sometime guest, But oft for our own the bitter tone, Though we love our own the best. Ah, lip with the curve impatient. Ah, brow with the shade of scorn, 'T were cruel fate were the night too late To undo the work of morn. Margaret Elizabeth Sangster A LETTER TWO things love can do, Only two ; Can distrust or can believe ; It can die or it can live. There is no syncope Possible to love or me. Go your ways ! Two things you can do, Only two ; Be the thing you used to be, Or be nothing more to me, I can but joy or grieve. Can no more than die or live. Go your ways ! So far I wrote, my darling, drearily, But now my sad pen falls down wearily From out my trembling hand. ^55 I did not, do not, cannot mean it, Dear ! Come life or death, joy, grief, or hope or fear, I bless you where I stand ! I bless you where I stand excusing you. No speech nor language for accusing you My laggard lips can learn. To you — be what you are, or can, to me — To you or blessedly or fatefully My heart must turn ! Elizabeth Stuart Phelps WE KISS'D AGAIN WITH TEARS AS thro' the land at eve we went And pluck'd the ripen'd ears, We fell out, my wife and I, Oh, we fell out, I know not why, And kiss'd again with tears. For when we came where lies the child We lost in other years. There above the little grave, Oh, there above the little grave. We kiss'd again with tears. Alfred Tennyson 156 FORGIVEN I DREAMED so dear a dream of you last night ! I thought you came. I was so glad, so gay, I whispered, " Those were foolish words to say ; I meant them not. I cannot bear the sight Of your dear face. I cannot meet the light Of your dear eyes upon me. Sit, I pray, — Sit here beside me ; turn your look away. And lay your cheek on mine." Till morning bright We sat so, and we did not speak. I knew All was forgiven; so I nestled there With your arms round. Swift the sweet hours flew. At last I waked, and sought you everywhere. How long, dear, think you, that my glad cheek will Burn, — as it burns with your cheek's pressure still? Helen Hunt Jackson IT is n't the thing you do, dear. It 's the thing you leave undone, Which gives you a bit of a heart-ache At the setting of the sun. The tender word forgotten, The letter you did not write. The flower you might have sent, dear, Are your haunting ghosts to-night. Margaret Elizabeth Sangster 157 HER fittest triumph is to show that good Lurks in the heart of evil evermore ; That love, though scorned and outcast and withstood, Can without end forgive, and yet have store. James Russell Lowell 158 XIII. Not to he with you, not to see your face, Alas for me then, my good days are dotie. Alfred Tennyson O friend/ O best of friends / Thy absejice more Than the itnpending flight darkens the landscape o'er ! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow GONE IS it the shrewd October wind Brings the tears into her eyes ? Does it blow so strong that she must fetch Her breath in sudden sighs ? The sound of his horse's feet grows faint, The Rider has passed from sight ; The day glides out of the crimson west, And coldly falls the night. She presses her tremulous fingers tight Against her closed eyes, And on the lonesome threshold there, She cowers down and cries. William Dean Howells FROM "MICHAEL ANGELO N. OW that she is gone, Rome is no longer Rome till she return. This feeling overmasters me. I know not If it be love, this strong desire to be Forever in her presence; but I know That I who was the friend of solitude, And ever was best pleased when most alone, Now weary grow of my own company. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow II i6i ABSENCE WHAT shall I do with all the days and hours That must be counted ere I see thy face ? How shall I charm the interval that lowers Between this time, and that sweet time of grace ? Shall I in slumber steep each weary sense, Weary with longing ? Shall I flee away Into past days, and with some fond pretence Cheat myself to forget the present day ? Shall love for thee lay on my soul the sin Of casting from me God's great gift of time? Shall I, these mists of memory locked within, Leave and forget life's purposes sublime ? Oh, how, or by what means, may I contrive To bring the hour that brings thee back more near? How may I teach my drooping hope to live Until that blessed time, and thou art here? I '11 tell thee, for thy sake I will lay hold Of all good aims, and consecrate to thee In worthy deeds each moment that is told, While thou, beloved one ! art far from me. For thee I will arouse my thoughts to try All heavenward flights, all high and holy strains. For thy dear sake I will walk patiently Through these long hours, nor call their minutes pains. 162 I will this dreary blank of absence make A noble task-time, and will therein strive To follow excellence, and to o'ertake More good than I have won, since yet I live. So may this doomed time build up in me A thousand graces which shall thus be thine ; So may my love and longing hallowed be, And thy dear thought an influence divine. Frances Anne Kemble THE BOAT OF MY LOVER OBOAT of my lover! go softly, go safely, O boat of my lover that bears him from me. From the homes of the clachan, from the burn singing sweetly, From the loch and the mountain he '11 never more see. boat of my lover ! go softly, go safely. Thou bearest my soul with thee over the tide. 1 said not a word, but my heart it was breaking; For life is so short and the ocean so wide ! O boat of my lover ! go softly, go safely, Though the dear voice is silent, the kind hand is gone; But oh, love me, my lover, and I '11 live till I find thee. Till our parting is over, and our dark days are done. Dinah Maria Muloch-Craik 163 THE LOVED ONE EVER NEAR I THINK of thee, when the bright sunlight shimmers Across the sea ; When the clear fountain m the moonbeam glimmers I think of thee. I see thee, if far up the pathway yonder The dust be stirred ; If faint steps o'er the little bridge to wander At night be heard. I hear thee when the tossing wave's low rumbling Creeps up the hill; I go to the lone wood and listen, trembhng, When all is still. I am with thee wherever thou art roaming, — And thou art near ! The sun goes down, and soon the stars are coming'; Would thou wert here ! J. S. DWIGHT Fj'om the Genna?i of Goethe BUT oh ! 'twas hard to have him go, — to know Day after day must pass without one sight Of him who was so dear, so dear! to pine, And sigh, and long for one hand-clasp ; one sound Of that soft, pleasant voice, to me so sweet ; One glance of those dear eyes I loved to meet. Celia E. Gardiner 164 AMONG THE HEATHER WINTRY winds are blowing cold On the moors of purple heather, Where in summer days of old Hand in hand we idly strolled, Thou and I together. But those sunny days are past, And no more we walk together Where the snow, on every blast, Whirls above the heather. On the dreary moorland now In the storm I wander, lonely, Longing — love alone knows how — For thy kiss on hps and brow, Longing for thee only ; Life can bring me naught but pain Till among the purple heather Hand in hand we walk again, — Thou and I together ! George Arnold THEY PARTED THEY parted — if it be to part Still to live in each other's heart. Forever one dear face behold, Forever one dear form enfold, One voice forever seem to hear. James Robinson Planche 165 GOOD-BY, SWEETHEART G 'OOD-BY, Sweetheart. I leave thee with all loveliest things The beauty-burdened springtime brings,- The anemone in snowy hood, The sweet arbutus in the wood. And to the smiling skies above I say, " Bend lightly o'er my love." And to the perfume-breathing breeze I sigh, " Sing softest symphonies." O lute-like leaves of laden trees. Bear all your sweet refrain to him. While in the June-time twilights dim He thinks of me as I of him. And so Good-by, Sweetheart ! Good-by, Sweetheart. I leave thee with all purest things, That when some fair temptation sings Its luring song, though sore beset. Thou 'It stronger be; then no regret Life-long will follow after thee. With touches lighter than the air I kiss thy forehead brave and fair, And say to God this last deep prayer, " Oh, guard him always night and day, So from Thy peace he shall not stray." And so Good-by, Sweetheart. i66 Good-by, Sweetheart. We seem to part; Yet still within my inmost heart Thou goest with me. Still my place I hold in thine by love's dear grace ; Yet all my life seems going out, As slow I turn my face about To go alone another way, — To be alone till life's last day. Unless thy smile can light my way. Good-by, Sweetheart. The dreaded dawn That tells our love's long tryst is gone Is purpling all the pallid sky As loud I sigh, Sweetheart, good-by ! Mary Clemmer O DAYS AND HOURS ODAYS and hours, your work is this, To hold me from my proper place, A little while from his embrace For fuller gain of after bliss ; That out of distance might ensue Desire of nearness doubly sweet. And unto meeting when we meet Delight a hundredfold accrue, For every grain of sand that runs, And every span of shade that steals. And every kiss of toothed wheels And all the courses of the suns. Alfred Tennyson 167 PARTING WORDS GOOD-BY, O love, once more I hold your hand; Good-by, for now the wind blows loud and long, The ship is ready, and the waves are strong To bear me far away from this thy strand. I know the sea that I shall cross, and land Whereto I journey, and the forms that throng Its palaces and shrines ; I know the song That they alone can sing and understand. But promise me, O love, before I go That sometimes, when the sun and wind are low, You, walking in the old familiar ways. Thronged with gray phantoms of the buried days. Will, looking seaward, say, I wonder now How fares it with him in the distant place. Philip Bourke Marston WORDS FOR PARTING OH, what shall I do, dear, In the coming years, I wonder, When our paths which lie so sweetly near. Shall lie so far asunder ? Oh, what shall I do, dear, Through all the sad to-morrows, When the sunny smile has ceased to cheer That smiles away my sorrows? 168 What shall I do, my friend, When you are gone forever? My heart its eager need will send Through the years, to find you never. And how will it be with you, In the weary world, I wonder! Will you love me with a love as true, When our paths lie far asunder? A sweeter, sadder thing, My life for having known you : Forever with my sacred kin, My soul's soul I must own you, — Forever mine, my friend, From June to life's December, Not mine to have or hold. But to pray for and remember. The way is short, O friend, That reaches out before us. God's tender heavens above us bend. His love is smiling o'er us. A httle while is ours. For sorrow or for laughter : I '11 lay the hand you love in yours, On the shore of the hereafter. Mary Clemmer 169 XIV. Thither where he lies buried! That single spot is the whole earth to me. Samuel Taylor Coleridge Peace ^ wild-wrimg hands ! hush^ sobbing breath / Love keepeth its own through life and death. Dinah Maria Muloch-Craik THE WEDDING VEIL DEAR Anna, when I brought her veil, Her white veil on her wedding night, Threw o'er my thin brown hair its folds, And laughing, turned me to the light. " See, Bessie, see ! you wear at last The bridal veil foresworn for years ! " She saw my face, — her laugh was hushed, Her happy eyes were filled with tears. With kindly haste and trembling hand She drew away the gauzy mist; " Forgive, dear heart ! " her sweet voice said : Her loving lips my forehead kissed. We passed from out the searching light. The summer night was calm and fair: I did not see her pitying eyes, I felt her soft hand smooth my hair. Her tender love unlocked my heart : 'Mid falling tears at last I said, " Foresworn, indeed, to me that veil Because I only love the dead ! " She stood one moment statue-still. And musing spake in undertone, " The living love may colder grow ; The dead is safe with God alone." Elizabeth Whittier 173 SCOTCH HEATHER JUST a sprig of Scottish heather, in a letter where the tears, Which have blotted words together, have been dried these many years. Loving lines, yet sadly cheerful, — how " 't was lone- some here to-day," Then a pause, a little tearful, " Dear, you are so far away ! " Every sentence has its token of a love that could not fail Throbbing with a faith unspoken, though the ink is growing pale ; Faded are the lines dim-lettered like sad ghosts upon the page ; Ah, that poor love should be fettered with the rusty iron of age ! Then that line, " I picked the heather from that spot, dear, you will know, Where we walked and talked together — oh, it seems so long ago ! " And at last, " Love, how much better it will be when, by and by, We '11 not need to write a letter to each other, you and I ! " God ! with what another meaning that one line has long been true, With Death's silence intervening since I last have heard from you, 174 When you dropped Life's weary fetters, when you went so far away, — Thought you of unwritten letters I was missing from that day? If you know how I have needed some new token through the years You have slept away unheeded, it must move your soul to tears. If you still know how I love you, how I 've missed you day by day. Since the heather grew above you, you could never stay away. Take all treasures, Time, I cherish. Fame and Hope and Life at last, Fhtting things which needs must perish, — spare this memory of the Past Lying with a sprig of heather, in a letter, where the tears Which have blotted words together, have been dried these many years. Marion Manville THE TWO LOCKS OF HAIR A YOUTH, light-hearted and content, I wander through the world ; Here, Arab-like, is pitched my tent And straight again is furled. 175 Yet oft I dream, that once a wife Close in my heart was locked, And in the sweet repose of life A blessed child I rocked. I wake ! Away that dream — away ! Too long did it remain ! So long, that both by night and day It ever comes again. The end lies ever in my thought : To a grave so cold and deep The mother beautiful was brought ; Then dropt the child asleep. But now the dream is wholly o'er, I bathe mine eyes and see; And wander through the world once more, A youth so light and free. Two locks — and they are wondrous fair — Left me that vision mild ; The brown is from the mother's hair, The blond is from the child. And when I see that lock of gold, Pale grows the evening red ; And when the dark lock I behold, I wish that I were dead. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Fro7n the Genu an of PJizer 76 w A SHADOW HAT lack the valleys and the mountains That once were green and gay ? What lack the babbling fountains? Their voice is sad to-day. Only the sound of a voice, Tender and sweet and low, That made the earth rejoice A year ago ! What lack the tender flowers ? A shadow is on the sun. What lack the merry hours, That I long that they were done ? Only two smiling eyes, That told of joy and mirth ; They are shining in the skies ; I mourn on earth ! What lacks my heart that makes it So weary and full of pain, That trembling Hope forsakes it, Never to come again ? Only another heart, Tender and all mine own ; In the still grave it Hes; I weep alone. Adelaide Anne Procter 12 177 RONDEL OUT of the past remembered eyes Pursue and hold me fast ; Their dark pure splendor never dies Out of the past. Save the young light that in them lies, Time all things fair doth blast, And still unresting onward flies ; But darkly though life's evening skies Their gathering shadows cast. Love-light for me shall ever rise Out of the past. Maxwell Gray 178 XV. Think not in death my love could ever cease ; If thou wast false ^ i)t07'e need there is for fne Still to be trice. James Russell Lowell There is hope that is never put by, There is love that refuses to die. Lucy Larcom T THE UNWISE CHOICE WO young men, when I was poor, Came and stood at my open door ; One said to me, " I have gold to give ; " And one, " I will love you while I live ! " My sight was dazzled, woe 's the day ! And I sent the poor young man away, — Sent him awa}^, I know not where, And my heart went with him, unaware. He did not give me any sighs. But he left his picture in my eyes ; And in my eyes it has always been : I have no heart to keep it in ! Beside the lane with hedges sweet. Where we parted, nevermore to meet, He pulled a flower of love's own hue, And where it had been came out two ! And in th' grass where he stood, for years. The dews of th' morning looked like tears. Still smiles the house where I was born Among its fields of wheat and corn, i8i Wheat and corn that strangers bind — I reap as I sowed, and I sowed to th' wind. As one who feels the truth break through His dream, and knows his dream untrue, I live where splendors shine, and sigh For a peace that splendor cannot buy, — Sigh for the day I was rich tho' poor, And saw th' two young men at my door ! Alice Gary A WOMAN'S DEATH-WOUND IT left upon her tender flesh no trace. The murderer is safe. As swift as light The weapon fell, and, in the summer night, Did scarce the silent, dewy air displace ; 'T was but a word. A blow had been less base. Like dumb beast branded by an iron white With heat, she turned in blind and helpless flight; But then remembered, and with piteous face Came back. Since then the world has nothing missed In her, in voice or smile. But she — each day She counts until her dying be complete. One moan she makes, and ever doth repeat : " O lips that I have loved and kissed and kissed. Did I deserve to die this bitterest way?" Helen Hunt Jackson 182 A WOMAN'S THOUGHT I AM a woman — therefore I may not Call to him, cry to him, Fly to him, Bid him delay not ! And when he comes to me, I must sit quiet. Still as a stone. All silent and cold. If my heart riot, Crush and defy it ! Should I grow bold — Say one dear thing to him, All my life fling to him, Cling to him — What to atone Is enough for my sinning ! This were the cost to me. This were my winning, — That he were lost to me. Not as a lover At last if he part from me, Tearing my heart from me, Hurt beyond cure, — Calm and demure Then must I hold me, In myself fold me, Lest he discover; 183 Showing no sign to him, By look of mine to him, What he has been to me, — How my heart turns to him, Follows him, yearns to him, Prays him to love me, — Pity me, lean to me. Thou God above me ! Richard Watson Gilder BURNT SHIPS OLOVE, sweet Love, who came with rosy sail And foaming prow across the misty sea ! O Love, brave Love, whose faith was full and free That lands of sun and gold, which could not fail, Lay in the west, that bloom no wintry gale Could blight, and eyes whose love thine own should be. Called thee, with steadfast voice of prophecy. To shores unknown ! O Love, poor Love, avail Thee nothing now thy faiths, thy braveries ; There is no sun, no bloom ; a cold wind strips The bitter foam from off the wave where dips No more thy prow; the eyes are hostile eyes; The gold is hidden ; vain thy tears and cries. O Love, poor Love, why didst thou burn thy ships ? Helen Hunt Jackson 184 PRESAGE IF, some day, I should seek those eyes So gentle now, and find the strange, Pale shadow of a coming change. To chill me with sad surprise : Shouldst thou recall what thou hast given, And turn me slowly cold and dumb. And thou thyself again become Remote as any star in heaven, — Would the sky ever seem again Perfectly clear? Would the serene. Sweet face of Nature steal between This grief and me, to dull its pain ? Oh, not for many a weary day Would sorrow soften to regret; And many a sun would rise and set Ere I, with cheerful heart, could say : " All undeserved it came. To-day God takes it back again, because Too beautiful a thing it was For such as I to keep for aye." And ever, through the coming years. My star remote in happy skies Would seem more heavenly fair through eyes Yet tremulous with unfallen tears. Celia Thaxter 185 XVI. Perhaps it will all cojne right at last : It tnay be, when all is done, We shall be together in some good world Where to wish and to have are one. Richard Henry Stoddard A LIFE LESSON THERE, little girl, don't cry ! They have broken your doll, I know ; And your tea-set blue, And your play-house, too, Are things of the long ago ; But childish troubles will soon pass by — • There, little girl, don't cry ! There, little girl, don't cry ! They have broken your slate, I know ; And the glad, wild ways Of your school-girl days Are things of the long ago ; But life and love will soon come by — There, little girl, don't cry ! There, little girl, don't cry ! They have broken your heart, I know ; And the rainbow gleams Of your youthful dreams Are things of the long ago ; But heaven holds all for which you sigh — There, little girl, don't cry ! James Whitcomb Riley 189 I CANNOT THINK BUT GOD MUST KNOW T CANNOT think but God must know -■- About the thing I long for so ; I know He is so good, so kind, I cannot think but He will find Some way to help, some way to show Me to the thing I long for so. I stretch my hand — it lies so near; It looks so sweet; it looks so dear. " Dear Lord," I pray, " oh, let me know If it is wrong to want it so ! " He only smiles — He does not speak ; My heart grows weaker and more weak With looking at the thing so dear, Which lies so far and yet so near. Now, Lord, I leave at Thy loved feet This thing which looks so near, so sweet ; I will not seek, I will not long, — I almost fear I have been wrong. I '11 go and work the harder, Lord, And wait till by some loud, clear word Thou callest me to Thy loved feet To take this thing so dear, so sweet. Saxe Holm 190 DIVIDED AND yet I know past all doubting, truly — And knowledge greater than grief can dim — I know, as he loved, he will love me duly — Yea, better — e'en better than I love him. And as I walk by the vast calm river, The awful river so dread to see, I say, " Thy breadth and thy depth forever Are bridged by his thoughts that cross to me." Jean Ingelow I HEAR A DEAR, FAMILIAR TONE I HEAR a dear, familiar tone, A loving hand is in my own, And earth seems made for me alone. If I my fortunes could have planned, I would not have let go that hand; But they must fall who learn to stand. And how to blend life's varied hues, What ill to find, what good to lose, My Father knoweth best to choose. Alice Cary 191 FROM "EVANGELINE" SOMETIMES she spake with those who had seen her beloved and known him, But it was long ago in some far-off place or forgotten. Then would they say, " Dear child ! why dream and wait for him longer ? Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel? others Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as loyal ? Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, who has loved thee Many a tedious year ; come, give him thy hand and be happy. Thou art too fair to be left to braid Saint Catherine's tresses." Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly, " I cannot ! Whither my heart has gone there follows my hand, and not elsewhere. For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and illumines the pathway. Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in darkness." Thereupon the priest, her friend and father-confessor. Said, with a smile, "O daughter! thy God thus speaketh within thee ! Talk not of wasted affection, — affection never was wasted ; 192 If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, return- ing Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refreshment; That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain. Patience ! accomplish thy labor, accomplish thy work of affection ! Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike, Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart is made godlike. Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered more worthy of heaven ! " Cheered by the good man's words, Evangeline labored and waited. Still in her heart she heard the funeral dirge of the ocean. But with its sound there was mingled a voice that whispered, " Despair not ! " Henry Wadsworth Longfellow WHICH IS BEST? WHAT if I saved from trampling feet The drooping plumes of a wounded bird, And tended its hurt with a gentle hand Till its life new stirred ? 13 193 What if it nestled against my cheek, And tamed its shyness upon my breast, Until I believed that it loved me more Than its old-time nest ? And if some day, when I prized it most, It should leave my hand with a sudden spring, And cleave the blue of a summer sky With a freshened wing, And never pause at my pleading call, — Never come back to my desolate breast, — And forget I had saved its life, and forget I had loved it best, Should I never open my arms again To any helpless or suffering thing? Never bind up the bruised heart Nor the broken wing? Better a thousand times, to bear A blow in the place of an earned caress, Than to turn aside into selfish ways, Or to pity less. Better the long abiding pain Of a wronged love, in its sufferance meek, Than the hardened heart and the bitter tongue And the sullen cheek. Laura C. Redden 194 THORNLESS ROSES NO rose may bloom without a thorn ? " Come down the garden path and see How brightly in the scented air They bloom for you and me ! See how like rosy clouds, they lie Against the perfect, stainless blue ! See how they toss their airy heads, And smile for me, for you ! No scanty largess, meanly doled, — No pallid blooms, by two, by three, But a whole crowd of pink-white wings Fluttering for you and me. So fair they are I cannot choose ; I pluck the rich spoils here and there; I heap them on your waiting arms ; I twine them in your hair. There is no thorn among them all, — No sharp sting in the heart of bliss, — No bitter in the honeyed cup, — No burning in the kiss. Nay, quote the proverb if you must, And mock the truth you will not see ; Nathless, Love's thornless roses blow Somewhere for you and me. Julia C. R. Dorr 195 I HAVE THE COURAGE TO BE GAY " T HAVE the courage to be gay, -^ Although she lieth lapped away Under the daisies, for I say, ' Thou wouldst be glad if thou couldst see : ' My constant thought makes manifest I have not what I love the best. But I must thank God for the rest While I hold heaven a verity." Jean Ingelow o. WHAT sequel; F Love that never found its earthly end, What sequel ? streaming eyes and broken hearts ? And all the same as if it had not been ? Alfred Tennyson NAUGHT is the same " as if Love had not been ! Where it hath shone it is like sunlight poured On seeds which slept, surprising naked soil Into new verdure, and an unhoped spring. Edwin Arnold 196 XVII. Love is coine with a sojig and a smile^ Welcotne Love with a smile and a song. Love can stay but a little while, Why caftnot he stay ? They call him away ; Ye do him wrong, ye do hi7n wrong; Love will stay for a whole life long. Alfred Tennyson IN TWOS SOMEWHERE in the world there hide Garden-gates that no one sees. Save they come in happy twos, — Not in ones, nor yet in threes. But from every maiden's door Leads a pathway straight and true ; Map and survey find it not, — He who finds, finds room for two. Then they see the garden-gates ! Never skies so blue as theirs. Never flowers so many, sweet. As for those who come in pairs. Round and round the alleys wind ; Now a cradle bars the way, Now a httle mound, behind, — So the two go through the day. When no nook in all the lanes But has heard a song or sigh, Lo ! another garden-gate Opens as the two go by. In they wander, knowing not; " Five and Twenty " fills the air With a silvery echo low. All about the startled pair, 199 Happier yet these garden walks ; Closer, heart to heart, they lean ; Stiller, softer, falls the light ; Few the twos, and far between. Till at last as on they pass Down the paths so well they know, Once again at hidden gates Stand the two ; they enter slow. Golden gates of Fifty Years, May our two your latchet press ! Garden of the Sunset Land, Hold their dearest happiness! Then a quiet walk again ; Then a wicket in the wall ; Then one stepping on alone, — Then two at the Heart of All ! W. C. Gannett OHE was sent forth To bring that light which never wintry blast Blows out, nor rain, nor snow, extinguishes, — The Hght which shines with loving eyes upon Eyes that love back, till they can see no more. Letitia Elizabeth Landon 200 SONG LOVE is not a feeling to pass away, Like the balmy breath of a summer-day; It is not — it cannot be — laid aside ; It is not a thing to forget or hide. It clings to the heart, ah, woe is me ! As the ivy clings to the old oak tree. Love is not a passion of earthly mould, As a thirst for honor, or fame, or gold ; For when all these wishes have died away, The deep strong love of a brighter day, Though nourished in secret, consumes the more, As the slow rust eats to the iron's core. Charles Dickens TOGETHER THEY were young and glad together In the dawn of life's first May, When in bright and sunny weather Sang the birds from every spray. Clear the heaven shone out above them; Blue and radiant were the skies ; All things living seemed to love them; And the spring gleamed in her eyes. 201 Through life's summer still together, Hand in hand and heart to heart, They have borne the sultry weather And have watched the days depart. Still she is to him the maiden Who stepped daintily of old Through the grass, her apron laden With bright buttercups of gold. Still together, still together, They will face life's autumn hours ; In the grim November weather Love will strew their path with floAvers. For their love has ever brightened Since the first long loving day. And their happiness has heightened. Though their hair is growing gray ! George Barlow FROM "ENOCH ARDEN " WOMAN, disturb me not now at the last, But let me hold my purpose till I die, Sit down again ; mark me and understand, While I have power to speak. I charge you now When you shall see her tell her that T died Blessing her, praying for her, loving her Save for the bar between us, loving her As when she laid her head beside my own. Alfred Tennyson 202 TWO EPOCHS LOVERS by a dim sea strand Looking wave-ward, hand in hand; Silent, tremble with the bliss Of their first betrothal kiss. Lovers still, tho' wedded long ! Time true love can never wrong ! Gazing, faithful, hand in hand, O'er a darker sea and strand : Ah ! one lover's face is wan As a wave the moon shines on ; But those strange tides stretched afar Know not sun, nor moon, nor star. Paul Hamilton Hayne 203 XVIII. O winds ! ye are too rough, too rough / O sprmg ! thou art not long enough For sweetness; and for thee, O love ! thou still 7mcst ove?'pass Time's low and dark and narrow glass, And Jill eternity. Alice Gary LOVE AND DEATH WHAT time the mighty moon was gathering light Love paced the thymy plots of Paradise, And all about him roU'd his lustrous eyes ; When, turning round a cassia, full in view Death, walking all alone beneath a yew. And talking to himself, first met his sight. "You must begone," said Death, "these walks are mine." Love wept, and spread his sheeny vans for flight; Yet ere he parted said, " This hour is thine ; Thou art the shadow of life, and as the tree Stands in the sun and shadows all beneath, So in the light of great eternity Life eminent creates the shade of death ; The shadow passeth when the tree shall fall. But I shall reign forever over all." Alfred Tennyson AFTER-SONG THROUGH love to light ! Oh, wonderful the way That leads from darkness to the perfect day ! From darkness and from sorrow of the night To morning that comes singing o'er the sea. Through love to light! Through light, O God, to Thee, Who art the love of love, the eternal light of light ! Richard Watson Gilder 207 FROM "THE SINGER" O SILENT land to which we move, Enough if there alone be love ; And mortal need can ne'er outgrow What it is waiting to bestow ! O white soul ! from that far-off shore Float some sweet song the waters o'er; Our faith confirm, our fears dispel, With the old voice we loved so well ! John Greenleaf Whittier FROM "SNOW-BOUND" YET love will dream and faith will trust (Since He who knows our need is just), That somehow, som.ewhere meet we must. Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress trees ! Who hopeless lays his dead away, Nor looks to see the breaking day Across the mournful marbles play ! Who hath not learned in hours of faith, The truth to flesh and sense unknown, That Life is ever lord of Death And Love can never lose its own ! John Greenleaf Whittier 208 THREE MEETINGS OTHE happy meeting from over the sea, When I love my friend and my friend loves me; And we stand face to face, and for letters read There are endless words to be heard and said : With a glance between whiles, shy, anxious, half strange. As if asking, " Say now is there any change?" Till we settle down just as we used to be, For I love my friend and my friend loves me. O the blessed meeting of lovers true Against whom Fate has done all that Fate could do And then dropped vanquished ; while over those slain Dead weeks, months, years, of parting and pain, Hope lifts her banner, gay, gallant, and fair, Untainted, untorn in the balmy air; And the heaven of the future, golden and bright, Arches above them — God guards the right. But O for the meeting to come one day. When the spirit slips out of its house of clay; When the stand ers-by with a gentle sign Shall kindly cover this face of mine. And I leap — whither ? — ah, who can know ? But outward, onward, as spirits must go, Till eye to eye without fear I see God — and my lost — as they see me. Dinah Maria Muloch-Craik 14 209 LOVE IS ETERNAL LOVE is eternal, so the strong souls say, But seeing how hard life doth give the lie Unto the mighty words, with sneer or sigh, The weaker ones cry out in sad dismay That love is changeful as an April day, Holding within itself no strength whereby It can the subde shafts of time defy, And in the heart of man abide alway. Not every heart is great enough to hold A great immortal tenant. Love hath fled Always from natures narrow, weak, and cold. Know, when by scornful lips you hear it said That Love is traitor, that the truth is told Not of dear Love, but of that soul instead. Carlotta Perry THERE will I ask of Christ the Lord Thus much for him and me, — Only to live as once on earth With Love, — only to be. As then awhile, forever now Together, I and he. Dante Gabriel Rossetti 210 A FAREWELL THE west-wind, laden with fragrance, blows, The dewdrops shine in the crimson rose ; — Is there something yet to tell? Ay, winds must pass and dewdrops fall ; Naught that is gone can we recall: So now, dear Love, farewell ! Sweet lips prattle, and laugh and sing, White arms tenderly, closely cling ; — Is there something sad to tell ? Ay, the sweet lips shall silent be, And the arms unclasp in their agony: So now, dear Love, farewell ! Then is there nothing that God has made That will not one day fall or fade ? — O Poet, in mercy tell ! Ay, love shall reign in these hearts of ours When eyes, and lips, and wind-waved flowers Have known their last farewell. For love is purer than dewdrops are, The winds go never so wide and far, And none may truly tell How when the close caress is gone, And words are silent, true love lives on, Never to say farewell ! George Arnold 211 FROM "TO LYDIA MARIA CHILD" STILL on the lips of all we question The finger of God's silence lies ; Will the lost hands in ours be folded? Will the shut eyelids ever rise ? O friend, no proof beyond this yearning, This outreach of our hearts we need ; God will not mock the hope he giveth, No love he prompts shall vainly plead. Then let us stretch our hands in darkness, And call our loved ones o'er and o'er ; Some day their arms shall close about us. And the old voices speak once more. John Greenleaf Whittier o LOVE and Death ! Ye have sad meetings on this changeful earth, Many and sad ! — but airs of heavenly breath Shall melt the links that bind you, for your birth Is far apart. Felicia Dorothea Hemans N OT Death is strong enough to part asunder Whom Life and Love hath joined. Edwin Arnold 2X2 HE AND SHE " OHE is dead ! " they said to him, " Come away; SHE Ki I" iss her ! and leave her ! — thy love is clay They smoothed her tresses of dark brown hair ; On her forehead of marble they laid it fair ; Over her eyes, which gazed too much, They drew her lids with gentle touch ; With a tender touch they closed up well The sweet thin hps that had secrets to tell; About her brows, and her dear, pale face They tied her veil and her marriage-lace ; And drew on her white feet her white silk shoes: — Which were the whiter no eye could choose ! And over her bosom they crossed her hands; " Come away," they said, " God understands ! " And then there was Silence ; and nothing there But the Silence — and scents of eglantere. And jasmine, and roses, and rosemary ; For they said, " As a lady should He, lies she ! " And they held their breath as they left the room With a shudder to glance at its stillness and gloom. 213 But he — who loved her too well to dread The sweet, the stately, the beautiful dead, — He lit his lamp, and took the key, And turn'd it ! — alone again — he and she ! He and she ! but she would not speak, Though he kiss'd in the old place, the quiet cheek ; He and she ; yet she would not smile. Though he call'd her the name that was fondest ere- while : He and she ; and she did not move To any one passionate whisper of love ! Then said, " Cold lips ! and breast without breath ! Is there no voice — no language of death " Dumb to the ear and still to the sense. But to heart and to soul distinct, — intense ? " See, now, — I listen with soul, not ear — What was the secret of dying, Dear ? " Was it the infinite wonder of all. How the spirit could let life's flower fall ? *' Or was it a greater marvel to feel The perfect calm o'er the agony steal ? " Was the miracle greatest to find how deep, Beyond all dreams, sank downward that sleep ? 214 " Did life roll backward its record, Dear, And show, as they say it does, past things clear? " And was it the innermost heart of bliss To find out so what a wisdom love is ? " Oh, perfect Dead ! oh, dead most dear, I hold the breath of my soul to hear; " I listen — as deep as to horrible hell. As high as glad heaven; and you do not tell ! " There must be pleasure in dying, Sweet, To make you so placid from head to feet ! " I would teWfOU, Darling, if I were dead, And 'twere your hot tears upon my brow shed. " I would say though the Angel of death had laid His sword on my lips to keep it unsaid. " You should not ask, vainly, with streaming eyes, Which in Death's touch was the chiefest surprise, " The very strangest and suddenest thing Of all the surprises that dying must bring." Oh, foolish world ! Oh, most kind dead ! Though he told me, who will believe it was said ? Who will believe that he heard her say. With the soft rich voice, in the dear old way : 215 " The utmost wonder is this, — I hear, And see you, and love you, and kiss you, Dear ; " I can speak, now you listen with soul alone ; If your soul could see, it would all be shown " What a strange, delicious amazement is Death, To be without body and breathe without breath. " I should laugh for joy if you did not cry; Oh, listen ; Love lasts ! — Love never will die ! " I am only your Angel who was your Bride ! ve never di Edwin Arnold And I know that though dead I have never died." THE VIOLET GOD does not send us strange flowers every year, When the spring winds blow o'er the pleasant places. The same dear things lift up the same fair faces, The violet is here. It all comes back, the odor, grace, and hue. Each sweet relation of its life repeated ; No blank is left, no looking-for is cheated, It is the thing we knew. So after death's winter it must be, God will not put strange signs in heavenly places. The old love shall look out from the old faces, Veilchen ! I shall have thee. Mrs. a. D. T. Whitney 216 WE TWO A H, painful-sweet ! how can I take it in ! -^^ That somewhere in the illimitable blue Of God's pure space, which men call Heaven, we two Again shall find each other, and begin The infinite life of love, a life akin To angels', — only angels never knew The ecstacy of blessedness that drew Us each to each, even in this world of sin. Yea, find each other ! The remotest star Of all the galaxies would hold in vain Our souls apart, that have been heretofore As closely interchangeable as are One mind and spirit. Oh, joy that aches to pain. To be together — we two — forever more ! Margaret J. Preston AT END A T end of Love, at end of Life, ^ At end of Hope, at end of Strife, At end of all we cling to so, — The sun is setting — must we go ? At dawn of Love, at dawn of Life, At dawn of Peace that follows Strife, At dawn of all we long for so, — The sun is rising — let us go ! Louise Chandler Moultox 217 INDEX TO TITLES. I. PAGE Love ! blessed Love ! if we could hang our walls . . 2 Love 3 Love 4 For life, with all it yields of joy or woe 4 From " The Book of Love " 5 Love's Coming 5 True Love 6 Oh, Love is not a Summer Mood 7 From " The Sea of Fire " 7 From "The Cotter's Saturday Night" 8 True Love 9 A Lover with his Loved One sailed the Sea .... 10 Herein is Love 11 Love seeketh not itself to please 12 A Question 12 A Woman's Shortcomings 13 And love ? 14 From " Alice of Monmouth " 15 IL No life is so strong and complete 18 He was a friend indeed iS A Friend 19 219 PAGE We love but Few 20 The Girdle of Friendship 21 Friendship 22 O near Ones, dear Ones 23 A Tribute 24 My Kate 25 III. Pour out thy love like the rush of a river 30 From " The Message of an iEolian Harp," — We cannot love too much 31 Learn that to love is the one way to know 32 Love much 33 Sonnet, "Trust me, — I have not earned your dear Rebuke" 34 Go forth in Life not seeking Love 34 Love's Fulfilling 35 What shall I do for my Love ? • • 3^ Oh, if thou be'st True Lover 37 From " The Castle in the Air " 37 The Sea-Shell 38 Give all to love 39 IV. Am I not the nobler through thy love } .42 If aught can make me seek 42 Softly the Evening Shadows 43 Some Lover's dear Thought 43 A Face 44 From "The Mistress of the Manse" 45 To Harriett 45 From " The Angel in the House " 46 Friendship 47 220 PAGE God measures souls by their capacity 47 Happy are they who kiss thee 48 Love, the Musician 48 A Friendship „ . . 49 I remember the only wise thing I ever did 49 In the Air 50 All true, deep feeling purifies the heart ...... 50 Sonnet, — " If it be true that any beauteous thing" . 51 Going to Church 51 With my love this knowledge too was given . . . . 52 V. I meet her on the dusty street 54 I loved thee for that dear, deep lovingness .... 54 Calais Sands 55 Tying her Bonnet under her Chin 56 Love on Deck 58 A Red, Red Rose 59 In a Gondola 60 A Nice Correspondent 61 The Clover Blossoms 6^ Annie Laurie 64 Under the Rose 65 A Love Extravaganza 65 The Smile of her I love 66 Love's Prayer 66 Love 67 The chords of love must be strong as death .... 68 VI. I love you. Words are small 70 I love you, Dear 71 **I'm sorry that I spelt the word" 71 221 PAGE The Sweetest Flower that blows 72 I love thee 72 Song from a Drama 73 Measure for Measure 74 Sonnet, — " O my heart's heart and you who are to me" 75 Because 75 One Face 77 From "The Cup of Youth" 77 A Love Symphony 78 From " The Ancestress " 79 Four Words 80 Urvasi 81 Protestations . 82 From " The Spanish Student " 83 Benedicite 84 VII. It has been such a day as that thou knowest ... 88 Not from the whole wide world I choose thee ... 88 What the Rose saw 89 Lovers 90 From " Life's Mysteries " 91 From " The Gardener's Daughter "...,... 91 Won't You? 92 Kiss me softly 92 Proposal 93 Four-Leaf Clover 94 Love's Philosophy 95 The cup of love the hands of two hold 95 Indeed I love thee 95 From ** Queen Mary," — The Happiest Hour ... 96 Evening Song 96 222 VIII. PAGE A weak white girl 98 So these lives that had run thus far in separate channels 9S Marriage 99 Happy, happier far than thou 99 The Little Brown Cabin 100 Summer 100 She was mine loi Home 102 For Thoughts 102 The Two Anchors 103 And in that twilight hush, God drew their hearts . . 105 For there are two heavens, sweet 105 On a Cyclamen 106 From "The Hanging of the Crane" 106 Two Lovers 107 Where we love is home 108 IX. lady, there be many things no Love took me softly by the Hand in Something the heart must have to cherish . . . . in 1 know myself the Best Beloved of All 112 Oh, that we Two were Maying 112 Three Kisses 113 With what a graceful tenderness he loves .... 113 My Letters 114 May and Love 114 From " In the Garden " 115 I did hear you talk 115 223 PACK I think we had the chief of all love's joys .... 115 Lovers ii6 Answer to a Child's Question 116 Love Notes 117 Song from " Piero Da Castiglione " 117 On a Clock 118 Love's Language 118 There is a glory in tree and blossom 1 19 X. Life, what after-joy hast thou 122 Nothing is better, I well know 122 Life may to you bring every good 122 Life's Gifts 123 Eureka 123 1 simply say that she is good 124 The Song of the Camp 125 Love is the only good in the world 126 Gone 127 Best 127 Love's light is strange to you.? Ah, me! 128 An Extravaganza 129 The Two Loves 129 Better Things 131 From " Katrina " 132 Wedded '^ . . 132 Love's Thread of Gold 133 From " Lay of the Last Minstrel " 134 Love among the Ruins 134 From "The Children of the Lord's Supper" ... 138 Eros 138 The gate of Heaven is Love 138 224 XI. PAGE He sang out of his soul what he found there . . . 140 Love is not to be reasoned down or lost 140 I never knew it, Love, till now 141 Love scorns Degrees . 141 The Last Letter 142 For they alone have need of sorrow . 143 All the Year Round 144 Love and Life 144 The Heart's Call 145 My Jean 146 From " Harold " 147 Ah, Love! let us be true 14S From " Evangeline '* 149 Love's Final Powers 149 From " Artevelde " 150 I cannot tell the spell that binds thine image . . . 150 xn. Too full of love my soul is to find place 152 I do not love thee less for what is done 152 Two Truths 153 At Noon and Midnight 153 Our Own 154 A Letter o . . 155 We kissed again with Tears 156 Forgiven 157 It is n't the thing you do, dear '157 Her fittest triumph is to show that good 158 XIII. Not to be with you, not to see your face 160 O friend! O best of friends! Thy absence more . . 160 15 22s PAGE Gone i6i From " Michael Angelo " i6i Absence 162 The Boat of my Lover 163 The Loved One Ever Near 164 But oh I 't was hard to have him go, — to know . . 164 Among the Heather 165 They Parted 165 Good-by, Sweetheart 166 O Days and Hours 167 Parting Words 168 Words for Parting 168 XIV. Thither where he lies buried 172 Peace, wild- wrung hands I hush, sobbing breath ! . . 172 The Wedding Veil 173 Scotch Heather 174 The Two Locks of Hair 175 A Shadow 177 Rondel 178 XV. Think not in death my love could ever cease . . . 180 There is hope that is never put by 180 The Unwise Choice 181 A Woman's Death-Wound 182 A Woman's Thought 183 Burnt Ships 184 Presage 185 226 XVI. PAGE Perhaps it will all come right at last i88 A Life Lesson 189 I cannot think but God must know .190 Divided. 191 I hear a Dear, Familiar Tone 191 From " Evangeline " 192 Which is Best 193 Thornless Roses 195 I have the Courage to be Gay 196 What Sequel.? 196 Naught is the same " as if Love had not been " . . 196 XVIL Love is come with a song and a smile 198 In Twos 199 She was sent forth 200 Song 201 Together 201 From " Enoch Arden " 202 Two Epochs 203 XVIII. O winds ! ye are too rough, too rough 206 Love and Death 207 After-Song 207 From " The Singer " 20S From " Snow-Bound " 208 Three Meetings 209 Love is Eternal 210 There will I ask of Christ the Lord 210 227 PAGE A Farewell 211 P'rom " To Lydia Maria Child " 212 O Love and Death 212 Not Death is strong enough to part asunder . . . 212 He and She 213 The Violet 216 "We Two 217 At End 217 228 I m "-i i* ■ X ^t ", > -a J / <•*"■ ^fl ^^9 . V./^ 1 V-* v.*" •. -i ^ ^?^.' " >« J 'i^.^ ', * V i ' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS /