Love

Love will ever find a way
To turn the darkest night to day:
Out of chaos and mischance,
And every wicked circumstance,
'Twill build itself a home again
Within the hearts of erring men;
But hell is made by its inhabitants

The Blind Enthusiast

He loved and worshipped all that's fair,
In wondrous ocean, earth, and air;
The grand, the lovely, and the rare,
To him were sacred ever;
The thousand hues that summer brings,
The gorgeous glow that sunset flings—
The source whence every beauty springs—
Can art restore? Oh, never!

He loved the music of the bowers—
He loved the freshness of the showers—
He loved the odours of the flowers
With passion deep and holy;
All that the Poet's song hath stored—
All that the minstrel's strains afford,

Blessed Redeemer

Oh, I have found him who only gives rest,
Blessed Redeemer is he;
Fairer than angels, the brightest and best,
Blessed Redeemer is he;
Down from above he has come to my soul,
Healing and cleansing and making me whole,
Saying all burdens on him I may roll,
Blessed Redeemer is he.
Now ev'ry day he is saying to me,
Blessed Redeemer is he;
Trust me for all and from care be thou free,
Blessed Redeemer is he;
I have redeem'd thee and ne'er will forsake,
Strong to deliver when all is at stake,

He Speaks in Threes

JOSEPH , my husband, I pray you, come,
Throw down the adz and leave the little shop.
I have great news, something, my love, I dreamed
Or else I saw it. Here where the step is smooth
Worn with the faithful passing of your feet,
Let us sit down, for I have news to tell.

Such news, my lover, oh, such good, good news.
Look at me, Joseph, read it in my eyes.
Surely you see it; nay, but you're a man,
And men are slower—See, you know, you know.

Is it not strange that love can be so still?

To a Lost Love

I SEEK no more to bridge the gulf that lies
Betwixt our separate ways;
For vainly my heart prays,
Hope droops her head and dies;
I see the sad, tired answer in your eyes.

I did not heed, and yet the stars were clear;
Dreaming that love could mate
Lives grown so separate;
But at the best, my dear,
I see we should not have been very near.

I knew the end before the end was nigh:
The stars have grown so plain;
Vainly I sigh, in vain
For things that come to some,
But unto you and me will never come.

The Looks of a Lover Enamoured

Thou, with thy looks, on whom I look full oft,
And find therein great cause of deep delight,
Thy face is fair, thy skin is smooth and soft,
Thy lips are sweet, thine eyes are clear and bright,
And every part seems pleasant in my sight;
Yet wote thou well, those looks have wrought my woe,
Because I love to look upon them so.

For first those looks allured mine eye to look,
And straight mine eye stirred up my heart to love;
And cruel love, with deep deceitful hook,
Choked up my mind, whom fancy cannot move,

He Took Her

She was a maid of high degree,
And quite severely proper.
Each man she met, so proud was she,
Would love, despair, then drop her.

But there remained without demur,
When all the rest forsook her,
An amateur photographer,
And finally he took her.

Her Music

It trembled off the keys,—a parting kiss
So sweet,—the angel slept upon his sword
Asthrough the gate of Paradise we swept,—
Partakers of creation's primal bliss!
—The air was heavy with the breath
Of violets and love till death.—
Forgetful of eternal banishment—
Deep down the dusk of passion-haunted ways,
Lost in the dreaming alchemies of tone,—
Drenched in the dew no other wings frequent,
Our thirsting hearts drank in the breath
Of violets and love in death.—
There was no world, no flesh, no boundary line,—

Song 7. 1742

When bright Roxana treads the green,
In all the pride of dress and mien,
Averse to freedom, love, and play,
The dazzling rival of the day;
None other beauty strikes mine eye,
The lilies droop, the roses die.

But when, disclaiming art, the fair
Assumes a soft engaging air;
Mild as the opening morn of May,
Familiar, friendly, free and gay,
The scene improves where'er she goes,
More sweetly smile the pink and rose.

O lovely Maid! propitious hear,
Nor deem thy shepherd insincere;
Pity a wild illusive flame,

From My Study at the Mouth of the Valley: A Message to Censor Yang

At a little grass-hut in the valley of the river,
Where a cloud seems born from a viney wall,
You will love the bamboos new with rain,
And mountains tender in the sunset.
Cranes drift early here to rest
And autumn flowers are slow to fade. . . .
I have bidden my pupil to sweep the grassy path
For the coming of my friend.

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