A Rann I Made

A rann I made within my heart
To the rider, to the high king,
A rann I made to my love,
To the king of kings, ancient death.

Brighter to me than light of day
The dark of thy house, though black clay;
Sweeter to me than the music of trumpets
The quiet of thy house and its eternal silence.

Love at First Sight

I went to Ed Haley's the day it was bright
I met with a woman I loved at first sight.
I asked her some questions about her past life,
She told me she was single, but had been a wife.

In deep conversation I studied her mind,
She had come down to Brushy to wait on the blind;
The labor was hard and the wages was small,
I soon saw she did not like Horse Branch at all.

I dream of this woman, she's stolen my heart;
Sad disappointments has kept us apart.
I'm troubled and worried, I'm tired of this place,

A Prayer to the Five Wounds

Jesus Christ my Leman sweet,
That diedest on the bitter tree,
With all my might I thee beseech
For thy deep Wounds two and three,
That as firmly may Thy love
In to mine heart fixèd be
As was the spear in to thine Heart
When thou sufferedst death for me.
My Jesus sweet who died on Rood,
For the love of me,—
And boughtest me with Thy Blood,
Have then Mercy upon me;
And should me hinder any thing
From my love of Thee,
Should it be dear it shall be loathed;
So take it away from me.

Invocation to Autumn—October 10, 1897

Come, Autumn, come again with sober bloom
And shed sweet fragrance on love's fair increase
Year upon year, from the faint far perfume
Of bridal rose till this glad day of peace.
Though some who smelt the rose
Are gone, and some of those
We love and wish were here, away,
Yet Autumn, let thy spirit consecrate the day.

When April smiles, the earth's broad bosom feels
The throb of life and sap that wakes her veins,
Delights therein alone; at April's heels
Sees not the following months and all their trains;

Secret Love

Oft the confession of my changeless love
Your close-drawn lattice in the night must hear:
The moon, befriending hearts bereft of cheer,
Knows well my longing as she gleams above:
Your name is cooed to me by that wild dove
Whose haunts I visit when the eve is near:
At morn my madrigals glad-voiced and clear
Fill with their ecstasy the hill and grove.
To you alone my secret reaches never,
Howe'er my heartbeat strives to tell the tale
Unbidden, ardent in a dear endeavor.
Perchance for all time shall its message fail,

Retrospect

Your talk was most in praise of these poor features,
And of my body—not unequalled 'mongst God's creatures.
And even did your courteous fancy find
Some small perfection in a woman's mind.
But of my soul, sir, not a word!
Till your quite reasonable anger stirred
To bring our love to sudden wreck.
'Twas then you stayed my ecstasies
With truth! Which ended in this wise:—
“Woman! Your soul's a stone about your neck.”

Maybe our love had happier consummation
Had this part known more quick consideration!

Adagio

Waves are stirring, winds are playing,
Peaceful is their interflow.
Rye, through parted boughs half-hinted,
Ripples golden-tinted
To and fro.
Thou alone art elsewhere straying.
Softlier the pulses leap.
Far-off music, faintly playing,
Stills me nigh to sleep.

Clouds go past like lovely shining
Swans across the sea of sky,
Floating soundlessly and lonely;
Swans break silence only
When they die.
Through the day with dull repining
I have labored wearily.
I would join the lovely shining

Hypocrites

When all the loves that loved her for her soul
Have married fleshly wives and comfortable,
When all the loves that loved her over well
For her sweet virtue have endured control,
When all the loves that loved her down the roll
Of every excellence she should excel
Have lost their adjectives—then I shall tell
Wherefore I loved her, and tell true the whole.

I loved her for her youth that could not last,
I loved her for her laugh that could but die,
I loved her face that death should overcast,
I loved her but a day and it was past,—

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