The King has asked of his son so good,
"Why art thou hushed and heavy of mood?
O fair it is to ride abroad.
Thou playest not, and thou laughest not;
All thy good game is clean forgot."

"Sit thou beside me, father dear,
And the tale of my sorrow shalt thou hear.

Thou sendedst me unto a far-off land,
And gavest me into a good Earl's hand.

Now had this good Earl daughters seven,
The fairest of maidens under heaven.

One brought me my meat when I should dine,
One cut and sewed my raiment fine.

One washed and combed my yellow hair,

Strong are thine arms, O love, and strong
Thine heart to live, and love, and long;
But thou art wed to grief and wrong:
Live, then, and long, though hope be dead!
Live on, and labour through the years!
Make pictures through the mist of tears,
Of unforgotten happy fears,
That crossed the time ere hope was dead.
Draw near the place where once we stood
Amid delight's swift-rushing flood,
And we and all the world seemed good
Nor needed hope now cold and dead.
Dream in the dawn I come to thee
Weeping for things that may not be!

Hail Oklahoma land! O prairie plain,
There is no state more dearly loved.--All hail!
Where grassy hills and sheltered cove and vale
Rest quietly in peace--and in refrain
Our voices lift in praise and joy again;
We sing of Oklahoma land.--All hail!
Of sunny skies and even windy gale,
And wealth of growing corn and flowing grain;
Where black gold gleams and roses bloom in spring.
Here long roads stretch and grazing cow-herds roam.
We build in faith great churches and our state
With many schools, where children gaily sing.

Love our neighbors as ourselves,
May we fit in where we can,
Love our God and praise his name
Is God's law for mortal man.

I love you, Darling, sweetheart mine,
Our troth is pledged, O joy divine!
With apple blossoms in my hair
I hope and breathe a fervent prayer
To keep my trust all down the years,
And love you always through the tears.
O heart of mine, my feet do sing
As down the aisle into the Spring
Of bursting bud and lilac time,
Of budding trees and robin rhyme,
So tenderly, Dear, I love you.
In happiness I go with you
Now in sunshine to follow on
And into dark when you are gone.
Then back again from misty night
And at the dawn in coming light.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God.--Ephesians 2:8.


Christ might have called the angels down
To bear him safe above,
To shield his brow from sorrow's crown,
From death's cold blight, and bitter frown,
Had it not been for love.

Our glorious King, our Prince of Peace,
Has left his throne above
To give our souls from sin release,
To make our pain and anguish cease,
And all because of love.

By faith in him, we all may see

"He shall sleep unscathed of thieves
Who loves Allah and believes."
Thus heard one who shared the tent,
In the far-off Orient,
Of the Bedouin ben Ahrzz--
Nobler never loved the stars
Through the palm-leaves nigh the dim
Dawn his courser neighed to him!

He said: "Let the sands be swarmed
With such thieves as I, and thou
Shalt at morning rise, unharmed,
Light as eyelash to the brow
Of thy camel, amber-eyed,
Ever munching either side,
Striding still, with nestled knees,
Through the midnight's oases.

"Who can rob thee an thou hast

One 's the pictur' of his Pa,
And the other of her Ma--
Jes the bossest pair o' babies 'at a mortal ever saw!
And we love 'em as the bees
Loves the blossoms of the trees,
A-ridin' and a-rompin' in the breeze!

One's got her Mammy's eyes--
Soft and blue as Apurl-skies--
With the same sort of a smile, like--Yes,
and mouth about her size,--
Dimples, too, in cheek and chin,
'At my lips jes wallers in,
A-goin' to work, er gittin' home agin.

And the other--Well, they say
That he's got his Daddy's way

The Love that speaks in word and kiss,
That dyes the cheek and fires the eye,
Through surface signs of shallow bliss
That, quickly born, may quickly die;
Sweet, sweet are these to man and woman;
Who thinks them poor is less than human.

But I do know a quavering tone,
And I do know lack-lustre eyes,
Behind the which, dumb and alone,
A stronger Love his labour plies:
He cannot sing or dance or toy--
He works and sighs for other's joy.

In gloom he tends the growth of food,
While others joy in sun and flowers:
None knows the passion of his mood

My love's unchanged--though time, alas!
Turns silver-gilt the golden mass
Of flowing hair, and pales, I wis,
The rose that deepened with that kiss--
The first--before our marriage was.

And though the fields of corn and grass,
So radiant then, as summers pass
Lose something of their look of bliss,
My love's unchanged.

Our tiny girl's a sturdy lass;
Our boy's shrill pipe descends to bass;
New friends appear, the old we miss;
My Love grows old ... in spite of this
My love's unchanged.