55 quotes
I know not which is the most fatal gift,
Genius or Love, for both alike are ruled
By stars of bright aspect and evil influence.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Oh, nothing has the memory of love!
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
But there are natural temples still for those
Eternal though dethroned Deities,
Where from green altars flowers send up their incense:
This fount is one of them. —
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
The future! ah, there hath the spirit its home,
In its distance is written the glorious to come.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Oh, weary day that seemed so long!
Oh, hours that dragged their weight along!
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Ah, minstrel song hath many wings!
From foreign lands its wealth it brings.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
The past! ah, we owe it a tenderer debt,
Heaven's own sweetest mercy is not to forget;
Its influence softens the present, and flings
A grace, like the ivy, wherever it clings.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
A light is gone from yonder sky,
A star has left its sphere;
The beautiful--and do they die
In yon bright world as here?
Will that star leave a lonely place,
A darkness on the night?—
No; few will miss its lovely face,
And none think heaven less bright!
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
THE quiet of the evening hour
Was laid on every summer leaf;
That purple shade was on each flower,
At once so beautiful, so brief,
Only the aspen knew not rest,
But still, with an unquiet song,
Kept murmuring to the gentle west,
And cast a changeful shade along.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Of all the months that fill the year
Give April's month to me,
For earth and sky are then so filled
With sweet variety !
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
But who e'er turned from beauty's ray
For fear of future shade;
Or who e'er flung a rose away
Because that rose might fade.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Night came—the deep and purple time
Of summer in a southern clime.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Oh, there are evil moments in our life,
When but a thought, a word, a look, has power
To dash the cup of happiness aside,
And stamp us wretched!
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Like prisoners escaped during night from their prison,
The waters fling gaily their spray to the sun;
Who can tell me from whence that glad river has risen?
Who can say whence it springs in its beauty?—not one.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
She gazed, although she knew not why,
Where ocean seemed another sky.
The moon looked down upon the deep,
Till in that deep it seemed to be;
Scarce might the eye the image keep
Of which was sky, and which was sea.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
THE Moon is sailing o'er the sky,
But lonely all, as if she pined
For somewhat of companionship,
And felt it was in vain she shined:
Earth is her mirror, and the stars
Are as the court around her throne;
She is a beauty and a queen;
But what is this? she is alone.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
They built a temple for the God,
'Twas in a myrtle grove,
Where the bee and the butterfly
Vied for each blossom's love.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
The lark is with triumphant song
Singing the rose-touched clouds among:
'Tis there that lighted song has birth,
What hath such hymn to do with earth?
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Love's gifts are like the vein of gold
That intersects earth's darker mould;
The gold is gained, the coin is wrought;
But how much trouble has it brought?
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
Those sweet, vague sounds are on the air,
Half sleep, half song--half false, half true,
As if the wind that brought them there
Had touched them with its music too.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)