20 quotes
I am a woman—therefore I may not
Call to him, cry to him,
Fly to him,
Bid him delay not.
Lyrics and Other Poems (1885)
Heaven from the hopeless doubter
The true believer makes:
Against the darkness outer
The light God's likeness takes.
The New Day (1875)
Through love to light! Oh wonderful the way
That leads from darkness to the perfect day!
The New Day (1875)
The Smile of her I love is like the dawn
Whose touch makes Memnon sing:
O, see where wide the golden sunlight flows—
The barren desert blossoms as the rose!
The New Day (1875)
A man not perfect, but of heart
So high, of such heroic rage,
That even his hopes became a part
Of earth's eternal heritage.
Not from the whole wide world I chose thee—
Sweetheart, light of the land and the sea!
The wide, wide world could not inclose thee,
For thou art the whole wide world to me.
The New Day (1875)
I am the laughter of the new-born child
On whose soft-breathing sleep an angel smiled.
Love, Love, my Love.
The best things are the truest!
When the earth lies shadowy dark below
Oh, then the heavens are bluest!
I love her doubting and anguish;
I love the love she withholds;
I love my love that loveth her
And anew her being moulds.
The New Day (1875)
Against the darkness outer
God's light his likeness takes,
And he from the mighty doubter
The great believer makes.
I am the spirit of the morning sea,
I am the awakening and the glad surprise.
I love her doubling and anguish;
I love the love she withholds,
I love my love that loveth her,
And anew her being moulds.
We lean on Faith; and some less wise have cried,
"Behold the butterfly, the seed that's cast!"
Vain hopes that fall like flowers before the blast!
What man can look on Death unterrified?
O white and midnight sky, O starry bath,
Wash me in thy pure, heavenly crystal flood:
Cleanse me, ye stars, from earthly soil and scath—
Let not one taint remain in spirit or blood!
Lyrics and Other Poems (1885)
From all the misty morning air, there comes a summer sound,—
A murmur as of waters from skies, and trees and ground.
The birds they sing upon the wing, the pigeons bill and coo.
Lyrics and Other Poems (1885)
What babe new born is this that in a manger cries?
Near on her lowly bed his happy mother lies.
Oh, see the air is shaken with white and heavenly wings—
This is the Lord of all the earth, this is the King of Kings.
None who e'er knew her can believe her dead;
Though, should she die, they deem it well might be
Her spirit took its everlasting flight
In summer's glory, by the sunset sea,
That onward through the Golden Gate is fled.
Ah, where that bright soul is cannot be night.
Stream of the living world
Where dash the billows of strife!—
One plunge in the mighty torrent
Is a year of tamer life!
City of glorious days,
Of hope, and labour and mirth,
With room and to spare, on thy splendid bays
For the ships of all the earth!
What if thou be saint or sinner,
Crooked gray-beard, straight beginner,—
Empty paunch, or jolly dinner,
When Death thee shall call.
All alike are rich and richer,
King with crown, and cross-legged stitcher,
When the grave hides all.
Drinking Song, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922)
Ye living soldiers of the mighty war,
Once more from roaring cannon and the drums
And bugles blown at morn, the summons comes;
Forgot the halting limb, each wound and scar:
Once more your Captain calls to you;
Come to his last review!