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Song from Arcadia
My true love hath my heart, and I have his, By Just Exchange, one for the other given. I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss, There never was a better bargain driven. His heart in me keeps me and h
Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy.
YOU just maturing youth! You male or female! Remember the organic compact of These States, Remember the pledge of the Old Thirteen thenceforward to the rights, life, liberty, equality of man, Re
Song for All Seas, All Ships.
1 TO-DAY a rude brief recitative, Of ships sailing the Seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal; Of unnamed heroes in the ships—Of waves spreading and spreading, far as the eye can reach; Of d
The Book of Thel. Part III
Then Thel astonish'd view'd the Worm upon its dewy bed. Art thou a Worm? image of weakness, art thou but a Worm? I see thee like an infant wrapped in the Lillys leaf; Ah weep not little voice, thou
Spring
Nothing is so beautiful as spring— When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring The e
The Deserted Village (excerpt)
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain, Where smiling spring its earliest visits paid, And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed: Dear lo
To a Youthful Friend
Few years have pass'd since thou and I Were firmest friends, at least in name, And Childhood's gay sincerity Preserved our feelings long the same. But now, like me, too well thou know'st What t
Psalm XXXII: Happy the Man
Happy the man to whom his God No more imputes his sin, But, washed in the Redeemer's blood, Hath made his garments clean. Happy beyond expression he Who debts are thus discharged; And from the guilty
Holy Sonnet VIII: If Faithful Souls Be Alike Glorified
If faithful souls be alike glorified As angels, then my fathers soul doth see, And adds this even to full felicity, That valiantly I hells wide mouth o'erstride: But if our minds to these souls be des
Holy Sonnet VII: At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners Blow
At the round earth's imagined corners blow Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise From death, you numberless infinities Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go, All whom the flood did, and fire sha
Holy Sonnet XI: Spit In My Face You Jews, And Pierce My Side
Spit in my face you Jews, and pierce my side, Buffet, and scoff, scourge, and crucify me, For I have sinned, and sinned, and only he Who could do no iniquity hath died: But by my death can not be sati
Sonnet 75 (Amoretti)
One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Agayne I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray. "Vayne man," sayd she, "that does
Sonnet 33 - Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear
Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear The name I used to run at, when a child, From innocent play, and leave the cowslips piled, To glance up in some face that proved me dear With the look of its e
The Task: Book V (excerpt on Liberty)
'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume, And we are weeds without it. All constraint, Except what wisdom lays on evil men, Is evil; hurts the faculties, impede
Summer Evening (excerpt)
The sinking sun is taking leave, And sweetly gilds the edge of Eve, While huddling clouds of purple dye Gloomy hang the western sky. Crows crowd croaking over head, Hastening to the woods to bed. Cooi
Bill and Joe
COME, dear old comrade, you and I Will steal an hour from days gone by, The shining days when life was new, And all was bright with morning dew, The lusty days of long ago, When you were Bill and I wa
Epistle to Mrs Teresa Blount. on Her Leaving the Town After the Coronation.
As some fond virgin, whom her mother's care Drags from the town to wholesome country air, Just when she learns to roll a melting eye, And hear a spark, yet think no danger nigh; From the dear man unwi
The Book of Thel. Part IV
The eternal gates terrific porter lifted the northern bar: Thel enter'd in & saw the secrets of the land unknown; She saw the couches of the dead, & where the fibrous roots Of every heart on earth inf
Footsteps of Angels
When the hours of Day are numbered, And the voices of the Night Wake the better soul, that slumbered, To a holy, calm delight; Ere the evening lamps are lighted, And, like phantoms grim and tall, Sha
For Annie
Thank Heaven! the crisis-- The danger is past, And the lingering illness Is over at last-- And the fever called "Living" Is conquered at last. Sadly, I know, I am shorn of my strength, And no
From Vergil's Tenth Eclogue
[VERSES 1-26.] Melodious Arethusa, o'er my verse Shed thou once more the spirit of thy stream: Who denies verse to Gallus? So, when thou Glidest beneath the green and purple gleam Of Syracusan waters
Madam Life's a Piece in Bloom
Madam Life's a piece in bloom Death goes dogging everywhere: She's the tenant of the room, He's the ruffian on the stair. You shall see her as a friend, You shall bilk him once or twice; But he'll tr
Euthanasia
When Time, or soon or late, shall bring The dreamless sleep that lulls the dead, Oblivion! may thy languid wing Wave gently o'er my dying bed! No band of friends or heirs be there, To weep, or
Translation From the "Medea" of Euripides
When fierce conflicting passions urge The breast, where love is wont to glow, What mind can stem the stormy surge Which rolls the tide of human woe? The hope of praise, the dread of shame, Can rouse t