Browse Sermon Illustrations
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Fragment: A Roman's Chamber
In the cave which wild weeds cover Wait for thine aethereal lover; For the pallid moon is waning, O'er the spiral cypress hanging And the moon no cloud is staining. It was once a Roman's chamber, Whe
As Summer into Autumn slips
As Summer into Autumn slips And yet we sooner say "The Summer" than "the Autumn," lest We turn the sun away, And almost count it an Affront The presence to concede Of one however lovely, not The one
'Tis One by One -- the Father counts --
'Tis One by One -- the Father counts -- And then a Tract between Set Cypherless -- to teach the Eye The Value of its Ten -- Until the peevish Student Acquire the Quick of Skill -- Then Numerals are d
Trusty as the stars
Trusty as the stars Who quit their shining working Prompt as when I lit them In Genesis' new house, Durable as dawn Whose antiquated blossom Makes a world's suspense Perish and rejoice.
The Snow that never drifts --
The Snow that never drifts -- The transient, fragrant snow That comes a single time a Year Is softly driving now -- So thorough in the Tree At night beneath the star That it was February's Foot Exper
The Heaven vests for Each
The Heaven vests for Each In that small Deity It craved the grace to worship Some bashful Summer's Day -- Half shrinking from the Glory It importuned to see Till these faint Tabernacles drop In full
Fragment: Life Rounded With Sleep
The babe is at peace within the womb; The corpse is at rest within the tomb: We begin in what we end.
Fragment: 'I Faint, I Perish With My Love!'
I faint, I perish with my love! I grow Frail as a cloud whose pale Under the evening's ever-changing glow: I die like mist upon the gale, And like a wave under the calm I fail.
On this long storm the Rainbow rose
On this long storm the Rainbow rose -- On this late Morn -- the Sun -- The clouds -- like listless Elephants -- Horizons -- straggled down -- The Birds rose smiling, in their nests -- The gales -- in
Fragment: 'The Death Knell Is Ringing'
The death knell is ringing The raven is singing The earth worm is creeping The mourners are weeping Ding dong, bell--
Peace is a fiction of our Faith --
Peace is a fiction of our Faith -- The Bells a Winter Night Bearing the Neighbor out of Sound That never did alight.
The Blossom
Merry, merry sparrow! Under leaves so green A happy blossom Sees you, swift as arrow, Seek your cradle narrow, Near my bosom. Pretty, pretty robin! Under leaves so green A happy blossom Hears you sobb
A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
A Death blow is a Life blow to Some Who till they died, did not alive become -- Who had they lived, had died but when They died, Vitality begun.
Fragment: 'O Thou Immortal Deity'
O thou immortal deity Whose throne is in the depth of human thought, I do adjure thy power and thee By all that man may be, by all that he is not, By all that he has been and yet must be!
Eyes: A Fragment
How eloquent are eyes! Not the rapt poet's frenzied lay When the soul's wildest feelings stray Can speak so well as they. How eloquent are eyes! Not music's most impassioned note On which Love's warme
Fragment: 'Great Spirit'
Great Spirit whom the sea of boundless thought Nurtures within its unimagined caves, In which thou sittest sole, as in my mind, Giving a voice to its mysterious waves--
Like Some Old fashioned Miracle
Like Some Old fashioned Miracle When Summertime is done -- Seems Summer's Recollection And the Affairs of June As infinite Tradition As Cinderella's Bays -- Or Little John -- of Lincoln Green -- Or B
Death leaves Us homesick, who behind,
Death leaves Us homesick, who behind, Except that it is gone Are ignorant of its Concern As if it were not born. Through all their former Places, we Like Individuals go Who something lost, the seekin
I Dream’d in a Dream.
I DREAM’D in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dream’d that was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of rob
Full of Life, Now.
FULL of life, now, compact, visible, I, forty years old the Eighty-third Year of The States, To one a century hence, or any number of centuries hence, To you, yet unborn, these, seeking you. When you
Besides the Autumn poets sing
Besides the Autumn poets sing A few prosaic days A little this side of the snow And that side of the Haze -- A few incisive Mornings -- A few Ascetic Eves -- Gone -- Mr. Bryant's "Golden Rod" -- And
She slept beneath a tree
She slept beneath a tree -- Remembered but by me. I touched her Cradle mute -- She recognized the foot -- Put on her carmine suit And see!
The way Hope builds his House
The way Hope builds his House It is not with a sill -- Nor Rafter -- has that Edifice But only Pinnacle -- Abode in as supreme This superficies As if it were of Ledges smit Or mortised with the Laws
Only God -- detect the Sorrow --
Only God -- detect the Sorrow -- Only God -- The Jehovahs -- are no Babblers -- Unto God -- God the Son -- Confide it -- Still secure -- God the Spirit's Honor -- Just as sure --