Browse Sermon Illustrations
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Her final Summer was it --
Her final Summer was it -- And yet We guessed it not -- If tenderer industriousness Pervaded Her, We thought A further force of life Developed from within -- When Death lit all the shortness up It ma
Expanse cannot be lost --
Expanse cannot be lost -- Not Joy, but a Decree Is Deity -- His Scene, Infinity -- Whose rumor's Gate was shut so tight Before my Beam was sown, Not even a Prognostic's push Could make a Dent thereon
I hide myself within my flower,
I hide myself within my flower, That fading from your Vase, You, unsuspecting, feel for me -- Almost a loneliness.
I died for Beauty -- but was scarce
I died for Beauty -- but was scarce Adjusted in the Tomb When One who died for Truth, was lain In an adjoining room -- He questioned softly "Why I failed"? "For Beauty", I replied -- "And I -- for Tr
Autumn -- overlooked my Knitting --
Autumn -- overlooked my Knitting -- Dyes -- said He -- have I -- Could disparage a Flamingo -- Show Me them -- said I -- Cochineal -- I chose -- for deeming It resemble Thee -- And the little Border
Split the Lark -- and you'll find the Music --
Split the Lark -- and you'll find the Music -- Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled -- Scantilly dealt to the Summer Morning Saved for your Ear when Lutes be old. Loose the Flood -- you shall find it pa
Except the Heaven had come so near
Except the Heaven had come so near -- So seemed to choose My Door -- The Distance would not haunt me so -- I had not hoped -- before -- But just to hear the Grace depart -- I never thought to see --
Thel's Motto
Does the Eagle know what is in the pit? Or wilt thou go ask the Mole: Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod? Or Love in a golden bowl?
Fragment: To Italy
As the sunrise to the night, As the north wind to the clouds, As the earthquake's fiery flight, Ruining mountain solitudes, Everlasting Italy, Be those hopes and fears on thee.
St. Martin's Summer
AS swallows turning backward When half-way o'er the sea, At one word's trumpet summons They came again to me - The hopes I had forgotten Came back again to me. I know not which to credit, O lady of m
For largest Woman's Hearth I knew
For largest Woman's Hearth I knew -- 'Tis little I can do -- And yet the largest Woman's Heart Could hold an Arrow -- too -- And so, instructed by my own, I tenderer, turn Me to.
As Children bid the Guest "Good Night"
As Children bid the Guest "Good Night" And then reluctant turn -- My flowers raise their pretty lips -- Then put their nightgowns on. As children caper when they wake Merry that it is Morn -- My flow
Fragment: The Lake's Margin
The fierce beasts of the woods and wildernesses Track not the steps of him who drinks of it; For the light breezes, which for ever fleet Around its margin, heap the sand thereon.
Fragment: To Byron
O mighty mind, in whose deep stream this age Shakes like a reed in the unheeding storm, Why dost thou curb not thine own sacred rage?
Fragment: The Sepulchre of Memory
And where is truth? On tombs? for such to thee Has been my heart--and thy dead memory Has lain from childhood, many a changeful year, Unchangingly preserved and buried there.
Fragment: 'Is It That in Some Brighter Sphere'
Is it that in some brighter sphere We part from friends we meet with here? Or do we see the Future pass Over the Present's dusky glass? Or what is that that makes us seem To patch up fragments of a dr
Fragment: "Amor Aeternus"
Wealth and dominion fade into the mass Of the great sea of human right and wrong, When once from our possession they must pass; But love, though misdirected, is among The things which are immortal, an
Fragment: Zephyrus the Awakener
Come, thou awakener of the spirit's ocean, Zephyr, whom to thy cloud or cave No thought can trace! speed with thy gentle motion!
Fragment: 'My Head Is Wild With Weeping'
My head is wild with weeping for a grief Which is the shadow of a gentle mind. I walk into the air (but no relief To seek,--or haply, if I sought, to find; It came unsought);--to wonder that a chief A
Evening Primrose
When once the sun sinks in the west, And dew-drops pearl the evening's breast; Almost as pale as moonbeams are, Or its companionable star, The evening primrose opes anew Its delicate blossoms to the d
Would you like summer? Taste of ours.
Would you like summer? Taste of ours. Spices? Buy here! Ill! We have berries, for the parching! Weary! Furloughs of down! Perplexed! Estates of violet trouble ne'er looked on! Captive! We bring
The Past
Wilt thou forget the happy hours Which we buried in Love's sweet bowers, Heaping over their corpses cold Blossoms and leaves, instead of mould? Blossoms which were the joys that fell, And leaves, the
The World's Wanderers
Tell me, thou Star, whose wings of light Speed thee in thy fiery flight, In what cavern of the night Will thy pinions close now? Tell me, Moon, thou pale and gray Pilgrim of Heaven's homeless way, In
Fragment: The Vine-Shroud
Flourishing vine, whose kindling clusters glow Beneath the autumnal sun, none taste of thee; For thou dost shroud a ruin, and below The rotting bones of dead antiquity.