My white archangel, with thy steadfast eyes Beholding all this empty ghost-filled room, Thy clasped hands resting on the sword of doom, Thy firm, close lips, not made for human sighs Or smiles, or kisses sweet, or bitter cries, But for divine exhorting, holy song And righteous counsel, bold from seraph tongue. Beautiful angel, strong as thou art...Learn More

But in the night time, 'twixt it and the stars, The angel faces still come glimmering by; No death-pale shadow, no averted eye Marking the inevitable doom that bars Me from them. Not a cloud their aspect mars; And my sick spirit walks with them hand in hand By the cool waters of a pleasant land: Sings with them o'er again, without its jars, The...Learn More

Michael, the leader of the hosts of God, Who warred with Satan for the body of him Whom, living, God had loved--If cherubim With cherubim contended for one clod Of human dust, for forty years that trod The gloomy desert of Heaven's chastisement, Are there not ministering angels sent To battle with the devils that roam abroad, Clutching our living...Learn More

A year ago I bade my little son Bear upon pilgrimage a heavy load Of alms; he cried, half-fainting on the road, "Mother, O mother, would the day were done!" Him I reproved with tears, and said, "Go on! Nor pause nor murmur till thy task be o'er."-- Would not God say to me the same, and more? I will not sing that song. Thou, dearest...Learn More

I see thee, gliding towards me with slow pace Across the azure fields of Paradise, Where thine each footstep makes a star arise. So from this heart's once void but infinite space Each strange sweet touch of thy celestial grace In the old mortal life, struck out some spark To light the world, though all my heaven lay dark. O Beatrice, cypresses...Learn More

There was a marriage-table where One sate, Haply, unnoticed, till they craved His aid: Thenceforward does it seem that He has made All virtuous marriage-tables consecrate: And so, at this, where without pomp or state We sit, and only say, or mute, are fain To wish the simple words "God bless these twain!" I think that He who "in the midst" doth...Learn More

I never lay me down to sleep at night But in my heart I sing that little song: The angels hear it as, a pitying throng, They touch my burning lids with fingers bright As moonbeams, pale, impalpable, and light: And when my daily pious tasks are done, And all my patient prayers said one by one, God hears it. Seems it sinful in His sight That round my...Learn More

I shall not paint them. God them sees, and I: No other can, nor need. They have no form, I may not close with human kisses warm Their eyes which shine afar or from on high, But never will shine nearer till I die. How long, how long! See, I am growing old; I have quite ceased to note in my hair's fold The silver threads that there in ambush...Learn More

Soul, spirit, genius--which thou art--that whence I know not, rose upon this mortal frame Like the sun o'er the mountains, all aflame, Seen large through mists of childish innocence, And year by year with me uptravelling thence, As hour by hour the day-star, madest aspire My nature, interpenetrate with fire It felt but understood not--strong,...Learn More

Regard me well: I am thy love, thy love; Thy blessing, thy delight, thy hope, thy peace: Thy joy above all joys that break and cease When their full waves in widest circles move: Thy bird of comfort, thine eternal dove, Whom thou didst send out of thy mournful breast To flutter back and point thee to thy rest: Thine angel, who forgets her crown...Learn More

"Poor heart, what bitter words we speak When God speaks of resigning!" Children, that lay their pretty garlands by So piteously, yet with a humble mind; Sailors, who, when their ship rocks in the wind, Cast out her freight with half-averted eye, Riches for life exchanging solemnly, Lest they should never gain the wished-for shore;-- Thus we, O...Learn More

From the near city comes the clang of bells: Their hundred jarring diverse tones combine In one faint misty harmony, as fine As the soft note yon winter robin swells.-- What if to Thee in Thine Infinity These multiform and many-colored creeds Seem but the robe man wraps as masquers' weeds Round the one living truth Thou givest him--Thee? What if...Learn More