What was't awakened first the untried ear Of that sole man who was all human kind? Was it the gladsome welcome of the wind, Stirring the leaves that never yet were sere? The four mellifluous streams which flowed so near, Their lulling murmurs all in one combined? The note of bird unnamed? The startled hind Bursting the brake, in wonder, not in...Learn More

Let me not deem that I was made in vain, Or that my being was an accident Which Fate, in working its sublime intent, Not wished to be, to hinder would not deign. Each drop uncounted in a storm of rain Hath its own mission, and is duly sent To its own leaf or blade, not idly spent 'Mid myriad dimples on the shipless main. The very shadow of an...Learn More

The crackling embers on the hearth are dead; The indoor note of industry is still; The latch is fast; upon the window-sill The small birds wait not for their daily bread; The voiceless flowers--how quietly they shed Their nightly odours;--and the household rill Murmurs continuous dulcet sounds that fill The vacant expectation, and the dread Of...Learn More

The mellow year is hastening to its close; The little birds have almost sung their last, Their small notes twitter in the dreary blast-- That shrill-piped harbinger of early snows; The patient beauty of the scentless rose, Oft with the morn's hoar crystal quaintly glassed, Hangs, a pale mourner for the summer past, And makes a little summer where...Learn More

There is an awful quiet in the air, And the sad earth, with moist imploring eye, Looks wide and wakeful at the pondering sky, Like Patience slow subsiding to Despair. But see, the blue smoke as a voiceless prayer, Sole witness of a secret sacrifice, Unfolds its tardy wreaths, and multiplies Its soft chameleon breathings in the rare Capacious...Learn More