I live for those who love me,
Whose hearts are kind and true,
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the human ties that bind me,
For the task by God assigned me,
For the bright hopes left behind me,
And the good that I can do.

I live to learn their story
Who've suffered for my sake,
To emulate their glory,
And to follow in their wake;
Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,
The noble of all ages,
Whose deeds crowd history's pages,
And Time's great volume make.

I live to hold communion
With all that is divine,
To feel there is a union
'Twixt Nature's heart and mine;
To profit by affliction,
Reap truths from fields of fiction,
Grow wiser from conviction,
And fulfill each grand design.

I live to hail that season,
By gifted minds foretold,
When men shall rule by reason,
And not alone by gold;
When man to man united,
And every wrong thing righted,
The whole world shall be lighted
As Eden was of old.

I live for those who love me,
For those who know me true,
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.

_George Linnaeus Banks._

My Love Ship

If all the ships I have at sea
Should come a-sailing home to me,
Weighed down with gems, and silk and gold,
Ah! well, the harbor would not hold
So many ships as there would be,
If all my ships came home from sea.

If half my ships came home from sea,
And brought their precious freight to me,
Ah! well, I should have wealth as great
As any king that sits in state,
So rich the treasure there would be
In half my ships now out at sea.

If but one ship I have at sea
Should come a-sailing home to me,
Ah! well, the storm clouds then might frown,
For, if the others all went down,
Still rich and glad and proud I'd be
If that one ship came home to me.

If that one ship went down at sea
And all the others came to me
Weighed down with gems and wealth untold,
With honor, riches, glory, gold,
The poorest soul on earth I'd be
If that one ship came not to me.

O skies, be calm; O winds, blow free!
Blow all my ships safe home to me,
But if thou sendest some awrack,
To nevermore come sailing back,
Send any, all that skim the sea,
But send my love ship home to me.

_Ella Wheeler Wilcox._

The Man With the Hoe

_(Written after s