FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   329   330   331   332   333   334   335   336   337   338   339   340   341   342   343   344   345   346   347   348   349   350   351   352   353  
354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   378   >>   >|  
s of grove and garden dumb, And chills sad autumn's last chrysanthemum; Yet would I find one blossom, if I might, Ere the dark loom that weaves the robe of white Hides all the wrecks of summer out of sight. Sometimes in dim November's narrowing day, When all the season's pride has passed away, As mid the blackened stems and leaves we stray, We spy in sheltered nook or rocky cleft A starry disk the hurrying winds have left, Of all its blooming sisterhood bereft. Some pansy, with its wondering baby eyes Poor wayside nursling!--fixed in blank surprise At the rough welcome of unfriendly skies; Or golden daisy,--will it dare disclaim The lion's tooth, to wear this gentler name? Or blood-red salvia, with its lips aflame. The storms have stripped the lily and the rose, Still on its cheek the flush of summer glows, And all its heart-leaves kindle as it blows. So had I looked some bud of song to find The careless winds of autumn left behind, With these of earlier seasons' growth to bind. Ah me! my skies are dark with sudden grief, A flower lies faded on my garnered sheaf; Yet let the sunshine gild this virgin leaf, The joyous, blessed sunshine of the past, Still with me, though the heavens are overcast,-- The light that shines while life and memory last. Go, pictured rhymes, for loving readers meant; Bring back the smiles your jocund morning lent, And warm their hearts with sunbeams yet unspent! BEVERLY FARMS, July 24, 1884. KING'S CHAPEL READ AT THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY Is it a weanling's weakness for the past That in the stormy, rebel-breeding town, Swept clean of relics by the levelling blast, Still keeps our gray old chapel's name of "King's," Still to its outworn symbols fondly clings,-- Its unchurched mitres and its empty crown? Poor harmless emblems! All has shrunk away That made them gorgons in the patriot's eyes; The priestly plaything harms us not to-day; The gilded crown is but a pleasing show, An old-world heirloom, left from long ago, Wreck of the past that memory bids us prize, Lightly we glance the fresh-cut marbles o'er; Those two of earlier date our eyes enthrall: The proud old Briton's by the western door, And hers, the Lady of Colonial days, Whose virtues live in long-drawn classic phrase,-- The fair Francesca of the southern wall. Ay! those were goodly men that Reynolds drew, And stately dames our Copley's canvas holds, To their old Church, thei
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   329   330   331   332   333   334   335   336   337   338   339   340   341   342   343   344   345   346   347   348   349   350   351   352   353  
354   355   356   357   358   359   360   361   362   363   364   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   378   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

earlier

 

leaves

 

sunshine

 
summer
 

memory

 
autumn
 

symbols

 

chapel

 

hearts

 
outworn

fondly

 

jocund

 

harmless

 

smiles

 

emblems

 

morning

 

clings

 
unchurched
 
mitres
 
weanling

weakness

 

stormy

 
CHAPEL
 

HUNDREDTH

 

ANNIVERSARY

 

relics

 

unspent

 
levelling
 

BEVERLY

 

breeding


sunbeams

 

virtues

 

classic

 

phrase

 

Francesca

 

western

 

Briton

 
Colonial
 

southern

 
canvas

Copley

 

Church

 

stately

 

goodly

 

Reynolds

 

enthrall

 

gilded

 

pleasing

 

plaything

 

shrunk