[ { "title": "Speak Of The North! A Lonely Moor", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "Speak of the North! A lonely moor", "Silent and dark and tractless swells,", "The waves of some wild streamlet pour", "Hurriedly through its ferny dells.", "", "Profoundly still the twilight air,", "Lifeless the landscape; so we deem", "Till like a phantom gliding near", "A stag bends down to drink the stream.", "", "And far away a mountain zone,", "A cold, white waste of snow-drifts lies,", "And one star, large and soft and lone,", "Silently lights the unclouded skies." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Wife's Will", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "Sit still­ a word­ a breath may break", "(As light airs stir a sleeping lake,)", "The glassy calm that soothes my woes,", "The sweet, the deep, the full repose.", "O leave me not ! for ever be", "Thus, more than life itself to me !", "", "Yes, close beside thee, let me kneel­", "Give me thy hand that I may feel", "The friend so true­so tried­so dear,", "My heart's own chosen­indeed is near;", "And check me not­this hour divine", "Belongs to me­is fully mine.", "", "'Tis thy own hearth thou sitt'st beside,", "After long absence­wandering wide;", "'Tis thy own wife reads in thine eyes,", "A promise clear of stormless skies,", "For faith and true love light the rays,", "Which shine responsive to her gaze.", "", "Aye,­well that single tear may fall;", "Ten thousand might mine eyes recall,", "Which from their lids, ran blinding fast,", "In hours of grief, yet scarcely past,", "Well may'st thou speak of love to me;", "For, oh ! most truly­I love thee !", "", "Yet smile­for we are happy now.", "Whence, then, that sadness on thy brow ?", "What say'st thou ? \" We must once again,", "Ere long, be severed by the main ? \"", "I knew not this­I deemed no more,", "Thy step would err from Britain's shore.", "", "\" Duty commands ?\" 'Tis true­'tis just;", "Thy slightest word I wholly trust,", "Nor by request, nor faintest sigh", "Would I, to turn thy purpose, try;", "But, William­hear my solemn vow­", "Hear and confirm !­with thee I go.", "", "\" Distance and suffering,\" did'st thou say ?", "\" Danger by night, and toil by day ?\"", "Oh, idle words, and vain are these;", "Hear me ! I cross with thee the seas.", "Such risk as thou must meet and dare,", "I­thy true wife­will duly share.", "", "Passive, at home, I will not pine;", "Thy toils­thy perils, shall be mine;", "Grant this­and be hereafter paid", "By a warm heart's devoted aid:", "'Tis granted­with that yielding kiss,", "Entered my soul unmingled bliss.", "", "Thanks, William­thanks ! thy love has joy,", "Pure­undefiled with base alloy;", "'Tis not a passion, false and blind,", "Inspires, enchains, absorbs my mind;", "Worthy, I feel, art thou to be", "Loved with my perfect energy.", "", "This evening, now, shall sweetly flow,", "Lit by our clear fire's happy glow;", "And parting's peace-embittering fear,", "Is warned, our hearts to come not near;", "For fate admits my soul's decree,", "In bliss or bale­to go with thee !" ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "Passion", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "SOME have won a wild delight,", "By daring wilder sorrow;", "Could I gain thy love to-night,", "I'd hazard death to-morrow.", "", "Could the battle-struggle earn", "One kind glance from thine eye,", "How this withering heart would burn,", "The heady fight to try !", "", "Welcome nights of broken sleep,", "And days of carnage cold,", "Could I deem that thou wouldst weep", "To hear my perils told.", "", "Tell me, if with wandering bands", "I roam full far away,", "Wilt thou, to those distant lands,", "In spirit ever stray ?", "", "Wild, long, a trumpet sounds afar;", "Bid me­bid me go", "Where Seik and Briton meet in war,", "On Indian Sutlej's flow.", "", "Blood has dyed the Sutlej's waves", "With scarlet stain, I know;", "Indus' borders yawn with graves,", "Yet, command me go !", "", "Though rank and high the holocaust", "Of nations, steams to heaven,", "Glad I'd join the death-doomed host,", "Were but the mandate given.", "", "Passion's strength should nerve my arm,", "Its ardour stir my life,", "Till human force to that dread charm", "Should yield and sink in wild alarm,", "Like trees to tempest-strife.", "", "If, hot from war, I seek thy love,", "Darest thou turn aside ?", "Darest thou, then, my fire reprove,", "By scorn, and maddening pride ?", "", "No­my will shall yet control", "Thy will, so high and free,", "And love shall tame that haughty soul­", "Yes­tenderest love for me.", "", "I'll read my triumph in thine eyes,", "Behold, and prove the change;", "Then leave, perchance, my noble prize,", "Once more in arms to range.", "", "I'd die when all the foam is up,", "The bright wine sparkling high;", "Nor wait till in the exhausted cup", "Life's dull dregs only lie.", "", "Then Love thus crowned with sweet reward,", "Hope blest with fulness large,", "I'd mount the saddle, draw the sword,", "And perish in the charge!" ], "linecount": "53" }, { "title": "Life", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "LIFE, believe, is not a dream", "So dark as sages say;", "Oft a little morning rain", "Foretells a pleasant day.", "Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,", "But these are transient all;", "If the shower will make the roses bloom,", "O why lament its fall ?", "", "Rapidly, merrily,", "Life's sunny hours flit by,", "Gratefully, cheerily,", "Enjoy them as they fly !", "", "What though Death at times steps in", "And calls our Best away ?", "What though sorrow seems to win,", "O'er hope, a heavy sway ?", "Yet hope again elastic springs,", "Unconquered, though she fell;", "Still buoyant are her golden wings,", "Still strong to bear us well.", "Manfully, fearlessly,", "The day of trial bear,", "For gloriously, victoriously,", "Can courage quell despair !" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Pilate's Wife's Dream", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "I've quenched my lamp, I struck it in that start", "Which every limb convulsed, I heard it fall­", "The crash blent with my sleep, I saw depart", "Its light, even as I woke, on yonder wall;", "Over against my bed, there shone a gleam", "Strange, faint, and mingling also with my dream.", "", "It sunk, and I am wrapt in utter gloom;", "How far is night advanced, and when will day", "Retinge the dusk and livid air with bloom,", "And fill this void with warm, creative ray ?", "Would I could sleep again till, clear and red,", "Morning shall on the mountain-tops be spread!", "", "I'd call my women, but to break their sleep,", "Because my own is broken, were unjust;", "", "They've wrought all day, and well-earned slumbers steep", "Their labours in forgetfulness, I trust;", "Let me my feverish watch with patience bear,", "Thankful that none with me its sufferings share.", "", "Yet, Oh, for light ! one ray would tranquilise", "My nerves, my pulses, more than effort can;", "I'll draw my curtain and consult the skies:", "These trembling stars at dead of night look wan,", "Wild, restless, strange, yet cannot be more drear", "Than this my couch, shared by a nameless fear.", "", "All black­one great cloud, drawn from east to west,", "Conceals the heavens, but there are lights below;", "Torches burn in Jerusalem, and cast", "On yonder stony mount a lurid glow.", "I see men stationed there, and gleaming spears;", "A sound, too, from afar, invades my ears.", "", "Dull, measured, strokes of axe and hammer ring", "From street to street, not loud, but through the night", "Distinctly heard­and some strange spectral thing", "Is now upreared­and, fixed against the light", "Of the pale lamps; defined upon that sky,", "It stands up like a column, straight and high.", "", "I see it all­I know the dusky sign­", "A cross on Calvary, which Jews uprear", "", "While Romans watch; and when the dawn shall shine", "Pilate, to judge the victim will appear,", "Pass sentence­yield him up to crucify;", "And on that cross the spotless Christ must die.", "", "Dreams, then, are true­for thus my vision ran;", "Surely some oracle has been with me,", "The gods have chosen me to reveal their plan,", "To warn an unjust judge of destiny:", "I, slumbering, heard and saw; awake I know,", "Christ's coming death, and Pilate's life of woe.", "", "I do not weep for Pilate­who could prove", "Regret for him whose cold and crushing sway", "No prayer can soften, no appeal can move;", "Who tramples hearts as others trample clay,", "Yet with a faltering, an uncertain tread,", "That might stir up reprisal in the dead.", "", "Forced to sit by his side and see his deeds;", "Forced to behold that visage, hour by hour,", "In whose gaunt lines, the abhorrent gazer reads", "A triple lust of gold, and blood, and power;", "A soul whom motives, fierce, yet abject, urge", "Rome's servile slave, and Judah's tyrant scourge.", "", "How can I love, or mourn, or pity him ?", "I, who so long my fettered hands have wrung;", "", "I, who for grief have wept my eye-sight dim;", "Because, while life for me was bright and young,", "He robbed my youth­he quenched my life's fair ray­", "He crushed my mind, and did my freedom slay.", "", "", "And at this hour­although I be his wife­", "He has no more of tenderness from me", "Than any other wretch of guilty life;", "Less, for I know his household privacy­", "I see him as he is­without a screen;", "And, by the gods, my soul abhors his mien !", "", "Has he not sought my presence, dyed in blood­", "Innocent, righteous blood, shed shamelessly ?", "And have I not his red salute withstood ?", "Aye,­when, as erst, he plunged all Galilee", "In dark bereavement­in affliction sore,", "Mingling their very offerings with their gore.", "", "Then came he­in his eyes a serpent-smile,", "Upon his lips some false, endearing word,", "And, through the streets of Salem, clanged the while,", "His slaughtering, hacking, sacrilegious sword­", "And I, to see a man cause men such woe,", "Trembled with ire­I did not fear to show.", "", "And now, the envious Jewish priests have brought", "Jesus­whom they in mockery call their king­", "", "To have, by this grim power, their vengeance wrought;", "By this mean reptile, innocence to sting.", "Oh ! could I but the purposed doom avert,", "And shield the blameless head from cruel hurt!", "", "Accessible is Pilate's heart to fear,", "Omens will shake his soul, like autumn leaf;", "Could he this night's appalling vision hear,", "This just man's bonds were loosed, his life were safe,", "Unless that bitter priesthood should prevail,", "And make even terror to their malice quail.", "", "Yet if I tell the dream­but let me pause.", "What dream ? Erewhile the characters were clear,", "Graved on my brain­at once some unknown cause", "Has dimmed and rased the thoughts, which now appear,", "Like a vague remnant of some by-past scene;­", "Not what will be, but what, long since, has been.", "", "I suffered many things, I heard foretold", "A dreadful doom for Pilate,­lingering woes,", "In far, barbarian climes, where mountains cold", "Built up a solitude of trackless snows,", "There, he and grisly wolves prowled side by side,", "There he lived famished­there methought he died;", "", "But not of hunger, nor by malady;", "I saw the snow around him, stained with gore;", "", "I said I had no tears for such as he,", "And, lo ! my cheek is wet­mine eyes run o'er;", "I weep for mortal suffering, mortal guilt,", "I weep the impious deed­the blood self-spilt.", "", "More I recall not, yet the vision spread", "Into a world remote, an age to come­", "And still the illumined name of Jesus shed", "A light, a clearness, through the enfolding gloom­", "And still I saw that sign, which now I see,", "That cross on yonder brow of Calvary.", "", "What is this Hebrew Christ ? To me unknown,", "His lineage­doctrine­mission­yet how clear,", "Is God-like goodness, in his actions shewn !", "How straight and stainless is his life's career !", "The ray of Deity that rests on him,", "In my eyes makes Olympian glory dim.", "", "The world advances, Greek, or Roman rite", "Suffices not the inquiring mind to stay;", "The searching soul demands a purer light", "To guide it on its upward, onward way;", "Ashamed of sculptured gods­Religion turns", "To where the unseen Jehovah's altar burns.", "", "Our faith is rotten­all our rites defiled,", "Our temples sullied, and methinks, this man,", "With his new ordinance, so wise and mild,", "Is come, even as he says, the chaff to fan", "", "And sever from the wheat; but will his faith", "Survive the terrors of to-morrow's death ?", "", "* * * * *", "", "I feel a firmer trust­a higher hope", "Rise in my soul­it dawns with dawning day;", "Lo ! on the Temple's roof­on Moriah's slope", "Appears at length that clear, and crimson ray,", "Which I so wished for when shut in by night;", "Oh, opening skies, I hail, I bless your light !", "", "Part, clouds and shadows ! glorious Sun appear !", "Part, mental gloom ! Come insight from on high !", "Dusk dawn in heaven still strives with daylight clear,", "The longing soul, doth still uncertain sigh.", "Oh ! to behold the truth­that sun divine,", "How doth my bosom pant, my spirit pine !", "", "This day, time travails with a mighty birth,", "This day, Truth stoops from heaven and visits earth,", "Ere night descends, I shall more surely know", "What guide to follow, in what path to go;", "I wait in hope­I wait in solemn fear,", "The oracle of God­the sole­true God­to hear." ], "linecount": "157" }, { "title": "The Wife's Will", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "SIT still­a word­a breath may break", "(As light airs stir a sleeping lake,)", "The glassy calm that soothes my woes,", "The sweet, the deep, the full repose.", "O leave me not ! for ever be", "Thus, more than life itself to me !", "", "Yes, close beside thee, let me kneel­", "Give me thy hand that I may feel", "The friend so true­so tried­so dear,", "My heart's own chosen­indeed is near;", "And check me not­this hour divine", "Belongs to me­is fully mine.", "", "'Tis thy own hearth thou sitt'st beside,", "After long absence­wandering wide;", "'Tis thy own wife reads in thine eyes,", "A promise clear of stormless skies,", "For faith and true love light the rays,", "Which shine responsive to her gaze.", "", "Aye,­well that single tear may fall;", "Ten thousand might mine eyes recall,", "Which from their lids, ran blinding fast,", "In hours of grief, yet scarcely past,", "Well may'st thou speak of love to me;", "For, oh ! most truly­I love thee !", "", "Yet smile­for we are happy now.", "Whence, then, that sadness on thy brow ?", "What say'st thou ? ' We must once again,", "Ere long, be severed by the main ? '", "I knew not this­I deemed no more,", "Thy step would err from Britain's shore.", "", "' Duty commands ?' 'Tis true­'tis just;", "Thy slightest word I wholly trust,", "Nor by request, nor faintest sigh", "Would I, to turn thy purpose, try;", "But, William­hear my solemn vow­", "Hear and confirm !­with thee I go.", "", "' Distance and suffering,' did'st thou say ?", "' Danger by night, and toil by day ?'", "Oh, idle words, and vain are these;", "Hear me ! I cross with thee the seas.", "Such risk as thou must meet and dare,", "I­thy true wife­will duly share.", "", "Passive, at home, I will not pine;", "Thy toils­thy perils, shall be mine;", "Grant this­and be hereafter paid", "By a warm heart's devoted aid:", "'Tis granted­with that yielding kiss,", "Entered my soul unmingled bliss.", "", "Thanks, William­thanks ! thy love has joy,", "Pure­undefiled with base alloy;", "'Tis not a passion, false and blind,", "Inspires, enchains, absorbs my mind;", "Worthy, I feel, art thou to be", "Loved with my perfect energy.", "", "This evening, now, shall sweetly flow,", "Lit by our clear fire's happy glow;", "And parting's peace-embittering fear,", "Is warned, our hearts to come not near;", "For fate admits my soul's decree,", "In bliss or bale­to go with thee !" ], "linecount": "60" }, { "title": "The Teacher's Monologue", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "The room is quiet, thoughts alone", "People its mute tranquillity;", "The yoke put on, the long task done,­", "I am, as it is bliss to be,", "Still and untroubled. Now, I see,", "For the first time, how soft the day", "O'er waveless water, stirless tree,", "Silent and sunny, wings its way.", "Now, as I watch that distant hill,", "So faint, so blue, so far removed,", "Sweet dreams of home my heart may fill,", "That home where I am known and loved:", "It lies beyond; yon azure brow", "Parts me from all Earth holds for me;", "And, morn and eve, my yearnings flow", "Thitherward tending, changelessly.", "My happiest hours, aye ! all the time,", "I love to keep in memory,", "Lapsed among moors, ere life's first prime", "Decayed to dark anxiety.", "", "Sometimes, I think a narrow heart", "Makes me thus mourn those far away,", "And keeps my love so far apart", "From friends and friendships of to-day;", "Sometimes, I think 'tis but a dream", "I measure up so jealously,", "All the sweet thoughts I live on seem", "To vanish into vacancy:", "And then, this strange, coarse world around", "Seems all that's palpable and true;", "And every sight, and every sound,", "Combines my spirit to subdue", "To aching grief, so void and lone", "Is Life and Earth­so worse than vain,", "The hopes that, in my own heart sown,", "And cherished by such sun and rain", "As Joy and transient Sorrow shed,", "Have ripened to a harvest there:", "Alas ! methinks I hear it said,", "\"Thy golden sheaves are empty air.\"", "All fades away; my very home", "I think will soon be desolate;", "I hear, at times, a warning come", "Of bitter partings at its gate;", "And, if I should return and see", "The hearth-fire quenched, the vacant chair;", "And hear it whispered mournfully,", "That farewells have been spoken there,", "What shall I do, and whither turn ?", "Where look for peace ? When cease to mourn ?", "", "'Tis not the air I wished to play,", "The strain I wished to sing;", "My wilful spirit slipped away", "And struck another string.", "I neither wanted smile nor tear,", "Bright joy nor bitter woe,", "But just a song that sweet and clear,", "Though haply sad, might flow.", "", "A quiet song, to solace me", "When sleep refused to come;", "A strain to chase despondency,", "When sorrowful for home.", "In vain I try; I cannot sing;", "All feels so cold and dead;", "No wild distress, no gushing spring", "Of tears in anguish shed;", "", "But all the impatient gloom of one", "Who waits a distant day,", "When, some great task of suffering done,", "Repose shall toil repay.", "For youth departs, and pleasure flies,", "And life consumes away,", "And youth's rejoicing ardour dies", "Beneath this drear delay;", "", "And Patience, weary with her yoke,", "Is yielding to despair,", "And Health's elastic spring is broke", "Beneath the strain of care.", "Life will be gone ere I have lived;", "Where now is Life's first prime ?", "I've worked and studied, longed and grieved,", "Through all that rosy time.", "", "To toil, to think, to long, to grieve,­", "Is such my future fate ?", "The morn was dreary, must the eve", "Be also desolate ?", "Well, such a life at least makes Death", "A welcome, wished-for friend;", "Then, aid me, Reason, Patience, Faith,", "To suffer to the end !" ], "linecount": "90" }, { "title": "Winter Stores", "author": "Charlotte Bronte", "lines": [ "WE take from life one little share,", "And say that this shall be", "A space, redeemed from toil and care,", "From tears and sadness free.", "", "And, haply, Death unstrings his bow", "And Sorrow stands apart,", "And, for a little while, we know", "The sunshine of the heart.", "", "Existence seems a summer eve,", "Warm, soft, and full of peace;", "Our free, unfettered feelings give", "The soul its full release.", "", "A moment, then, it takes the power,", "To call up thoughts that throw", "Around that charmed and hallowed hour,", "This life's divinest glow.", "", "But Time, though viewlessly it flies,", "And slowly, will not stay;", "Alike, through clear and clouded skies,", "It cleaves its silent way.", "", "Alike the bitter cup of grief,", "Alike the draught of bliss,", "Its progress leaves but moment brief", "For baffled lips to kiss.", "", "The sparkling draught is dried away,", "The hour of rest is gone,", "And urgent voices, round us, say,", "' Ho, lingerer, hasten on !'", "", "And has the soul, then, only gained,", "From this brief time of ease,", "A moment's rest, when overstrained,", "One hurried glimpse of peace ?", "", "No; while the sun shone kindly o'er us,", "And flowers bloomed round our feet,­", "While many a bud of joy before us", "Unclosed its petals sweet,­", "", "An unseen work within was plying;", "Like honey-seeking bee,", "From flower to flower, unwearied, flying,", "Laboured one faculty,­", "", "Thoughtful for Winter's future sorrow,", "Its gloom and scarcity;", "Prescient to-day, of want to-morrow,", "Toiled quiet Memory.", "", "'Tis she that from each transient pleasure", "Extracts a lasting good;", "'Tis she that finds, in summer, treasure", "To serve for winter's food.", "", "And when Youth's summer day is vanished,", "And Age brings Winter's stress,", "Her stores, with hoarded sweets replenished,", "Life's evening hours will bless." ], "linecount": "52" } ]