[ { "title": "Time And Life", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "I.", "", "Time, thy name is sorrow, says the stricken", "Heart of life, laid waste with wasting flame", "Ere the change of things and thoughts requicken,", "Time, thy name.", "", "Girt about with shadow, blind and lame,", "Ghosts of things that smite and thoughts that sicken", "Hunt and hound thee down to death and shame.", "", "Eyes of hours whose paces halt or quicken", "Read in bloodred lines of loss and blame,", "Writ where cloud and darkness round it thicken,", "Time, thy name.", "", "II.", "", "Nay, but rest is born of me for healing,", "- So might haply time, with voice represt,", "Speak: is grief the last gift of my dealing?", "Nay, but rest.", "", "All the world is wearied, east and west,", "Tired with toil to watch the slow sun wheeling,", "Twelve loud hours of life's laborious quest.", "", "Eyes forspent with vigil, faint and reeling,", "Find at last my comfort, and are blest,", "Not with rapturous light of life's revealing -", "Nay, but rest." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Epistle to Robert Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "Such were the notes thy once-loved Poet sung,", "Till Death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.", "Oh just beheld and lost! admired and mourn'd!", "With softest manners, gentlest arts adorn'd!", "Blest in each science, blest in every strain!", "Dear to the Muse! to Harley dear--in vain!", "", "For him, thou oft hast bid the world attend,", "Fond to forget the statesman in the friend;", "For Swift and him, despised the farce of state,", "The sober follies of the wise and great;", "Dext'rous, the craving, fawning crowd to quit,", "And pleased to 'scape from Flattery to Wit.", "", "Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear,", "(A sigh the absent claims, the dead a tear,)", "Recall those nights that closed thy toilsome days,", "Still hear thy Parnell in his living lays,", "Who, careless now of interest, fame, or fate,", "Perhaps forgets that Oxford e'er was great;", "Or deeming meanest what we greatest call,", "Behold thee glorious only in thy fall.", "", "And sure, if aught below the seats divine", "Can touch immortals, 'tis a soul like thine:", "A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried,", "Above all pain, all passion, and all pride,", "The rage of power, the blast of public breath,", "The lust of lucre, and the dread of death.", "", "In vain to deserts thy retreat is made;", "The Muse attends thee to thy silent shade:", "'Tis hers the brave man's latest steps to trace,", "Rejudge his acts, and dignify disgrace.", "When interest calls off all her sneaking train,", "And all the obliged desert, and all the vain,", "She waits, or to the scaffold, or the cell,", "When the last lingering friend has bid farewell.", "Even now she shades thy evening-walk with bays,", "(No hireling she, no prostitute to praise),", "Even now, observant of the parting ray,", "Eyes the calm sunset of thy various day;", "Through Fortune's cloud one truly great can see,", "Nor fears to tell that Mortimer is he." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Goodtime Jesus", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dream-", "ing so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it?", "A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled", "back, skin falling off. But he wasn't afraid of that. It was a beau-", "tiful day. How 'bout some coffee? Don't mind if I do. Take a little", "ride on my donkey, I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Sonnet 32 - The first time that the sun rose on thine oath", "author": "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", "lines": [ "The first time that the sun rose on thine oath", "To love me, I looked forward to the moon", "To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon", "And quickly tied to make a lasting troth.", "Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;", "And, looking on myself, I seemed not one", "For such man's love!—more like an out-of-tune", "Worn viol, a good singer would be wroth", "To spoil his song with, and which, snatched in haste,", "Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note.", "I did not wrong myself so, but I placed", "A wrong on thee. For perfect strains may float", "'Neath master-hands, from instruments defaced,—", "And great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 38 - First time he kissed me, he but only kissed", "author": "Elizabeth Barrett Browning", "lines": [ "First time he kissed me, he but only kissed", "The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;", "And ever since, it grew more clean and white,", "Slow to world-greetings, quick with its 'Oh, list,'", "When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst", "I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,", "Than that first kiss. The second passed in height", "The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,", "Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!", "That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown,", "With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.", "The third upon my lips was folded down", "In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,", "I have been proud and said, 'My love, my own.'" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "'Twas a long Parting -- but the time", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "'Twas a long Parting -- but the time", "For Interview -- had Come --", "Before the Judgment Seat of God --", "The last -- and second time", "", "These Fleshless Lovers met --", "A Heaven in a Gaze --", "A Heaven of Heavens -- the Privilege", "Of one another's Eyes --", "", "No Lifetime -- on Them --", "Appareled as the new", "Unborn -- except They had beheld --", "Born infiniter -- now --", "", "Was Bridal -- e'er like This?", "A Paradise -- the Host --", "And Cherubim -- and Seraphim --", "The unobtrusive Guest --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "I many times thought Peace had come", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I many times thought Peace had come", "When Peace was far away --", "As Wrecked Men -- deem they sight the Land --", "At Centre of the Sea --", "", "And struggle slacker -- but to prove", "As hopelessly as I --", "How many the fictitious Shores --", "Before the Harbor be --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "You see I cannot see -- your lifetime", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "You see I cannot see -- your lifetime --", "I must guess --", "How many times it ache for me -- today -- Confess --", "How many times for my far sake", "The brave eyes film --", "But I guess guessing hurts --", "Mine -- got so dim!", "", "Too vague -- the face --", "My own -- so patient -- covers --", "Too far -- the strength --", "My timidness enfolds --", "Haunting the Heart --", "Like her translated faces --", "Teasing the want --", "It -- only -- can suffice!" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "'Twas just this time, last year, I died.", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "'Twas just this time, last year, I died.", "I know I heard the Corn,", "When I was carried by the Farms --", "It had the Tassels on --", "", "I thought how yellow it would look --", "When Richard went to mill --", "And then, I wanted to get out,", "But something held my will.", "", "I thought just how Red -- Apples wedged", "The Stubble's joints between --", "And the Carts stooping round the fields", "To take the Pumpkins in --", "", "I wondered which would miss me, least,", "And when Thanksgiving, came,", "If Father'd multiply the plates --", "To make an even Sum --", "", "And would it blur the Christmas glee", "My Stocking hang too high", "For any Santa Claus to reach", "The Altitude of me --", "", "But this sort, grieved myself,", "And so, I thought the other way,", "How just this time, some perfect year --", "Themself, should come to me --" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Pain -- expands the Time --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Pain -- expands the Time --", "Ages coil within", "The minute Circumference", "Of a single Brain --", "", "Pain contracts -- the Time --", "Occupied with Shot", "Gamuts of Eternities", "Are as they were not --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "I suppose the time will come", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I suppose the time will come", "Aid it in the coming", "When the Bird will crowd the Tree", "And the Bee be booming.", "", "I suppose the time will come", "Hinder it a little", "When the Corn in Silk will dress", "And in Chintz the Apple", "", "I believe the Day will be", "When the Jay will giggle", "At his new white House the Earth", "That, too, halt a little --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Three times -- we parted -- Breath -- and I --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Three times -- we parted -- Breath -- and I --", "Three times -- He would not go --", "But strove to stir the lifeless Fan", "The Waters -- strove to stay.", "", "Three Times -- the Billows tossed me up --", "Then caught me -- like a Ball --", "Then made Blue faces in my face --", "And pushed away a sail", "", "That crawled Leagues off -- I liked to see --", "For thinking -- while I die --", "How pleasant to behold a Thing", "Where Human faces -- be --", "", "The Waves grew sleepy -- Breath -- did not --", "The Winds -- like Children -- lulled --", "Then Sunrise kissed my Chrysalis --", "And I stood up -- and lived --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "I had no time to Hate", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I had no time to Hate --", "Because", "The Grave would hinder Me --", "And Life was not so", "Ample I", "Could finish -- Enmity --", "", "Nor had I time to Love --", "But since", "Some Industry must be --", "The little Toil of Love --", "I thought", "Be large enough for Me --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "They say that \"Time assuages\" --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "They say that \"Time assuages\" --", "Time never did assuage --", "An actual suffering strengthens", "As Sinews do, with age --", "", "Time is a Test of Trouble --", "But not a Remedy --", "If such it prove, it prove too", "There was no Malady --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Nature -- sometimes sears a Sapling", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Nature -- sometimes sears a Sapling --", "Sometimes -- scalps a Tree --", "Her Green People recollect it", "When they do not die --", "", "Fainter Leaves -- to Further Seasons --", "Dumbly testify --", "We -- who have the Souls --", "Die oftener -- Not so vitally --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Too happy Time dissolves itself", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Too happy Time dissolves itself", "And leaves no remnant by --", "'Tis Anguish not a Feather hath", "Or too much weight to fly --" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Time does go on --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Time does go on --", "I tell it gay to those who suffer now --", "They shall survive --", "There is a sun --", "They don't believe it now --" ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "Some time", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Last night, my darling, as you slept,", "I thought I heard you sigh,", "And to your little crib I crept,", "And watched a space thereby;", "And then I stooped and kissed your brow,", "For oh! I love you so--", "You are too young to know it now,", "But some time you shall know!", "", "Some time when, in a darkened place", "Where others come to weep,", "Your eyes shall look upon a face", "Calm in eternal sleep,", "The voiceless lips, the wrinkled brow,", "The patient smile shall show--", "You are too young to know it now,", "But some time you may know!", "", "Look backward, then, into the years,", "And see me here to-night--", "See, O my darling! how my tears", "Are falling as I write;", "And feel once more upon your brow", "The kiss of long ago--", "You are too young to know it now,", "But some time you shall know." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Kissing time", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "'T is when the lark goes soaring", "And the bee is at the bud,", "When lightly dancing zephyrs", "Sing over field and flood;", "When all sweet things in nature", "Seem joyfully achime -", "'T is then I wake my darling,", "For it is kissing time!", "", "Go, pretty lark, a-soaring,", "And suck your sweets, 0 bee;", "Sing, 0 ye winds of summer,", "Your songs to mine and me;", "For with your song and rapture", "Cometh the moment when", "It's half-past kissing time", "And time to kiss again!", "", "So - so the days go fleeting", "Like golden fancies free,", "And every day that cometh", "Is full of sweets for me;", "And sweetest are those moments", "My darling comes to climb", "Into my lap to mind me", "That it is kissing time.", "", "Sometimes, maybe, he wanders", "A heedless, aimless way -", "Sometimes, maybe, he loiters", "In pretty, prattling play;", "But presently bethinks him", "And hastens to me then,", "For it's half-past kissing time", "And time to kiss again!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Picnic-time", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "It's June ag'in, an' in my soul I feel the fillin' joy", "That's sure to come this time o' year to every little boy;", "For, every June, the Sunday-schools at picnics may be seen,", "Where \"fields beyont the swellin' floods stand dressed in livin' green\";", "Where little girls are skeered to death with spiders, bugs, and ants,", "An' little boys get grass-stains on their go-to meetin' pants.", "It's June ag'in, an' with it all what happiness is mine -", "There's goin' to be a picnic, an' I'm goin' to jine!", "", "One year I jined the Baptists, an' goodness! how it rained!", "(But grampa says that that's the way \"baptizo\" is explained.)", "And once I jined the 'Piscopils an' had a heap o' fun -", "But the boss of all the picnics was the Presbyteriun!", "They had so many puddin's, sallids, sandwidges, an' pies,", "That a feller wisht his stummick was as hungry as his eyes!", "Oh, yes, the eatin' Presbyteriuns give yer is so fine", "That when they have a picnic, you bet I'm goin' to jine!", "", "But at this time the Methodists have special claims on me,", "For they're goin' to give a picnic on the 21st, D. V.;", "Why should a liberal universalist like me object", "To share the joys of fellowship with every friendly sect?", "However het'rodox their articles of faith elsewise may be,", "Their doctrine of fried chick'n is a savin' grace to me!", "So on the 21st of June, the weather bein' fine,", "They're goin' to give a picnic, and I'm goin' to jine!" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Who Bides His Time", "author": "James Whitcomb Riley", "lines": [ "Who bides his time, and day by day", "Faces defeat full patiently,", "And lifts a mirthful roundelay,", "However poor his fortunes be,--", "He will not fail in any qualm", "Of poverty -- the paltry dime", "It will grow golden in his palm,", "Who bides his time.", "", "Who bides his time -- he tastes the sweet", "Of honey in the saltest tear;", "And though he fares with slowest feet,", "Joy runs to meet him, drawing near;", "The birds are hearalds of his cause;", "And, like a never-ending rhyme,", "The roadsides bloom in his applause,", "Who bides his time.", "", "Who bides his time, and fevers not", "In the hot race that none achieves,", "Shall wear cool-wreathen laurel, wrought", "With crimson berries in the leaves;", "And he shall reign a goodly king,", "And sway his hand o'er every clime", "With peace writ on his signet-ring,", "Who bides his time." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "How Soon Hath Time", "author": "John Milton", "lines": [ "How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,", "Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year!", "My hasting days fly on wtih full career,", "But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.", "Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,", "That I to manhood am arrived so near,", "And inward ripeness doth much less appear,", "That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.", "Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,", "It shall be still in strictest measure even", "To that same lot, however mean or high,", "Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;", "All is, if I have grace to use it so,", "As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "On Time", "author": "John Milton", "lines": [ "Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,", "Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,", "Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;", "And glut thy self with what thy womb devours,", "Which is no more then what is false and vain,", "And meerly mortal dross;", "So little is our loss,", "So little is thy gain.", "For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd,", "And last of all, thy greedy self consum'd,", "Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss", "With an individual kiss;", "And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,", "When every thing that is sincerely good", "And perfectly divine,", "With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine", "About the supreme Throne", "Of him, t'whose happy-making sight alone,", "When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall clime,", "Then all this Earthy grosnes quit,", "Attir'd with Stars, we shall for ever sit,", "Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "Mid-ocean in War-time", "author": "Joyce Kilmer", "lines": [ "(For My Mother)", "", "The fragile splendour of the level sea,", "The moon's serene and silver-veiled face,", "Make of this vessel an enchanted place", "Full of white mirth and golden sorcery.", "Now, for a time, shall careless laughter be", "Blended with song, to lend song sweeter grace,", "And the old stars, in their unending race,", "Shall heed and envy young humanity.", "And yet to-night, a hundred leagues away,", "These waters blush a strange and awful red.", "Before the moon, a cloud obscenely grey", "Rises from decks that crash with flying lead.", "And these stars smile their immemorial way", "On waves that shroud a thousand newly dead!" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "The Reply to Time", "author": "Robinson", "lines": [ "O TIME, forgive the mournful song", "That on thy pinions stole along,", "When the rude hand of pain severe", "Chas'd down my cheek the burning tear;", "When sorrow chill'd each warm desire", "That kindles FANCY'S lambent fire;", "When HOPE, by fost'ring FRIENDSHIP rear'd,", "A phantom of the brain appear'd;", "Forgive the song, devoid of art,", "That stole spontaneous from my heart;", "For when that heart shall throb no more,", "And all its keen regrets be o'er;", "Should kind remembrance shed one tear", "To sacred FRIENDSHIP o'er my bier;", "When the dark precincts of the tomb,", "Shall hide me in its deepest gloom;", "O! should'st thou on thy wafting wing", "The sigh of gentle sorrow bring;", "Or fondly deign to bear the name", "Of one, alas! unknown to fame;", "Then, shall my weak untutor'd rhyme,", "Exulting boast the gifts of TIME.", "", "But while I feel youth's vivid fire", "Fann'd by the breath of care expire;", "While no blest ray of HOPE divine,", "O'er my chill'd bosom deigns to shine:", "While doom'd to mark the vapid day", "In tasteless languor waste away:", "Still, still, my sad and plaintive rhyme", "Must blame the ruthless pow'r of TIME.", "", "Each infant flow'r of rainbow hue,", "That bathes its head in morning dew,", "At twilight droops; the mountain PINE,", "Whose high and waving brows incline", "O'er the white cataract's foamy way,", "Shall at THY withering touch decay!", "The craggy cliffs that proudly rise", "In awful splendour 'midst the skies,", "Shall to the vale in fragments roll,", "Obedient to thy fell controul!", "The loftiest fabric rear'd to fame;", "The sculptur'd BUST, the POET'S name;", "The softest tint of TITIAN die;", "The boast of magic MINSTRELSY;", "The vows to holy FRIENDSHIP dear;", "The sainted smile of LOVE sincere,", "The flame that warms th' empassion'd heart;", "All that fine feeling can impart;", "The wonders of exterior grace;", "The spells that bind the fairest face;", "Fade in oblivion's torpid hour", "The victims of thy TYRANT POW'R!" ], "linecount": "52" }, { "title": "Sonnet XVII: Stay, Speedy Time", "author": "Michael Drayton", "lines": [ "To Time", "", "Stay, speedy Time, behold, before thou pass,", "From age to age what thou hast sought to see,", "One in whom all the excellencies be,", "In whom Heav'n looks itself as in a glass.", "Time, look thyself in this tralucent glass,", "And thy youth past in this pure mirror see,", "As the world's beauty in his infancy,", "What is was then, and thou before it was.", "Pass on, and to posterity tell this,", "Yet see thou tell but truly what hath been;", "Say to our nephews that thou once hast seen", "In perfect human shape all heav'nly bliss,", "And bid them mourn, nay more, despair with thee,", "That she is gone, her like again to see." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Sonnet LVIII: In Former Times", "author": "Michael Drayton", "lines": [ "In former times such as had store of coin,", "In wars at home, or when for conquests bound,", "For fear that some their treasure should purloin,", "Gave it to keep to spirits within the ground,", "And to attend it them as strongly tied", "Till they return'd; home when they never came,", "Such as by art to get the same have tried", "From the strong Spirit by no means force the same;", "Nearer men come, that further flies away,", "Striving to hold it strongly in the deep.", "E'en as this Spirit, so you alone do play", "With those rich beauties Heav'n gives you to keep;", "Pity, so left to the coldness of your blood,", "Not to avail you, nor do the others good." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "If Sometimes in the Haunts of Men", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "If sometimes in the haunts of men", " Thine image from my breast may fade,", "The lonely hour presents again", " The semblance of thy gentle shade:", "And now that sad and silent hour", " Thus much of thee can still restore,", "And sorrow unobserved may pour", " The plaint she dare not speak before.", "", "Oh, pardon that in crowds awhile", " I waste one thought I owe to thee,", "And self-condemned, appear to smile,", " Unfaithful to thy memory:", "Nor deem that memory less dear,", " That then I seem not to repine;", "I would not fools should overhear", " One sigh that should be wholly _thine_.", "", "If not the Goblet pass unquaffed,", " It is not drained to banish care;", "The cup must hold a deadlier draught", " That brings a Lethe for despair.", "And could Oblivion set my soul", " From all her troubled visions free,", "I'd dash to earth the sweetest bowl", " That drowned a single thought of thee.", "", "For wert thou vanished from my mind,", " Where could my vacant bosom turn?", "And who would then remain behind", " To honour thine abandoned Urn?", "No, no--it is my sorrow's pride", " That last dear duty to fulfil;", "Though all the world forget beside,", " 'Tis meet that I remember still.", "", "For well I know, that such had been", " Thy gentle care for him, who now", "Unmourned shall quit this mortal scene,", " Where none regarded him, but thou:", "And, oh! I feel in _that_ was given", " A blessing never meant for me;", "Thou wert too like a dream of Heaven,", " For earthly Love to merit thee." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "To Time", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Time! on whose arbitrary wing", " The varying hours must flag or fly,", "Whose tardy winter, fleeting spring,", " But drag or drive us on to die--", "Hail thou! who on my birth bestowed", " Those boons to all that know thee known;", "Yet better I sustain thy load,", " For now I bear the weight alone.", "I would not one fond heart should share", " The bitter moments thou hast given;", "And pardon thee--since thou couldst spare", " All that I loved, to peace or Heaven.", "To them be joy or rest--on me", " Thy future ills shall press in vain;", "I nothing owe but years to thee,", " A debt already paid in pain.", "Yet even that pain was some relief;", " It felt, but still forgot thy power:", "The active agony of grief", " Retards, but never counts the hour.", "In joy I've sighed to think thy flight", " Would soon subside from swift to slow;", "Thy cloud could overcast the light,", " But could not add a night to Woe;", "For then, however drear and dark,", " My soul was suited to thy sky;", "One star alone shot forth a spark", " To prove thee--not Eternity.", "That beam hath sunk--and now thou art", " A blank--a thing to count and curse", "Through each dull tedious trifling part,", " Which all regret, yet all rehearse.", "One scene even thou canst not deform--", " The limit of thy sloth or speed", "When future wanderers bear the storm", " Which we shall sleep too sound to heed.", "And I can smile to think how weak", " Thine efforts shortly shall be shown,", "When all the vengeance thou canst wreak", " Must fall upon--a nameless stone." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Time was upon", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Wrinkles no more are, or no less,", "Than beauty turn'd to sourness." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Gather ye rose-buds while ye may:", "Old Time is still a-flying;", "And this same flower that smiles to-day,", "To-morrow will be dying.", "", "The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,", "The higher he's a-getting,", "The sooner will his race be run,", "And nearer he's to setting.", "", "That age is best, which is the first,", "When youth and blood are warmer;", "But being spent, the worse, and worst", "Times, still succeed the former.", "", "--Then be not coy, but use your time,", "And while ye may, go marry;", "For having lost but once your prime,", "You may for ever tarry." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "To Virgins, to Make Much of Time", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,", "Old time is still a-flying", "And this same flower that smiles today", "Tomorrow will be dying.", "", "The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,", "The higher he's a-getting,", "The sooner will his race be run,", "And nearer he's to setting.", "", "That age is best which is the first,", "When youth and blood are warmer;", "But being spent, the worse, and worst", "Times still succeed the former.", "", "Then be not coy, but use your time,", "And, while ye may, go marry;", "For, having lost but once your prime,", "You may forever tarry." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "TO ENJOY THE TIME", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "While fates permit us, let's be merry;", "Pass all we must the fatal ferry;", "And this our life, too, whirls away,", "With the rotation of the day." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Winter-Time", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,", "A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;", "Blinks but an hour or two; and then,", "A blood-red orange, sets again.", "", "Before the stars have left the skies,", "At morning in the dark I rise;", "And shivering in my nakedness,", "By the cold candle, bathe and dress.", "", "Close by the jolly fire I sit", "To warm my frozen bones a bit;", "Or with a reindeer-sled, explore", "The colder countries round the door.", "", "When to go out, my nurse doth wrap", "Me in my comforter and cap;", "The cold wind burns my face, and blows", "Its frosty pepper up my nose.", "", "Black are my steps on silver sod;", "Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;", "And tree and house, and hill and lake,", "Are frosted like a wedding cake." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "The Hard Times In Elfland", "author": "Sidney Lanier", "lines": [ "A Story of Christmas Eve.", "", "Strange that the termagant winds should scold", "The Christmas Eve so bitterly!", "But Wife, and Harry the four-year-old,", "Big Charley, Nimblewits, and I,", "", "Blithe as the wind was bitter, drew", "More frontward of the mighty fire,", "Where wise Newfoundland Fan foreknew", "The heaven that Christian dogs desire --", "", "Stretched o'er the rug, serene and grave,", "Huge nose on heavy paws reclined,", "With never a drowning boy to save,", "And warmth of body and peace of mind.", "", "And, as our happy circle sat,", "The fire well capp'd the company:", "In grave debate or careless chat,", "A right good fellow, mingled he:", "", "He seemed as one of us to sit,", "And talked of things above, below,", "With flames more winsome than our wit,", "And coals that burned like love aglow.", "", "While thus our rippling discourse rolled", "Smooth down the channel of the night,", "We spoke of Time: thereat, one told", "A parable of the Seasons' flight.", "", "\"Time was a Shepherd with four sheep.", "In a certain Field he long abode.", "He stood by the bars, and his flock bade leap", "One at a time to the Common Road.", "", "\"And first there leapt, like bird on wing,", "A lissome Lamb that played in the air.", "I heard the Shepherd call him `Spring':", "Oh, large-eyed, fresh and snowy fair", "", "\"He skipped the flowering Highway fast,", "Hurried the hedgerows green and white,", "Set maids and men a-yearning, passed", "The Bend, and gamboll'd out of sight.", "", "\"And next marched forth a matron Ewe", "(While Time took down a bar for her),", "Udder'd so large 'twas much ado", "E'en then to clear the barrier.", "", "\"Full softly shone her silken fleece", "What stately time she paced along:", "Each heartsome hoof-stroke wrought increase", "Of sunlight, substance, seedling, song,", "", "\"In flower, in fruit, in field, in bird,", "Till the great globe, rich fleck'd and pied,", "Like some large peach half pinkly furred,", "Turned to the sun a glowing side", "", "\"And hung in the heavenly orchard, bright,", "None-such, complete.", "Then, while the Ewe", "Slow passed the Bend, a blur of light,", "The Shepherd's face in sadness grew:", "", "\"`Summer!' he said, as one would say", "A sigh in syllables. So, in haste", "(For shame of Summer's long delay,", "Yet gazing still what way she paced),", "", "\"He summoned Autumn, slanting down", "The second bar. Thereover strode", "A Wether, fleeced in burning brown,", "And largely loitered down the Road.", "", "\"Far as the farmers sight his shape", "Majestic moving o'er the way,", "All cry `To harvest,' crush the grape,", "And haul the corn and house the hay,", "", "\"Till presently, no man can say,", "(So brown the woods that line that end)", "If yet the brown-fleeced Wether may,", "Or not, have passed beyond the Bend.", "", "\"Now turn I towards the Shepherd: lo,", "An aged Ram, flapp'd, gnarly-horn'd,", "With bones that crackle o'er the snow,", "Rheum'd, wind-gall'd, rag-fleec'd, burr'd and thorn'd.", "", "\"Time takes the third bar off for him,", "He totters down the windy lane.", "'Tis Winter, still: the Bend lies dim.", "O Lamb, would thou wouldst leap again!\"", "", "Those seasons out, we talked of these:", "And I (with inward purpose sly", "To shield my purse from Christmas trees", "And stockings and wild robbery", "", "When Hal and Nimblewits invade", "My cash in Santa Claus's name)", "In full the hard, hard times surveyed;", "Denounced all waste as crime and shame;", "", "Hinted that \"waste\" might be a term", "Including skates, velocipedes,", "Kites, marbles, soldiers, towers infirm,", "Bows, arrows, cannon, Indian reeds,", "", "Cap-pistols, drums, mechanic toys,", "And all th' infernal host of horns", "Whereby to strenuous hells of noise", "Are turned the blessed Christmas morns;", "", "Thus, roused -- those horns! -- to sacred rage,", "I rose, forefinger high in air,", "When Harry cried (SOME war to wage),", "\"Papa, is hard times ev'ywhere?", "", "\"Maybe in Santa Claus's land", "It isn't hard times none at all!\"", "Now, blessed Vision! to my hand", "Most pat, a marvel strange did fall.", "", "Scarce had my Harry ceased, when \"Look!\"", "He cried, leapt up in wild alarm,", "Ran to my Comrade, shelter took", "Beneath the startled mother's arm.", "", "And so was still: what time we saw", "A foot hang down the fireplace! Then,", "With painful scrambling scratched and raw,", "Two hands that seemed like hands of men", "", "Eased down two legs and a body through", "The blazing fire, and forth there came", "Before our wide and wondering view", "A figure shrinking half with shame,", "", "And half with weakness. \"Sir,\" I said,", "-- But with a mien of dignity", "The seedy stranger raised his head:", "\"My friends, I'm Santa Claus,\" said he.", "", "But oh, how changed! That rotund face", "The new moon rivall'd, pale and thin;", "Where once was cheek, now empty space;", "Whate'er stood out, did now stand in.", "", "His piteous legs scarce propped him up:", "His arms mere sickles seemed to be:", "But most o'erflowed our sorrow's cup", "When that we saw -- or did not see --", "", "His belly: we remembered how", "It shook like a bowl of jelly fine:", "An earthquake could not shake it now;", "He HAD no belly -- not a sign.", "", "\"Yes, yes, old friends, you well may stare:", "I HAVE seen better days,\" he said:", "\"But now, with shrinkage, loss and care,", "Your Santa Claus scarce owns his head.", "", "\"We've had such hard, hard times this year", "For goblins! Never knew the like.", "All Elfland's mortgaged! And we fear", "The gnomes are just about to strike.", "", "\"I once was rich, and round, and hale.", "The whole world called me jolly brick;", "But listen to a piteous tale.", "Young Harry, -- Santa Claus is sick!", "", "\"'Twas thus: a smooth-tongued railroad man", "Comes to my house and talks to me:", "`I've got,' says he, `a little plan", "That suits this nineteenth century.", "", "\"`Instead of driving, as you do,", "Six reindeer slow from house to house,", "Let's build a Grand Trunk Railway through", "From here to earth's last terminus.", "", "\"`We'll touch at every chimney-top", "(An Elevated Track, of course),", "Then, as we whisk you by, you'll drop", "Each package down: just think, the force", "", "\"`You'll save, the time! -- Besides, we'll make", "Our millions: look you, soon we will", "Compete for freights -- and then we'll take", "Dame Fortune's bales of good and ill", "", "\"`(Why, she's the biggest shipper, sir,", "That e'er did business in this world!):", "Then Death, that ceaseless Traveller,", "Shall on his rounds by us be whirled.", "", "\"`When ghosts return to walk with men,", "We'll bring 'em cheap by steam, and fast:", "We'll run a Branch to heaven! and then", "We'll riot, man; for then, at last", "", "\"`We'll make with heaven a contract fair", "To call, each hour, from town to town,", "And carry the dead folks' souls up there,", "And bring the unborn babies down!'", "", "\"The plan seemed fair: I gave him cash,", "Nay, every penny I could raise.", "My wife e'er cried, `'Tis rash, 'tis rash:'", "How could I know the stock-thief's ways?", "", "\"But soon I learned full well, poor fool!", "My woes began, that wretched day.", "The President plied me like a tool.", "In lawyer's fees, and rights of way,", "", "\"Injunctions, leases, charters, I", "Was meshed as in a mighty maze.", "The stock ran low, the talk ran high:", "Then quickly flamed the final blaze.", "", "\"With never an inch of track -- 'tis true!", "The debts were large . . . the oft-told tale.", "The President rolled in splendor new", "-- He bought my silver at the sale.", "", "\"Yes, sold me out: we've moved away.", "I've had to give up everything.", "My reindeer, even, whom I . . . pray,", "Excuse me\" . . . here, o'er-sorrowing,", "", "Poor Santa Claus burst into tears,", "Then calmed again: \"my reindeer fleet,", "I gave them up: on foot, my dears,", "I now must plod through snow and sleet.", "", "\"Retrenchment rules in Elfland, now;", "Yes, every luxury is cut off.", "-- Which, by the way, reminds me how", "I caught this dreadful hacking cough:", "", "\"I cut off the tail of my Ulster furred", "To make young Kris a coat of state.", "That very night the storm occurred!", "Thus we became the sport of Fate.", "", "\"For I was out till after one,", "Surveying chimney-tops and roofs,", "And planning how it could be done", "Without my reindeers' bouncing hoofs.", "", "\"`My dear,' says Mrs. Claus, that night", "(A most superior woman she!)", "`It never, never can be right", "That you, deep-sunk in poverty,", "", "\"`This year should leave your poor old bed,", "And trot about, bent down with toys,", "(There's Kris a-crying now for bread!)", "To give to other people's boys.", "", "\"`Since you've been out, the news arrives", "The Elfs' Insurance Company's gone.", "Ah, Claus, those premiums! Now, our lives", "Depend on yours: thus griefs go on.", "", "\"`And even while you're thus harassed,", "I do believe, if out you went,", "You'd go, in spite of all that's passed,", "To the children of that President!'", "", "\"Oh, Charley, Harry, Nimblewits,", "These eyes, that night, ne'er slept a wink.", "My path seemed honeycombed with pits.", "Naught could I do but think and think.", "", "\"But, with the day, my courage rose.", "Ne'er shall my boys, MY boys (I cried),", "When Christmas morns their eyes unclose,", "Find empty stockings gaping wide!", "", "\"Then hewed and whacked and whittled I;", "The wife, the girls and Kris took fire;", "They spun, sewed, cut, -- till by and by", "We made, at home, my pack entire!\"", "", "(He handed me a bundle, here.)", "\"Now, hoist me up: there, gently: quick!", "Dear boys, DON'T look for much this year:", "Remember, Santa Claus is sick!\"" ], "linecount": "238" }, { "title": "Time of Roses", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "It was not in the Winter", "Our loving lot was cast;", "It was the time of roses—", "We pluck'd them as we pass'd!", "", "That churlish season never frown'd", "On early lovers yet:", "O no—the world was newly crown'd", "With flowers when first we met!", "", "'Twas twilight, and I bade you go,", "But still you held me fast;", "It was the time of roses—", "We pluck'd them as we pass'd!" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Time I've Lost In Wooing", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "The time I've lost in wooing,", "In watching and pursuing", "The light that lies", "In woman's eyes,", "Has been my heart's undoing.", "Tho' Wisdom oft has sought me,", "I scorn'd the lore she brought me,", "My only books", "Were women's looks,", "And folly's all they taught me.", "", "Her smile when Beauty granted,", "I hung with gaze enchanted,", "Like him the Sprite", "Whom maids by night", "Oft meet in glen that's haunted.", "Like him, too, Beauty won me;", "But when the spell was on me,", "If once their ray", "Was turn'd away,", "O! winds could not outrun me.", "", "And are those follies going?", "And is my proud heart growing", "Too cold or wise", "For brillant eyes", "Again to set it glowing?", "No -- vain, alas! th' endeavour", "From bonds so sweet to sever: --", "Poor Wisdom's chance", "Against a glance", "Is now as weak as ever." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Warble for Lilac-Time.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "WARBLE me now, for joy of Lilac-time,", "Sort me, O tongue and lips, for Nature’s sake, and sweet life’s sake—and", " death’s the same as life’s,", "Souvenirs of earliest summer—birds’ eggs, and the first berries;", "Gather the welcome signs, (as children, with pebbles, or stringing shells;)", "Put in April and May—the hylas croaking in the ponds—the elastic air,", "Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes,", "Blue-bird, and darting swallow—nor forget the high-hole flashing his golden wings,", "The tranquil sunny haze, the clinging smoke, the vapor,", "Spiritual, airy insects, humming on gossamer wings,", "Shimmer of waters, with fish in them—the cerulean above;", "All that is jocund and sparkling—the brooks running,", "The maple woods, the crisp February days, and the sugar-making;", "The robin, where he hops, bright-eyed, brown-breasted,", "With musical clear call at sunrise, and again at sunset,", "Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the nest of his mate;", "The melted snow of March—the willow sending forth its yellow-green sprouts;", "—For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it and from it?", "Thou, Soul, unloosen’d—the restlessness after I know not what;", "Come! let us lag here no longer—let us be up and away!", "O for another world! O if one could but fly like a bird!", "O to escape—to sail forth, as in a ship!", "To glide with thee, O Soul, o’er all, in all, as a ship o’er the waters!", "—Gathering these hints, these preludes—the blue sky, the grass, the morning", " drops of", " dew;", "(With additional songs—every spring will I now strike up additional songs,", "Nor ever again forget, these tender days, the chants of Death as well as Life;)", "The lilac-scent, the bushes, and the dark green, heart-shaped leaves,", "Wood violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence,", "Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,", "To tally, drench’d with them, tested by them,", "Cities and artificial life, and all their sights and scenes,", "My mind henceforth, and all its meditations—my recitatives,", "My land, my age, my race, for once to serve in songs,", "(Sprouts, tokens ever of death indeed the same as life,)", "To grace the bush I love—to sing with the birds,", "A warble for joy of Lilac-time." ], "linecount": "38" }, { "title": "Or from that Sea of Time.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "OR, from that Sea of Time,", "Spray, blown by the wind—a double winrow-drift of weeds and shells;", "(O little shells, so curious-convolute! so limpid-cold and voiceless!", "Yet will you not, to the tympans of temples held,", "Murmurs and echoes still bring up—Eternity’s music, faint and far,", "Wafted inland, sent from Atlantica’s rim—strains for the Soul of the Prairies,", "Whisper’d reverberations—chords for the ear of the West, joyously sounding", "Your tidings old, yet ever new and untranslatable;)", "Infinitessimals out of my life, and many a life,", "(For not my life and years alone I give—all, all I give;)", "These thoughts and Songs—waifs from the deep—here, cast high and dry,", "Wash’d on America’s shores.", "", "2", "Currents of starting a Continent new,", "Overtures sent to the solid out of the liquid,", "Fusion of ocean and land—tender and pensive waves,", "(Not safe and peaceful only—waves rous’d and ominous too.", "Out of the depths, the storm’s abysms—Who knows whence? Death’s waves,", "Raging over the vast, with many a broken spar and tatter’d sail.)" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "As the Time Draws Nigh.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "AS the time draws nigh, glooming, a cloud,", "A dread beyond, of I know not what, darkens me.", "", "I shall go forth,", "I shall traverse The States awhile—but I cannot tell whither or how long;", "Perhaps soon, some day or night while I am singing, my voice will suddenly cease.", "", "2", "O book, O chants! must all then amount to but this?", "Must we barely arrive at this beginning of us?... And yet it is enough, O soul!", "O soul! we have positively appear’d—that is enough." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "To Think of Time.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "TO think of time—of all that retrospection!", "To think of to-day, and the ages continued henceforward!", "", "Have you guess’d you yourself would not continue?", "Have you dreaded these earth-beetles?", "Have you fear’d the future would be nothing to you?", "", "Is to-day nothing? Is the beginningless past nothing?", "If the future is nothing, they are just as surely nothing.", "", "To think that the sun rose in the east! that men and women were flexible, real, alive!", " that", " everything was alive!", "To think that you and I did not see, feel, think, nor bear our part!", "To think that we are now here, and bear our part!", "", "2", "Not a day passes—not a minute or second, without an accouchement!", "Not a day passes—not a minute or second, without a corpse!", "", "The dull nights go over, and the dull days also,", "The soreness of lying so much in bed goes over,", "The physician, after long putting off, gives the silent and terrible look for an answer,", "The children come hurried and weeping, and the brothers and sisters are sent for,", "Medicines stand unused on the shelf—(the camphor-smell has long pervaded the rooms,)", "The faithful hand of the living does not desert the hand of the dying,", "The twitching lips press lightly on the forehead of the dying,", "The breath ceases, and the pulse of the heart ceases,", "The corpse stretches on the bed, and the living look upon it,", "It is palpable as the living are palpable.", "", "The living look upon the corpse with their eye-sight,", "But without eye-sight lingers a different living, and looks curiously on the corpse.", "", "3", "To think the thought of Death, merged in the thought of materials!", "To think that the rivers will flow, and the snow fall, and fruits ripen, and act upon", " others as", " upon us now—yet not act upon us!", "To think of all these wonders of city and country, and others taking great interest in", " them—and we taking no interest in them!", "", "To think how eager we are in building our houses!", "To think others shall be just as eager, and we quite indifferent!", "", "(I see one building the house that serves him a few years, or seventy or eighty years at", " most,", "I see one building the house that serves him longer than that.)", "", "Slow-moving and black lines creep over the whole earth—they never cease—they are", " the", " burial lines,", "He that was President was buried, and he that is now President shall surely be buried.", "", "4", "A reminiscence of the vulgar fate,", "A frequent sample of the life and death of workmen,", "Each after his kind:", "Cold dash of waves at the ferry-wharf—posh and ice in the river, half-frozen mud in", " the", " streets, a gray, discouraged sky overhead, the short, last daylight of Twelfth-month,", "A hearse and stages—other vehicles give place—the funeral of an old Broadway", " stage-driver, the cortege mostly drivers.", "", "Steady the trot to the cemetery, duly rattles the death-bell, the gate is pass’d, the", " new-dug grave is halted at, the living alight, the hearse uncloses,", "The coffin is pass’d out, lower’d and settled, the whip is laid on the coffin,", " the", " earth is swiftly shovel’d in,", "The mound above is flatted with the spades—silence,", "A minute—no one moves or speaks—it is done,", "He is decently put away—is there anything more?", "", "He was a good fellow, free-mouth’d, quick-temper’d, not bad-looking, able to", " take his", " own part, witty, sensitive to a slight, ready with life or death for a friend, fond of", " women,", " gambled, ate hearty, drank hearty, had known what it was to be flush, grew low-spirited", " toward", " the last, sicken’d, was help’d by a contribution, died, aged forty-one", " years—and", " that was his funeral.", "", "Thumb extended, finger uplifted, apron, cape, gloves, strap, wet-weather clothes, whip", " carefully chosen, boss, spotter, starter, hostler, somebody loafing on you, you loafing", " on", " somebody, headway, man before and man behind, good day’s work, bad day’s work,", " pet", " stock, mean stock, first out, last out, turning-in at night;", "To think that these are so much and so nigh to other drivers—and he there takes no", " interest in them!", "", "5", "The markets, the government, the working-man’s wages—to think what account they", " are", " through our nights and days!", "To think that other working-men will make just as great account of them—yet we make", " little", " or no account!", "", "The vulgar and the refined—what you call sin, and what you call goodness—to", " think how", " wide a difference!", "To think the difference will still continue to others, yet we lie beyond the difference.", "", "To think how much pleasure there is!", "Have you pleasure from looking at the sky? have you pleasure from poems?", "Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business? or planning a nomination and", " election? or with your wife and family?", "Or with your mother and sisters? or in womanly housework? or the beautiful maternal cares?", "", "—These also flow onward to others—you and I flow onward,", "But in due time, you and I shall take less interest in them.", "", "Your farm, profits, crops,—to think how engross’d you are!", "To think there will still be farms, profits, crops—yet for you, of what avail?", "", "6", "What will be, will be well—for what is, is well,", "To take interest is well, and not to take interest shall be well.", "", "The sky continues beautiful,", "The pleasure of men with women shall never be sated, nor the pleasure of women with men,", " nor", " the pleasure from poems,", "The domestic joys, the daily housework or business, the building of houses—these are", " not", " phantasms—they have weight, form, location;", "Farms, profits, crops, markets, wages, government, are none of them phantasms,", "The difference between sin and goodness is no delusion,", "The earth is not an echo—man and his life, and all the things of his life, are", " well-consider’d.", "", "You are not thrown to the winds—you gather certainly and safely around yourself;", "Yourself! Yourself! Yourself, forever and ever!", "", "7", "It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—it is to", " identify", " you;", "It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided;", "Something long preparing and formless is arrived and form’d in you,", "You are henceforth secure, whatever comes or goes.", "", "The threads that were spun are gather’d, the weft crosses the warp, the pattern is", " systematic.", "", "The preparations have every one been justified,", "The orchestra have sufficiently tuned their instruments—the baton has given the", " signal.", "", "The guest that was coming—he waited long, for reasons—he is now housed,", "He is one of those who are beautiful and happy—he is one of those that to look upon", " and be", " with is enough.", "", "The law of the past cannot be eluded,", "The law of the present and future cannot be eluded,", "The law of the living cannot be eluded—it is eternal,", "The law of promotion and transformation cannot be eluded,", "The law of heroes and good-doers cannot be eluded,", "The law of drunkards, informers, mean persons—not one iota thereof can be eluded.", "", "8", "Slow moving and black lines go ceaselessly over the earth,", "Northerner goes carried, and Southerner goes carried, and they on the Atlantic side, and", " they", " on the Pacific, and they between, and all through the Mississippi country, and all over", " the", " earth.", "", "The great masters and kosmos are well as they go—the heroes and good-doers are well,", "The known leaders and inventors, and the rich owners and pious and distinguish’d, may", " be", " well,", "But there is more account than that—there is strict account of all.", "", "The interminable hordes of the ignorant and wicked are not nothing,", "The barbarians of Africa and Asia are not nothing,", "The common people of Europe are not nothing—the American aborigines are not nothing,", "The infected in the immigrant hospital are not nothing—the murderer or mean person is", " not", " nothing,", "The perpetual successions of shallow people are not nothing as they go,", "The lowest prostitute is not nothing—the mocker of religion is not nothing as he", " goes.", "", "9", "Of and in all these things,", "I have dream’d that we are not to be changed so much, nor the law of us changed,", "I have dream’d that heroes and good-doers shall be under the present and past law,", "And that murderers, drunkards, liars, shall be under the present and past law,", "For I have dream’d that the law they are under now is enough.", "", "If otherwise, all came but to ashes of dung,", "If maggots and rats ended us, then Alarum! for we are betray’d!", "Then indeed suspicion of death.", "", "Do you suspect death? If I were to suspect death, I should die now,", "Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward annihilation?", "", "10", "Pleasantly and well-suited I walk,", "Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,", "The whole universe indicates that it is good,", "The past and the present indicate that it is good.", "", "How beautiful and perfect are the animals!", "How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!", "", "What is called good is perfect, and what is called bad is just as perfect,", "The vegetables and minerals are all perfect, and the imponderable fluids are perfect;", "Slowly and surely they have pass’d on to this, and slowly and surely they yet pass", " on.", "", "11", "I swear I think now that everything without exception has an eternal Soul!", "The trees have, rooted in the ground! the weeds of the sea have! the animals!", "", "I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!", "That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and the cohering is", " for", " it;", "And all preparation is for it! and identity is for it! and life and materials are", " altogether", " for it" ], "linecount": "189" }, { "title": "Locations and Times.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "LOCATIONS and times—what is it in me that meets them all, whenever and wherever, and", " makes", " me at home?", "Forms, colors, densities, odors—what is it in me that corresponds with them?" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "The Task: Book II, The Time-Piece (excerpts)", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "England, with all thy faults, I love thee still--", "My country! and, while yet a nook is left", "Where English minds and manners may be found,", "Shall be constrain'd to love thee. Though thy clime", "Be fickle, and thy year most part deform'd", "With dripping rains, or wither'd by a frost,", "I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies,", "And fields without a flow'r, for warmer France", "With all her vines; nor for Ausonia's groves", "Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bow'rs.", "To shake thy senate, and from heights sublime", "Of patriot eloquence to flash down fire", "Upon thy foes, was never meant my task:", "But I can feel thy fortunes, and partake", "Thy joys and sorrows, with as true a heart", "As any thund'rer there. And I can feel", "Thy follies, too; and with a just disdain", "Frown at effeminates, whose very looks", "Reflect dishonour on the land I love.", "How, in the name of soldiership and sense,", "Should England prosper, when such things, as smooth", "And tender as a girl, all essenc'd o'er", "With odours, and as profligate as sweet;", "Who sell their laurel for a myrtle wreath,", "And love when they should fight; when such as these", "Presume to lay their hand upon the ark", "Of her magnificent and awful cause?", "Time was when it was praise and boast enough", "In ev'ry clime, and travel where we might,", "That we were born her children. Praise enough", "To fill th' ambition of a private man,", "That Chatham's language was his mother tongue,", "And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own.", "Farewell those honours, and farewell with them", "The hope of such hereafter! They have fall'n", "Each in his field of glory; one in arms,", "And one in council--Wolfe upon the lap", "Of smiling victory that moment won,", "And Chatham heart-sick of his country's shame!", "They made us many soldiers. Chatham, still", "Consulting England's happiness at home,", "Secur'd it by an unforgiving frown", "If any wrong'd her. Wolfe, where'er he fought,", "Put so much of his heart into his act,", "That his example had a magnet's force,", "And all were swift to follow whom all lov'd.", "Those suns are set. Oh, rise some other such!", "Or all that we have left is empty talk", "Of old achievements, and despair of new....", "", "", "There is a pleasure in poetic pains", "Which only poets know. The shifts and turns,", "Th' expedients and inventions multiform", "To which the mind resorts in chase of terms", "Thought apt, yet coy, and difficult to win,", "T' arrest the fleeting images that fill", "The mirror of the mind, and hold them fast,", "And force them sit, till he has pencill'd off", "A faithful likeness of the forms he views;", "Then to dispose his copies with such art", "That each may find its most propitious light,", "And shine by situation hardly less", "Than by the labour and the skill it cost,", "Are occupations of the poet's mind", "So pleasing, and that steal away the thought", "With such address from themes of sad import,", "That, lost in his own musings, happy man!", "He feels th' anxieties of life, denied", "Their wonted entertainment, all retire.", "Such joys has he that sings. But ah! not such,", "Or seldom such, the hearers of his song.", "Fastidious, or else listless, or perhaps", "Aware of nothing arduous in a task", "They never undertook, they little note", "His dangers or escapes, and haply find", "Their least amusement where he found the most.", "But is amusement all? Studious of song,", "And yet ambitious not to sing in vain,", "I would not trifle merely, though the world", "Be loudest in their praise who do no more.", "Yet what can satire, whether grave or gay?", "It may correct a foible, may chastise", "The freaks of fashion, regulate the dress,", "Retrench a sword-blade, or displace a patch;", "But where are its sublimer trophies found?", "What vice has it subdu'd? whose heart reclaim'd", "By rigour, or whom laugh'd into reform?", "Alas! Leviathan is not so tam'd.", "Laugh'd at, he laughs again; and, stricken hard,", "Turns to the stroke his adamantine scales,", "That fear no discipline of human hands.", "The pulpit, therefore, (and I name it fill'd", "With solemn awe, that bids me well beware", "With what intent I touch that holy thing)--", "The pulpit (when the satirist has at last,", "Strutting and vapouring in an empty school,", "Spent all his force, and made no proselyte)--", "I say the pulpit (in the sober use", "Of its legitimate, peculiar pow'rs)", "Must stand acknowledg'd, while the world shall stand,", "The most important and effectual guard,", "Support, and ornament of Virtue's cause....." ], "linecount": "101" }, { "title": "Time and Grief", "author": "William Lisle Bowles", "lines": [ "O TIME! who know'st a lenient hand to lay", "Softest on sorrow's wound, and slowly thence", "(Lulling to sad repose the weary sense)", "The faint pang stealest unperceived away;", "On thee I rest my only hope at last,", "And think, when thou hast dried the bitter tear", "That flows in vain o'er all my soul held dear,", "I may look back on every sorrow past,", "And meet life's peaceful evening with a smile:", "As some lone bird, at day's departing hour,", "Sings in the sunbeam, of the transient shower", "Forgetful, though its wings are wet the while:--", " Yet ah! how much must this poor heart endure,", " Which hopes from thee, and thee alone, a cure!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "When I do count the clock that tells the time,", "And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;", "When I behold the violet past prime,", "And sable curls, all silvered o'er with white;", "When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,", "Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,", "And summer's green all girded up in sheaves,", "Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,", "Then of thy beauty do I question make,", "That thou among the wastes of time must go,", "Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake", "And die as fast as they see others grow;", " And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence", " Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 17: Who will believe my verse in time to come", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Who will believe my verse in time to come,", "If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?", "Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb", "Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.", "If I could write the beauty of your eyes,", "And in fresh numbers number all your graces,", "The age to come would say 'This poet lies;", "Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'", "So should my papers, yellow'd with their age,", "Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,", "And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage", "And stretched metre of an antique song:", " But were some child of yours alive that time,", " You should live twice,--in it, and in my rhyme." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,", "And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;", "Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,", "And burn the long-liv'd phoenix, in her blood;", "Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,", "And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,", "To the wide world and all her fading sweets;", "But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:", "O! carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,", "Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;", "Him in thy course untainted do allow", "For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.", " Yet, do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong,", " My love shall in my verse ever live young." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 49: Against that time, if ever that time come", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Against that time, if ever that time come,", "When I shall see thee frown on my defects,", "When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum,", "Call'd to that audit by advis'd respects;", "Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass,", "And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye,", "When love, converted from the thing it was,", "Shall reasons find of settled gravity;", "Against that time do I ensconce me here,", "Within the knowledge of mine own desert,", "And this my hand, against my self uprear,", "To guard the lawful reasons on thy part:", " To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws,", " Since why to love I can allege no cause." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 64: When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd", "The rich-proud cost of outworn buried age;", "When sometime lofty towers I see down-raz'd,", "And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;", "When I have seen the hungry ocean gain", "Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,", "And the firm soil win of the watery main,", "Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;", "When I have seen such interchange of state,", "Or state itself confounded, to decay;", "Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate--", "That Time will come and take my love away.", " This thought is as a death which cannot choose", " But weep to have, that which it fears to lose." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "That time of year thou mayst in me behold", "When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang", "Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,", "Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.", "In me thou see'st the twilight of such day", "As after sunset fadeth in the west;", "Which by and by black night doth take away,", "Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.", "In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,", "That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,", "As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,", "Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.", " This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,", " To love that well, which thou must leave ere long." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 106: When in the chronicle of wasted time", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "When in the chronicle of wasted time", "I see descriptions of the fairest wights,", "And beauty making beautiful old rime,", "In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,", "Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,", "Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,", "I see their antique pen would have express'd", "Even such a beauty as you master now.", "So all their praises are but prophecies", "Of this our time, all you prefiguring;", "And for they looked but with divining eyes,", "They had not skill enough your worth to sing:", " For we, which now behold these present days,", " Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Sonnet 123: No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:", "Thy pyramids built up with newer might", "To me are nothing novel, nothing strange;", "They are but dressings of a former sight.", "Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire", "What thou dost foist upon us that is old;", "And rather make them born to our desire", "Than think that we before have heard them told.", "Thy registers and thee I both defy,", "Not wondering at the present nor the past,", "For thy records and what we see doth lie,", "Made more or less by thy continual haste.", " This I do vow and this shall ever be;", " I will be true despite thy scythe and thee." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Time's Revenges", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "I've a Friend, over the sea;", "I like him, but he loves me.", "It all grew out of the books I write;", "They find such favour in his sight", "That he slaughters you with savage looks", "Because you don't admire my books.", "He does himself though,--and if some vein", "Were to snap tonight in this heavy brain,", "To-morrow month, if I lived to try,", "Round should I just turn quietly,", "Or out of the bedclothes stretch my hand", "Till I found him, come from his foreign land", "To be my nurse in this poor place,", "And make my broth and wash my face", "And light my fire and, all the while,", "Bear with his old good-humoured smile", "That I told him \"Better have kept away", "Than come and kill me, night and day,", "With, worse than fever throbs and shoots,", "The creaking of his clumsy boots.\"", "I am as sure that this he would do,", "As that Saint Paul's is striking two.", "And I think I rather... woe is me!", "--Yes, rather would see him than not see,", "If lifting a hand could seat him there", "Before me in the empty chair", "To-night, when my head aches indeed,", "And I can neither think nor read", "Nor make these purple fingers hold", "The pen; this garret's freezing cold!", "", "And I've a Lady--there he wakes,", "The laughing fiend and prince of snakes", "Within me, at her name, to pray", "Fate send some creature in the way", "Of my love for her, to be down-torn,", "Upthrust and outward-borne,", "So I might prove myself that sea", "Of passion which I needs must be!", "Call my thoughts false and my fancies quaint", "And my style infirm and its figures faint,", "All the critics say, and more blame yet,", "And not one angry word you get.", "But, please you, wonder I would put", "My cheek beneath that lady's foot", "Rather than trample under mine", "That laurels of the Florentine,", "And you shall see how the devil spends", "A fire God gave for other ends!", "I tell you, I stride up and down", "This garret, crowned with love's best crown,", "And feasted with love's perfect feast,", "To think I kill for her, at least,", "Body and soul and peace and fame,", "Alike youth's end and manhood's aim,", "--So is my spirit, as flesh with sin,", "Filled full, eaten out and in", "With the face of her, the eyes of her,", "The lips, the little chin, the stir", "Of shadow round her mouth; and she", "--I'll tell you,--calmly would decree", "That I should roast at a slow fire,", "", "If that would compass her desire", "And make her one whom they invite", "To the famous ball to-morrow night.", "", "There may be heaven; there must be hell;", "Meantime, there is our earth here--well!" ], "linecount": "66" }, { "title": "There Was a Time, I Need Not Name", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "There was a time, I need not name,", " Since it will ne'er forgotten be,", "When all our feelings were the same", " As still my soul hath been to thee.", "", "And from that hour when first thy tongue", " Confess'd a love which equall'd mine,", "Though many a grief my heart hath wrung,", " Unknown, and thus unfelt, by thine,", "", "None, none hath sunk so deep as this--", " To think how all that love hath flown;", "Transient as every faithless kiss,", " But transient in thy breast alone.", "", "And yet my heart some solace knew,", " When late I heard thy lips declare,", "In accents once imagined true,", " Remembrance of the days that were.", "", "Yes! my adored, yet most unkind!", " Though thou wilt never love again,", "To me 'tis doubly sweet to find", " Remembrance of that love remain.", "", "Yes! 'tis a glorious thought to me,", " Nor longer shall my soul repine,", "Whate'er thou art or e'er shall be,", " Thou hast been dearly, solely mine." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Ode to a Lady Whose Lover Was Killed by a Ball, Which at the Same Time Shivered a Portrait Next His Heart", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ " _On peut trouver des femmes qui n'ont jamais eu de galanterie, mais", " il est rare d'en trouver qui n'en aient jamais eu", " qu'une_.--[_Réflexions_ ... du Duc de la Rochefoucauld, No.", " lxxiii.", "", " Lady! in whose heroic port", "And Beauty, Victor even of Time,", " And haughty lineaments, appear", " Much that is awful, more that's dear--", " Wherever human hearts resort", " _There_ must have been for thee a Court,", " And Thou by acclamation Queen,", " Where never Sovereign yet had been.", "That eye so soft, and yet severe,", " Perchance might look on Love as Crime;", "And yet--regarding thee more near--", "The traces of an unshed tear", " Compressed back to the heart,", "And mellowed Sadness in thine air,", "Which shows that Love hath once been there,", "To those who watch thee will disclose", "More than ten thousand tomes of woes", " Wrung from the vain Romancer's art.", "With thee how proudly Love hath dwelt!", "His full Divinity was felt,", "Maddening the heart he could not melt,", " Till Guilt became Sublime;", "But never yet did Beauty's Zone", "For him surround a lovelier throne,", "Than in that bosom once his own:", " And he the Sun and Thou the Clime", "Together must have made a Heaven", "For which the Future would be given.", "", "And thou hast loved--Oh! not in vain!", " And not as common Mortals love.", " The Fruit of Fire is Ashes,", " The Ocean's tempest dashes", "Wrecks and the dead upon the rocky shore:", "True Passion must the all-searching changes prove,", " The Agony of Pleasure and of Pain,", " Till Nothing but the Bitterness remain;", " And the Heart's Spectre flitting through the brain", "Scoffs at the Exorcism which would remove.", "", "And where is He thou lovedst? in the tomb,", " Where should the happy Lover be!", "For him could Time unfold a brighter doom,", " Or offer aught like thee?", "He in the thickest battle died,", " Where Death is Pride;", "And _Thou_ his widow--not his bride,", " Wer't not more free--", "_Here_ where all love, till Love is made", " A bondage or a trade,", "_Here_--thou so redolent of Beauty,", "In whom Caprice had seemed a duty,", "_Thou_, who could'st trample and despise", "The holiest chain of human ties", "For him, the dear One in thine eyes,", " Broke it no more.", "Thy heart was withered to it's Core,", "It's hopes, it's fears, it's feelings o'er:", "Thy Blood grew Ice when _his_ was shed,", "And Thou the Vestal of the Dead.", "", "Thy Lover died, as All", " Who truly love should die;", "For such are worthy in the fight to fall", " Triumphantly.", "No Cuirass o'er that glowing heart", "The deadly bullet turned apart:", "Love had bestowed a richer Mail,", " Like Thetis on her Son;", "But hers at last was vain, and thine could fail--", " The hero's and the lover's race was run.", "Thy worshipped portrait, thy sweet face,", "_Without_ that bosom kept it's place", " As Thou _within_.", "Oh! enviously destined Ball!", "Shivering thine imaged charms and all", " Those Charms would win:", "Together pierced, the fatal Stroke hath gored", "Votary and Shrine, the adoring and the adored.", " That Heart's last throb was thine, that blood", " Baptized thine Image in it's flood,", " And gushing from the fount of Faith", " O'erflowed with Passion even in Death,", "Constant to thee as in it's hour", "Of rapture in the secret bower.", "Thou too hast kept thy plight full well,", "As many a baffled Heart can tell." ], "linecount": "88" }, { "title": "There Was a Time", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "THERE was a time when this poor frame was whole", "And I had youth and never another care,", "Or none that should have troubled a strong soul.", "Yet, except sometimes in a frosty air", "When my heels hammered out a melody", "From pavements of a city left behind,", "I never would acknowledge my own glee", "Because it was less mighty than my mind", "Had dreamed of. Since I could not boast of strength", "Great as I wished, weakness was all my boast.", "I sought yet hated pity till at length", "I earned it. Oh, too heavy was the cost.", "But now that there is something I could use", "My youth and strength for, I deny the age,", "The care and weakness that I know--refuse", "To admit I am unworthy of the wage", "Paid to a man who gives up eyes and breath", "For what can neither ask nor heed his death." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Time Long Past", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Like the ghost of a dear friend dead", "Is Time long past.", "A tone which is now forever fled,", "A hope which is now forever past,", "A love so sweet it could not last,", "Was Time long past.", "", "There were sweet dreams in the night", "Of Time long past:", "And, was it sadness or delight,", "Each day a shadow onward cast", "Which made us wish it yet might last--", "That Time long past.", "", "There is regret, almost remorse,", "For Time long past.", "'Tis like a child's beloved corse", "A father watches, till at last", "Beauty is like remembrance, cast", "From Time long past." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Time", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Unfathomable Sea! whose waves are years,", "Ocean of Time, whose waters of deep woe", "Are brackish with the salt of human tears!", "Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow", "Claspest the limits of mortality,", "And sick of prey, yet howling on for more,", "Vomitest thy wrecks on its inhospitable shore;", "Treacherous in calm, and terrible in storm,", "Who shall put forth on thee,", "Unfathomable Sea?" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Melody to a Scene of Former Times", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Art thou indeed forever gone,", "Forever, ever, lost to me?", "Must this poor bosom beat alone,", "Or beat at all, if not for thee?", "Ah! why was love to mortals given,", "To lift them to the height of Heaven,", "Or dash them to the depths of Hell?", "Yet I do not reproach thee, dear!", "Ah, no! the agonies that swell", "This panting breast, this frenzied brain,", "Might wake my --'s slumb'ring tear.", "Oh! Heaven is witness I did love,", "And Heaven does know I love thee still,", "Does know the fruitless sick'ning thrill,", "When reason's judgement vainly strove", "To blot thee from my memory;", "But which might never, never be.", "Oh! I appeal to that blest day", "When passion's wildest ecstasy", "Was coldness to the joys I knew,", "When every sorrow sunk away.", "Oh! I had never lived before,", "But now those blisses are no more.", "And now I cease to live again,", "I do not blame thee, love; ah, no!", "The breast that feels this anguished woe.", "Throbs for thy happiness alone.", "Two years of speechless bliss are gone,", "I thank thee, dearest, for the dream.", "'Tis night--what faint and distant scream", "Comes on the wild and fitful blast?", "It moans for pleasures that are past,", "It moans for days that are gone by.", "Oh! lagging hours, how slow you fly!", "I see a dark and lengthened vale,", "The black view closes with the tomb;", "But darker is the lowering gloom", "That shades the intervening dale.", "In visioned slumber for awhile", "I seem again to share thy smile,", "I seem to hang upon thy tone.", "Again you say, 'Confide in me,", "For I am thine, and thine alone,", "And thine must ever, ever be.'", "But oh! awak'ning still anew,", "Athwart my enanguished senses flew", "A fiercer, deadlier agony!" ], "linecount": "47" } ]