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No simplest duty is forgot,
Life hath no dim and lowly spot
That doth not in her sunshine

share.

She doeth little kindnesses,

Seems following its own wayward will,

And yet doth ever flow aright.

And, on its full, deep breast serene,

Which most leave undone, or de- Like quiet isles my duties lie;

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That aught were easier than to Now lulls, now swells, and all the

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For many blights and many tears. Save when the wedge-shaped wake

I love her with a love as still
As a broad river's peaceful might,
Which, by high tower and lowly
mill,

in silence passes

Of some slow water-rat, whose sinuous glide

Wavers the sedge's emerald shade from side to side;

But up the west, like a rock-shiv- As if some cloud-crag, split asun

ered surge,

Climbs a great cloud edged with

sun-whitened spray;

der,

Fell, splintering with a ruinous crash,

Huge whirls of foam boil toppling On the Earth, which crouches in

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Nearer and nearer rolls the thun- The rain stops short, but from the der-clap,

eaves

We shall not see the sun go down You see it drop, and hear it from

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And tramples the grass with ter- Plashes the rain in heavy gouts,

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His battle-song, One quivering flash, One wildering crash, Followed by silence dead and dull,

As if the cloud, let go,

Leapt bodily below

In bleak November, and, with thankful heart,

To whelm the earth in one mad Smile on its ample stores of gar.

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The writhing portent of his That kisses smooth the rough

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Like shattered rigging from a fight Whirs suddenly up, then bursts,

at sea,

and leaves the night

Silent and few, are drifting over Painfully quivering on the dazèd

me.

LOVE

TRUE Love is but a humble, lowborn thing,

And hath its food served up in earthen ware;

It is a thing to walk with, hand in hand,

eyes;

A love that gives and takes, that seeth faults,

Not with flaw-seeking eyes like needle points,

But loving-kindly ever looks them down

With the o'ercoming faith that still forgives;

A love that shall be new and fresh each hour,

As is the sunset's golden mystery, Through the everydayness of this Or the sweet coming of the even

workday world,

ing-star,

Baring its tender feet to every Alike, and yet most unlike, every flint, day,

Yet letting not one heart-beat go And seeming ever best and fairest astray

now;

From Beauty's law of plainness A love that doth not kneel for what

and content;

it seeks,

A simple, fireside thing, whose

But

quiet smile

faces Truth and Beauty as their peer,

Can warm earth's poorest hovel to Showing its worthiness of noble

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Which, when our autumn cometh, By a clear sense of inward noble

as it must,

And life in the chill wind shivers

bare and leafless,

Shall still be blest with Indiansummer youth

ness;

A love that in its object findeth not

All grace and beauty, and enough

to sate

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Of good and beauty in the soul of Feeling and music move together, Like a swan and shadow ever

man, And traces, in the simplest heart Floating on a sky-blue river

that beats,

A family-likeness to its chosen one,

That claims of it the rights of brotherhood.

For love is blind but with the fleshly eye,

In a day of cloudless weather.

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That so its inner sight may be A dim, sweet twilight voice it is

more clear;

Where to-day's accustomed blue

And outward shows of beauty only Is over-grayed with memories,

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And, as the sea doth oft lie still,

Making its waters meet,

As if by an unconscious will,
For the moon's silver feet,

Dims the low East with faintest So lay my soul within mine eyes

white,

When thou, its guardian moon,

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didst rise.

Ever sparkling,

We know not if 't is dark or

And now,

bright;

howe'er its waves above May toss and seem uneaseful,

But, when the great moon hath One strong, eternal law of Love,

rolled round,

And, sudden - slow, its solemn

power

With guidance sure and peaceful,

As calm and natural as breath,

Grows from behind its black, clear- Moves its great deeps through life

edgèd bound,

and death.

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