No simplest duty is forgot, 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; That aught were easier than to Now lulls, now swells, and all the For many blights and many tears. Save when the wedge-shaped wake I love her with a love as still 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 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 And tramples the grass with ter- Plashes the rain in heavy gouts, 70 80 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. The writhing portent of his That kisses smooth the rough 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 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 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. 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, And, as the sea doth oft lie still, Making its waters meet, As if by an unconscious will, Dims the low East with faintest So lay my soul within mine eyes white, When thou, its guardian moon, 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. |