love poems for her

These locks which fondly thus entwine,
In firmer chains our hearts confine;
Than all th' unmeaning protestations,
Which swell with nonsense, love orations.
Our love is fix'd, I think we've prov'd it,
Nor time, nor place, nor art, have mov'd it;
Then wherefore should we sigh, and whine,
With groundless jealousy repine.
With silly whims, and fancies frantic,
Merely to make our love romantic.
Why should you weep like Lydia Languish,
And fret with self-created anguish.
Or doom the lover you have chosen,

You say you love, and yet your eye
No symptom of that love conveys,
You say you love, yet know not why,
Your cheek no sign of love betrays.

2.

Ah! did that breast with ardour glow,
With me alone it joy could know,
Or feel with me the listless woe,
Which racks my heart when far from thee.

3.

Whene'er we meet my blushes rise,
And mantle through my purpled cheek,
But yet no blush to mine replies,
Nor e'en your eyes your love bespeak.

4.

The King has asked of his son so good,
"Why art thou hushed and heavy of mood?
O fair it is to ride abroad.
Thou playest not, and thou laughest not;
All thy good game is clean forgot."

"Sit thou beside me, father dear,
And the tale of my sorrow shalt thou hear.

Thou sendedst me unto a far-off land,
And gavest me into a good Earl's hand.

Now had this good Earl daughters seven,
The fairest of maidens under heaven.

One brought me my meat when I should dine,
One cut and sewed my raiment fine.

Strong are thine arms, O love, and strong
Thine heart to live, and love, and long;
But thou art wed to grief and wrong:
Live, then, and long, though hope be dead!
Live on, and labour through the years!
Make pictures through the mist of tears,
Of unforgotten happy fears,
That crossed the time ere hope was dead.
Draw near the place where once we stood
Amid delight's swift-rushing flood,
And we and all the world seemed good
Nor needed hope now cold and dead.
Dream in the dawn I come to thee
Weeping for things that may not be!

Hail Oklahoma land! O prairie plain,
There is no state more dearly loved.--All hail!
Where grassy hills and sheltered cove and vale
Rest quietly in peace--and in refrain
Our voices lift in praise and joy again;
We sing of Oklahoma land.--All hail!
Of sunny skies and even windy gale,
And wealth of growing corn and flowing grain;
Where black gold gleams and roses bloom in spring.
Here long roads stretch and grazing cow-herds roam.
We build in faith great churches and our state
With many schools, where children gaily sing.

Love our neighbors as ourselves,
May we fit in where we can,
Love our God and praise his name
Is God's law for mortal man.

I love you, Darling, sweetheart mine,
Our troth is pledged, O joy divine!
With apple blossoms in my hair
I hope and breathe a fervent prayer
To keep my trust all down the years,
And love you always through the tears.
O heart of mine, my feet do sing
As down the aisle into the Spring
Of bursting bud and lilac time,
Of budding trees and robin rhyme,
So tenderly, Dear, I love you.
In happiness I go with you
Now in sunshine to follow on
And into dark when you are gone.
Then back again from misty night

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God.--Ephesians 2:8.


Christ might have called the angels down
To bear him safe above,
To shield his brow from sorrow's crown,
From death's cold blight, and bitter frown,
Had it not been for love.

Our glorious King, our Prince of Peace,
Has left his throne above
To give our souls from sin release,
To make our pain and anguish cease,
And all because of love.

(d. APRIL 11, 1884)
IN HEADLEY CHURCHYARD, SURREY



Thou our beloved and light of Earth hast crossed
The sea of darkness to the yonder shore.
There dost thou shine a light transferred, not lost,
Through love to kindle in our souls the more.

Men of our race, we send you one
Round whom Victoria's holy name
Is halo from the sunken sun
Of her grand Summer's day aflame.
The heart of your loved Motherland,
To them she loves as her own blood,
This Flower of Ocean bears in hand,
Assured of gift as good.

Forth for our Southern shores the fleet
Which crowns a nation's wisdom steams,
That there may Briton Briton greet,
And stamp as fact Imperial dreams.
Across the globe, from sea to sea,
The long smoke-pennon trails above,
Writes over sky how wise will be