love poems

Far on the gray sea glooms and glowers,
Far off the salt winds vaguely stray,
And through the long monotonous hours
My thoughts go wandering on their way;

Go back to find that earlier time
When, lingering by a bluer sea,
A poet wooed me with his rhyme,
And all the world was changed for me.

The winds to music strange were set,
The sunsets glowed with sudden flame,
And all the shining sands were wet
With waves that whispered as they came,

And told a tender low-breathed tale

When worthless grandeur fills the embellish'd urn,
No poignant grief attends the sable bier;
But when distinguish'd excellence we mourn,
Deep is the sorrow, genuine is the tear.

Stranger! shouldst thou approach this awful shrine,
The merits of the honour'd dead to seek;
The friend, the son, the christian, the divine,
Let those who knew him, those who lov'd him, speak.

O let them in some pause of anguish say,
What zeal inflam'd, what faith enlarg'd his breast!
How glad th' unfetter'd spirit wing'd its way

He that labors not by his own powers
But through the favor of the Almighty
Learns through his pious occupation
Love, humility, and patience;
Becomes pure in conscience,
And humble in heart and spirit.
Slothfulness, pomp, and gluttony
Avoid, and an evil conscience
Always accuses itself
Such a one obtains it in the case of everyman…?

Though on the wings of Thought I distance
The star-vault's pallid bound,
'Tis Love must fill my heart's insistence
With heaven on earthly ground.

Angel heart and woman form!
All my praise thou art above;
Thou hast cleared my life of storm
With the sunshine of thy love.

Let me love thee my life long,
Then in heaven renew my song,
When thy day of death shall part
Woman form and angel heart!

Where art thou? And for whom, O lady mine,
Dost temper the keen ray of thy dark eyes?
For whom dost thou in soft tones harmonise
The secret music of that heart of thine?

Dost thou, my sweet, 'mid flowers and grass recline,
Dreamily gazing at the windy skies?
Or of some wooing stream art thou the prize,
To whose embrace thou dost thy limbs resign?

Oh, whereso'er thou art, whether the breeze
With soft, delicious murmur fans thy face,
Or water sleeps on thy white shoulders, these

Why , my heart, do we love her so?
(Geraldine, Geraldine!)
Why does the great sea ebb and flow?—
Why does the round world spin?
Geraldine, Geraldine,
Bid me my life renew:
What is it worth unless I win,
Love—love and you?

Why, my heart, when we speak her name
(Geraldine, Geraldine!)
Throbs the word like a flinging flame?—
Why does the Spring begin?
Geraldine, Geraldine,
Bid me indeed to be:
Open your heart, and take us in,
Love—love and me.

Love, what were fame,
And thou not in it,
That I should hold it worth
Much toil to win it?

What were success
Didst thou not share it?
As Spring can spare the snows
I well could spare it!

Love, what were love
But of thy giving
That it should much prevail
To sweeten living?

Nay, what were life,
Save thou inspire it,
That I should bid my soul
Greatly desire it?

It was only three days ago,
I sadly said good-bye.
To all my pretty flowers, and wept
To think that they must die.

To my beautiful tea-rose
Which by my window stood;
Which then was full of blossoms
And tender shoots and bud.

And to my scarlet-flowering sage,
And petunias red and white,
My zinnias and my dahlias,
And yellow 'sturtiums bright.

I said good-bye with tear-dimmed eyes,
For were not these the flowers
Which to me had been comrades
Through by-gone summer hours?

Unto my friends I give my thoughts
Unto my God my soul,
Unto my foe I leave my love—
These are of life the whole.

Nay, there is something—a trifle—left;
Who shall receive this dower?
See, Earth Mother, a handful of dust—
Turn it into a flower.