London_Girl
Age: 124
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The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls
THE harp that once through Tara's halls The soul of music shed, Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls As if that soul were fled. So sleeps the pride of former days, So glory's thrill is o'er And hearts that once beat high for praise Now feel that pulse no more!
No more to chiefs and ladies bright The harp of Tara swells; The chord alone that breaks at night Its tale of ruin tells. Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes, The only throb she gives Is when some heart indignant breaks, To show that still she lives.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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United Kingdom, United Kingdom
The Minstrel Boy
THE minstrel boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him, His father's sword he has girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him. "Land of song!" said the warrior bard, "Though all the world betrays thee, One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, One faithful harp shall praise thee!"
The minstrel fell!--but the foeman's chain Could not bring his proud soul under; The harp he loved ne'er spoke again, For he tore its cords asunder, And said, "No chain shall sully thee, Thou soul of love and bravery! Thy songs were made for the pure and free, They shall never sound in slavery!"
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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United Kingdom, United Kingdom
'Tis The Last Rose of Summer
'TIS the last rose of Summer, Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone; No flower of her kindred, No rosebud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes, Or give sigh for sigh!
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, To pine on the stem; Since the lovely are sleeping, Go sleep thou with them. Thus kindly I scatter Thy leaves o'er the bed Where thy mates of the garden Lie scentless and dead.
So soon may I follow, When friendships decay, And from Love's shining circle The gems drop away! When true hearts lie withered, And fond ones are flown, Oh! who would inhabit This bleak world alone?
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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United Kingdom, United Kingdom
The Commercial Traveler
AH very sweet! If news should come to you Some afternoon while waiting for our eve, That the great Manager had made me leave To travel on some territory new; And that, whatever homeward winds there blew, I could not touch your hand again, nor heave The logs upon our hearth and bid you weave Some wistful tale before the flames that grew. . .
Then, when the sudden tears had ceased to blind Your pansied eyes, I wonder if you could Remember rightly, and forget aright? Remember just your lad, uncouthly good, Forgetting what he failed in spleen or spite? Could you remember him as always kind?
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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Two O'Clock
Night after night goes by: and clocks still chime And stars are changing pattrns in the dark And watches tick, and over-puissant Time Benumbs the eager brain. The dogs that bark, The trains that roar and rattle in the night, The very cats that prowl, all quiet find And leave the darkness empty, silent quite: Sleep comes to chloroform the fretting mind.
So all things end: and what is left at last? Some scribbled sonnets tossed upon the floor, A memory of easy days gone past, A run-down watch, a pipe, some clothes we wore-- And in the darkened room I lean to know How her dreamless breath doth pause and flow.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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Furth Again
YE'RE hardly hame till furth again' It's buckle the brogues an' fare To the wearimost ends o' the earth again, An' the wark that is waitin' there. Ye are keen to gang, but it's lane an' lang Lies ever the ootwith track, An' its guid to mind there are frien's behind Aye wishin ye well,--an back.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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Winter
NOO that cauldrife Winter's here There's a pig in ilka bed, Kinlin's scarce an' coals is dear; Noo that cauldrife Winter's here Doddy mittons we maun wear, Butter skites an' winna spread; Noo that cauldrife Winter's here There's a pig in ilka bed.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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A Litany in Time of Plague
ADIEU, farewell, earth's bliss; This world uncertain is; Fond are life's lustful joys; Death proves them all but toys; I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us!
Rich men, trust not wealth, Gold cannot buy you health; Physic himself must fade. All things to end are made, The plague full swift goes by; I am sick I must die Lord have mercy on us!
Beauty is but a flower Which wrinkels will devour; Brightness falls from the air; Queens have died young and fair; Dust hath closed Helen's eye. I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us.
Strength stoops unto the grave, Worms feed on Hector brave; Swords may not fight with fate, Earth still holds ope her gate. "Come, come!" the bells do cry. I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us.
Haste, therefore, each degree, To welcome destiny; Heaven is our heritage, Earth but a player's stage; Mount we unto the sky. I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
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Human Weighed down by grief, o'erborne by deep despair, She lifted up white arms to heaven and prayed That day for death; she made a mighty prayer Beside her dear one gently to be laid.
And standing thus, it flashed across her mind How she must make a seemly silhouette Against the sky, her figure sharply lined Upon the westering sunlight, black as jet.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
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Desiderium Face in the tomb, that lies so still, May I draw near, And watch you sleep and love you, Without word or tear?
You smile, your eyelids flicker; Shall I tell How the world goes that lost you? Shall I tell?
Ah, love, lift not your eyelids; 'Tis the same Old story that we laughed at, Still the same.
We knew it, you and I, We knew it all: Still is the small the great, The great the small;
Still the cold lie quenches The flaming truth, And still embattled age Wars against youth.
Yet I believe still in the ever-living God That fills your grave with perfume, Writing your name in violets across the sod, Shielding your holy face from hail and snow; And, though the withered stay, the lovely go. No transitory wrong or wrath of things Shatters the faith -- that each slow minute brings That meadow nearer to us where your feet Shall flutter near me like white butterfilies -- That meadow where immortal lovers meet, Gazing forever in immortal eyes.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Later I went to the place where my youth took birth In the slow, round kiss of an amorous girl, When sonnets and lace were the measure of earth, When death was forgotten and life was a whirl.
I addled my brain with the memories flown Of Heatherby Kaiser and Muriel Moore; I thought of the women and men I had known, -- The glittering eyes and the bolt on the door --
The warm, gray walls and the odor of must, The wine, the piano, the glistening feet, The eyes grown hazy like shadows at dusk, The minstreling music that rose from the street.
I though of Elise with her soft, gold hair; And the buttonhook hung from the chandelier. The spirit of passionate youth had been here -- But somehow the dream of it wasn't quite clear,
For the place had been altered; the walls were red, And the woodword was stained with a desolate brown; And they told me a woman had lain in the bed For a year and a half with the curtains down.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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Morning Glories Distant as a dream's flight, Lay an eerie plain, Where the weary moonlight Swooned into a moan; Wailing after dead seed Came the ghost of rain. There was I, a wild weed, Growing all alone.
Like a doubted story, Came the thought of day; God and all His glory Lingered otherwhere, Busy with the spring thrill Many dreams away. Could a little weed's will Fling so far a prayer?
Lo, the sudden wonder! (Is a prayer so fleet?) From the desert under, Morning glories grew; Twined me, bound me With caressing feet; Wove song'round me -- Pink, white blue!
As a fog is rifted By the eager breeze, Darkness broke and lifted, Tossing like a sea! Lo, the dawn was flowering Through the maple trees! Oh, and you were showering Kisses over me!
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
The Pillar of Cloud
LEAD, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home -- Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene, -- one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou Shouldst lead me on. I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead Thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will; remember not past years.
So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still Will lead me on, O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone; And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
The Stars Stand Up in the Air
THE stars stand up in the air The sun and the moon are gone, The strand of its waters is bare, And her sway is swept from the swan.
The cuckoo was calling all day, Hid in the branches above, How my stórín is fled away, 'Tis my grief that I gave her my love!
Three things through love I see -- Sorrow and sin and death -- And my mind reminding me That this doom I breathe with my breath.
But sweeter than violin or lute Is my love -- and she left me behind. I wish that all music were mute, And I to my beauty were blind.
She's more shapely than swan by the strand, She's more radiant than grass after dew, She's more fair than the stars where they stand -- 'Tis my grief that her ever I knew!
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Life
IT is not life upon Thy gifts to live, But, to grow fixed with deeper roots in Thee; And when the sun and shower their bounties give, To send out thick-leaved limbs; a fruitful tree, Whose green head meets the eye for many a mile, Whose moss-grown arms their rigid branches rear, And full-faced fruits their blushing welcome smile As to its goodly shade our feet draw near; Who tastes its gifts shall never hunger more, For 'tis the Father spreads the pure repast, Who, while we eat, renews the ready store, Which at his bounteous board must ever last; For none the bridegroom's supper shall attend, Who will not hear and make his word their friend.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
The New Birth
'TIS a new life;--thoughts move not as they did With slow uncertain steps across my mind, In thronging haste fast pressing on they bid The portals open to the viewless wind That comes not save when in the dust is laid The crown of pride that gilds each mortal brow, And from before man's vision melting fade The heavens and earth;--their walls are falling now.-- Fast crowding on, each thought asks utterance strong; Storm-lifted waves swift rushing to the shore, On from the sea they send their shouts along, Back through the cave-worn rocks their thunders roar; And I a child of God by Christ made free Start from death's slumbers to Eternity.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
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A Good-night
CLOSE now thine eyes and rest secure; Thy soul is safe enough, thy body sure; He that loves thee, He that keeps And guards thee, never slumbers, never sleeps.
The smiling conscience in a sleeping breast Has only peace, has only rest; The music and the mirth of kings Are all but very discords, when she sings; Then close thine eyes and rest secure; No sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure.
London_Girl
Age: 124
6853 days old here
Total Posts: 18948
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
On the World
THE world's an Inn; and I her guest. I eat; I drink; I take my rest. My hostess, nature, does deny me Nothing, wherewith she can supply me; Where, having stayed a while, I pay Her lavish bills, and go my way.
