FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432   433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442   443  
444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   458   459   460   461   462   463   464   465   466   467   468   >>   >|  
will, Grope in the dark for what the day will bring. BOSTON St. Bototlph's Town! Hither across the plains And fens of Lincolnshire, in garb austere, There came a Saxon monk, and founded here A Priory, pillaged by marauding Danes, So that thereof no vestige now remains; Only a name, that, spoken loud and clear, And echoed in another hemisphere, Survives the sculptured walls and painted panes. St. Botolph's Town! Far over leagues of land And leagues of sea looks forth its noble tower, And far around the chiming bells are heard; So may that sacred name forever stand A landmark, and a symbol of the power, That lies concentred in a single word. ST. JOHN'S, CAMBRIDGE I stand beneath the tree, whose branches shade Thy western window, Chapel of St. John! And hear its leaves repeat their benison On him, whose hand if thy stones memorial laid; Then I remember one of whom was said In the world's darkest hour, "Behold thy son!" And see him living still, and wandering on And waiting for the advent long delayed. Not only tongues of the apostles teach Lessons of love and light, but these expanding And sheltering boughs with all their leaves implore, And say in language clear as human speech, "The peace of God, that passeth understanding, Be and abide with you forevermore!" MOODS Oh that a Song would sing itself to me Out of the heart of Nature, or the heart Of man, the child of Nature, not of Art, Fresh as the morning, salt as the salt sea, With just enough of bitterness to be A medicine to this sluggish mood, and start The life-blood in my veins, and so impart Healing and help in this dull lethargy! Alas! not always doth the breath of song Breathe on us. It is like the wind that bloweth At its own will, not ours, nor tarries long; We hear the sound thereof, but no man knoweth From whence it comes, so sudden and swift and strong, Nor whither in its wayward course it goeth. WOODSTOCK PARK Here in a little rustic hermitage Alfred the Saxon King, Alfred the Great, Postponed the cares of king-craft to translate The Consolations of the Roman sage. Here Geoffrey Chaucer in his ripe old age Wrote the unrivalled Tales, which soon or late The venturous hand that strives to imitate Vanquished must fall on the unfinished page. Two kings were they, who ruled by right divine, And both supreme; one in the realm of Trut
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432   433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442   443  
444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   458   459   460   461   462   463   464   465   466   467   468   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
leagues
 

Alfred

 

thereof

 

Nature

 

leaves

 
Breathe
 

impart

 

Healing

 

lethargy

 

breath


forevermore

 

morning

 

sluggish

 

medicine

 
bloweth
 

bitterness

 

venturous

 
imitate
 

strives

 

unrivalled


Chaucer

 

Geoffrey

 

Vanquished

 

divine

 

supreme

 

unfinished

 

sudden

 

strong

 

knoweth

 

tarries


wayward

 

Postponed

 

Consolations

 

translate

 
WOODSTOCK
 

hermitage

 

rustic

 

Botolph

 

Survives

 
hemisphere

sculptured

 

painted

 

symbol

 

landmark

 
concentred
 
forever
 

sacred

 

chiming

 

echoed

 

plains