BEST LOVED POEMS Read online

  Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

  And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

  RUDYARD KIPLING

  HAPPINESS Happiness is like a crystal,

  Fair and exquisite and clear,

  Broken in a million pieces,

  Shattered, scattered far and near.

  Now and then along life’s pathway,

  Lo! some shining fragments fall;

  But there are so many pieces

  No one ever finds them all.

  You may find a bit of beauty,

  Or an honest share of wealth,

  While another just beside you

  Gathers honor, love or health.

  Vain to choose or grasp unduly,

  Broken is the perfect ball;

  And there are so many pieces

  No one ever finds them all.

  Yet the wise as on they journey

  Treasure every fragment clear,

  Fit them as they may together,

  Imaging the shattered sphere,

  Learning ever to be thankful,

  Though their share of it is small;

  For it has so many pieces

  No one ever finds them all.

  PRISCILLA LEONARD

  A PSALM OF LIFE Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

  Life is but an empty dream!—

  For the soul is dead that slumbers,

  And things are not what they seem.

  Life is real! Life is earnest!

  And the grave is not its goal;

  Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

  Was not spoken of the soul.

  Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

  Is our destined end or way;

  But to act, that each to-morrow

  Find us farther than to-day.

  Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

  And our, hearts, though stout and brave,

  Still, like muffled drums, are beating

  Funeral marches to the grave.

  In the world’s broad field of battle,

  In the bivouac of Life,

  Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

  Be a hero in the strife!

  Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

  Let the dead Past bury its dead!

  Act,—act in the living Present!

  Heart within, and God o’erhead!

  Lives of great men all remind us

  We can make our lives sublime,

  And, departing, leave behind us

  Footprints on the sands of time;

  Footprints, that perhaps another,

  Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

  A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

  Seeing, shall take heart again.

  Let us then, be up and doing,

  With a heart, for any fate;

  Still achieving, still pursuing,

  Learn to labor and to wait.

  HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

  THE ARROW AND THE SONG I shot an arrow into the air,

  It fell to earth, I knew not where;

  For so swiftly it flew, the sight,

  Could not follow it in its flight.

  I breathed a song into the air,

  It fell to earth, I knew not where;

  For who has sight, so keen and strong,

  That it can follow the flight of song?

  Long, long afterward, in an oak,

  I found the arrow still unbroke;

  And the song, from beginning to end,

  I found again in the heart of a friend.

  HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

  THE RAINY DAY The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

  It rains, and the wind is never weary;

  The vine still clings to the moldering wall,

  But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

  And the day is dark and dreary.

  My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;

  It rains, and the wind is never weary;

  My thoughts still cling to the moldering past,

  But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

  And the days are dark and dreary.

  Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;

  Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;

  Thy fate is the common fate of all,

  Into each life some rain must fall,

  Some days must be dark and dreary.

  HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

  COLUMBUS Behind him lay the gray Azores,

  Behind the Gates of Hercules;

  Before him not the ghost of shores;

  Before him only shoreless seas.

  The good mate said: “Now must we pray,

  For lo! the very stars are gone.

  Brave Adm’r’l, speak! What shall I say?”

  “Why, say: ‘Sail on! sail on! and on!’ ”

  “My men grow mutinous day by day;

  My men grow ghastly, wan and weak.”

  The stout mate thought of home; a spray

  Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.

  “What shall I say, brave Adm’r’l, say,

  If we sight naught but seas at dawn?”

  “Why, you shall say at break of day:

  ‘Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!’”

  They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,

  Until at last the blanched mate said:

  “Why, now not even God would know

  Should I and all my men fall dead.

  These very winds forget their way,

  For God from these dread seas is gone.

  Now speak, brave Adm’r’l, speak and say—”

  He said: “Sail on! sail on! and on!”

  They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:

  “This mad sea shows his teeth tonight.

  He curls his lip, he lies in wait,

  He lifts his teeth as if to bite!

  Brave Adm’r’l, say but one good word:

  What shall we do when hope is gone?”

  The words leapt like a leaping sword:

  “Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!”

  Then pale and worn, he paced his deck,

  And peered through darkness. Ah, that night

  Of all dark nights! And then a speck—

  A light! A light! At last a light!

  It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!

  It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn.

  He gained a world; he gave that world

  Its grandest lesson: “On! sail on!”

  JOAQUIN MILLER

  SMALL THINGS A sense of an earnest will

  To help the lowly living,

  And a terrible heart-thrill,

  If you have no power of giving;

  An arm of aid to the weak,

  A friendly hand to the friendless;

  Kind words, so short to speak,

  But whose echo is endless:

  The world is wide,—these things are small,

  They may be nothing—but they may be all.

  RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES

  SONNET ON HIS BLINDNESS When I consider how my light is spent

  Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

  And that one talent, which is death to hide,

  Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent

  To serve therewith my Maker, and present

  My true account, lest He, returning chide;

  ”Doth God exact day labor, light denied?”

  I fondly ask; but Patience, to prevent

  That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

  Either man’s work, or His own gifts; who best

  Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best.

  His state

  Is kingly. Thousands at His bidding speed,

  And post o’er land and ocean without rest;

  They also serve who only stand and wait.”

  JOHN MILTON

  WHO HATH A BOOK Who hath a book

  Has friends at hand,

  And
gold and gear

  At his command.

  And rich estates,

  If he but look,

  Are held by him

  Who hath a book.

  Who hath a book

  Has but to read

  And he may be

  A king indeed.

  His Kingdom is

  His inglenook;

  All this is his

  Who hath a book.

  WILBUR D. NESBIT

  VITAÏ LAMPADA There’s a breathless hush in the Close to-night—

  Ten to make and the match to win—

  A bumping pitch and a blinding light,

  An hour to play and the last man in.

  And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,

  Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,

  But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote

  ”Play up! play up! and play the game!”

  The sand of the desert is sodden red,—

  Red with the wreck of a square that broke;—

  The Catling’s jammed and the colonel dead,

  And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.

  The river of death has brimmed his banks,

  And England’s far, and Honor a name,

  But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks,

  ”Play up! play up! and play the game!”

  This is the word that year by year

  While in her place the School is set

  Every one of her sons must hear,

  And none that hears it dare forget.

  This they all with a joyful mind

  Bear through life like a torch in flame,

  And falling fling to the host behind—

  ”Play up! play up! and play the game!”

  HENRY NEWBOLT

  THE CRY OF A DREAMER I am tired of planning and toiling

  In the crowded hives of men;

  Heart-weary of building and spoiling,

  And spoiling and building again.

  And I long for the dear old river,

  Where I dreamed my youth away;

  For a dreamer lives forever,

  And a toiler dies in a day.

  I am sick of the showy seeming

  Of a life that is half a lie;

  Of the faces lined with scheming

  In the throng that hurries by.

  From the sleepless thoughts’ endeavour,

  I would go where the children play;

  For a dreamer lives forever,

  And a thinker dies in a day.

  I can feel no pride, but pity

  For the burdens the rich endure;

  There is nothing sweet in the city

  But the patient lives of the poor.

  Oh, the little hands too skillful

  And the child mind choked with weeds!

  The daughter’s heart grown willful,

  And the father’s heart that bleeds!

  No, no! from the street’s rude bustle,

  From trophies of mart and stage,

  I would fly to the woods’ low rustle

  And the meadows’ kindly page.

  Let me dream as of old by the river,

  And be loved for the dream alway;

  For a dreamer lives forever,

  And a toiler dies in a day.

  JOHN BOYLE

  THE COMMON ROAD I want to travel the common road

  With the great crowd surging by,

  Where there’s many a laugh and many a load,

  And many a smile and sigh.

  I want to be on the common way

  With its endless tramping feet,

  In the summer bright and winter gray,

  In the noonday sun and heat.

  In the cool of evening with shadows nigh,

  At dawn, when the sun breaks clear,

  I want the great crowd passing by,

  To ken what they see and hear.

  I want to be one of the common herd,

  Not live in a sheltered way,

  Want to be thrilled, want to be stirred

  By the great crowd day by day;

  To glimpse the restful valleys deep,

  To toil up the rugged hill,

  To see the brooks which shyly creep,

  To have the torrents thrill.

  I want to laugh with the common man

  Wherever he chance to be,

  I want to aid him when I can

  Whenever there’s need of me.

  I want to lend a helping hand

  Over the rough and steep

  To a child too young to understand—

  To comfort those who weep.

  I want to live and work and plan

  With the great crowd surging by,

  To mingle with the common man,

  No better or worse than I.

  SILAS H. PERKINS

  HE IS NOT DEAD I cannot say, and I will not say

  That he is dead. He is just away.

  With a cheery smile, and a wave of the hand,

  He has wandered into an unknown land,

  And left us dreaming how very fair

  It needs must be, since he lingers there.

  And you—oh, you, who the wildest yearn

  For an old-time step, and the glad return,

  Think of him faring on, as dear

  In the love of There as the love of Here.

  Think of him still as the same. I say,

  He is not dead—he is just away.

  JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

  MY WAGE I bargained with Life for a penny,

  And Life would pay no more,

  However I begged at evening

  When I counted my scanty store;

  For Life is a just employer,

  He gives you what you ask,

  But once you have set the wages,

  Why, you must bear the task.

  I worked for a menial’s hire,

  Only to learn, dismayed,

  That any wage I had asked of Life,

  Life would have paid.

  JESSIE B. RITTENHOUSE

  A BAG OF TOOLS Isn’t it strange

  That princes and kings,

  And clowns that caper

  In sawdust rings,

  And common people

  Like you and me

  Are builders for eternity?

  Each is given a bag of tools,

  A shapeless mass,

  A book of rules;

  And each must make—

  Ere life is flown—

  A stumbling block

  Or a steppingstone.

  R. L. SHARPE

  OPPORTUNITY This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:

  There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;

  And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged

  A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords

  Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince’s banner

  Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.

  A craven hung along the battle’s edge

  And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel—

  That blue blade that the king’s son bears—but this

  Blunt thing—!” He snapt and flung it from his hand,

  And, lowering, crept away and left the field.

  Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bestead,

  And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,

  Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,

  And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout

  Lifted afresh, he hewed his enemy down,

  And saved a great cause that heroic day.

  EDWARD ROWLAND SILL

  TO KNOW ALL IS TO FORGIVE ALL If I knew you and you knew me—

  If both of us could clearly see,

  And with an inner sight divine

  The meaning of your heart and mine—

  I’m sure that we would differ less

  And clasp our hands in friendliness;

  Our thoughts would pleasantly agree

  If
I knew you, and you knew me.

  If I knew you and you knew me,

  As each one knows his own self, we

  Could look each other in the face

  And see therein a truer grace.

  Life has so many hidden woes,

  So many thorns for every rose;

  The “why” of things our hearts would see,

  If I knew you and you knew me.

  NIXON WATERMAN

  YOU NEVER CAN TELL You never can tell when you send a word

  Like an arrow shot from a bow

  By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,

  Just where it may chance to go.

  It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend,

  Tipped with its poison or balm,

  To a stranger’s heart in life’s great mart

  It may carry its pain or its calm.

  You never can tell when you do an act

  Just what the result will be,

  But with every deed you are sowing a seed,

  Though the harvest you may not see.

  Each kindly act is an acorn dropped

  In God’s productive soil;

  You may not know, but the tree shall grow

  With shelter for those who toil.

  You never can tell what your thoughts will do

  In bringing you hate or love,

  For thoughts are things, and their airy wings

  Are swifter than carrier doves.

  They follow the law of the universe—

  Each thing must create its kind,

  And they speed o’er the track to bring you back

  Whatever went out from your mind.

  ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

  WILL There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,

  Can circumvent or hinder or control

  The firm resolve of a determined soul.

  Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great;

  All things give way before it, soon or late.

  What obstacle can stay the mighty force

  Of the sea-seeking river in its course,

  Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?