There is no grief for me
Nor sadness any more;
For since I first knew thee
Great Joy has kept my door.
That angel of the calm
All-comprehending smile,
No menace can dismay,
No falsity beguile.
Out of the house of life
Before him fled away
Languor, regret, and strife
And sorrow on that day.
Grim fear, unmanly doubt,
And impotent despair
Went at his bidding forth
Among the things that were,--
Leaving a place all clean,
Resounding of the sea
And decked with forest green,
To be a home for thee.
The Homestead.
Here we came when love was young.
Now that love is old,
Shall we leave the floor unswept
And the hearth acold?
Here the hill-wind in the dusk.
Wandering to and fro,
Moves the moonflowers, like a ghost
Of the long ago.
Here from every doorway looks
A remembered face,
Every sill and panel wears
A familiar grace.
Let the windows smile again
To the morning light,
And the door stand open wide
When the moon is bright.
Let the breeze of twilight blow
Through the silent hall,
And the dreaming rafters hear
How the thrushes call.
Oh, be merciful and fond
To the house that gave
All its best to shelter love,
Built when love was brave!
Here we came when love was young,
Now that love is old,
Never let its day be lone,
Nor its heart acold!
"The Starry Midnight Whispers"
The starry midnight whispers,
As I muse before the fire
On the ashes of ambition
And the embers of desire,
"Life has no other logic,
And time no other creed,
Than: 'I for joy will follow.
Where thou for love dost lead!'"