James Russell Lowell's Vision of Sir Launfal: And Other Poems

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Sibley & Ducker, 1896 - 114 pages
 

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Page 28 - The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, In whatso we share with another's need ; Not what we give, but what we share, — For the gift without the giver is bare ; Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, — Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.
Page 44 - Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God's New Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand and the sheep upon the right; And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light.
Page 86 - BE NOBLE ! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own ; Then wilt thou see it gleam in many eyes, Then will pure light around thy path be shed, And thou wilt nevermore be sad and lone.
Page 47 - Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust. Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to be just. Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside. Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified. And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.
Page 16 - Earth gets its price for what Earth gives us: The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in. The priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us, We bargain for the graves we lie in; At the devil's booth are all things sold, Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold...
Page 17 - The little bird sits at his door in the sun, Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, And lets his illumined being o'errun With the deluge of summer it receives ; His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings, And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings; He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest, — In the nice ear of Nature, which song is the best?
Page 23 - Long, sparkling aisles of steel-stemmed trees Bending to counterfeit a breeze; Sometimes the roof no fretwork knew But silvery mosses that downward grew; Sometimes it was carved in sharp relief With quaint arabesques...
Page 67 - THE DANDELION. DEAR common flower, that grow'st beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, First pledge of blithesome May, Which children pluck, and, full of pride, uphold, High-hearted buccaneers, o'erjoyed that they An Eldorado in the grass have found, Which not the rich earth's ample round May match in wealth, — tliou art more dear to me Than all the prouder summerblooms may be.
Page 17 - Is the high-tide of the year, And whatever of life hath ebbed away Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer, Into every bare Inlet and creek and bay; Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it, We are happy now because God wills It...
Page 17 - Every clod feels a stir of might, An instinct within it that reaches and towers And, groping blindly above it for light, Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers...

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