Ah me! why may not love and life be one? Seem then a golden court-way of the Sun! Henry Timrod [1829-1867] SIC ITUR As, at a railway junction, men Meet never! Ah, much more as they Though moving other mates between, Yet seldom, surely, shall there lack Where common dangers each attend, Whether he then shall cross to thee, Each other, yet again shall meet. Arthur Hugh Clough [1819-1861] VERSES SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER SELKIRK DURING HIS SOLITARY ABODE ON THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ I AM monarch of all I survey; My right there is none to dispute; I am out of humanity's reach, They are so unacquainted with man, Society, Friendship, and Love, Religion! what treasure untold Ye winds, that have made me your sport, My friends,—do they now and then send How fleet is a glance of the mind! But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest, And reconciles man to his lot. William Cowper [1731-1800] "BLOW, BLOW, THOU WINTER WIND" From "As You Like It" BLOW, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly; Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then, heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly! Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, Thou dost not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As friend remembered not. Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly; Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then, heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly! William Shakespeare [1564-1616] THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD THERE are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the place of their self-content; There are souls like stars, that dwell apart, There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths Where highways never ran― But let me live by the side of the road And be a friend to man. Let me live in a house by the side of the road Where the race of men go by The men who are good and the men who are bad, As good and as bad as I. I would not sit in the scorner's seat Or hurl the cynic's ban— Let me live in a house by the side of the road I see from my house by the side of the road, The men who press with the ardor of hope, But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears, Both parts of an infinite plan— Let me live in a house by the side of the road And be a friend to man. I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead, That the road passes on through the long afternoon And still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice Let me live in my house by the side of the road, It's here the race of men go by They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong, Wise, foolish-so am I. Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat, Or hurl the cynic's ban? Let me live in my house by the side of the road And be a friend to man. Sam Walter Foss [1858-1911] THE MAN WITH THE HOE WRITTEN AFTER SEEING MILLET'S WORLD-FAMOUS PAINTING God made man in His own image, in the image of God made He him. BOWED by the weight of centuries he leans And on his back the burden of the world. Who made him dead to rapture and despair, -GENESIS A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave To have dominion over sea and land; To trace the stars and search the heavens for power; |