Richard Monckton Milnes Houghton Poems

Back again, back again!
We are passing back again;
We are ceasing to be men!
Without the strife
...

Dream no more that grief and pain
Could such hearts as ours enchain,
Safe from loss and safe from gain,
...

Thou pleasant Island, whose rich garden--shores
Have had a long--lived fame of loveliness,
Recorded in the historic song, that framed
...

This was a fortress, firm and stout,
When there was battling round about,--
It has been deckt in gala--plight,
...

Thou didst not slight with vain and partial scorn
The inspirations of our nature's youth,
Knowing that Beauty, wheresoe'er 'tis born,
...

No parleying with themselves, no pausing thought
Of worse or better consequence, was there,
Their business was to do what Spartans ought,
...

A pleasant mean of joy and wonder fills
The trave'ller's mind, beside this secret stream,
That flows from lake to lake beneath the hills,
...

Where Delphi's consecrated pass
Boeotia's misty region faces,

Rises a tomb--like stony mass
...

When along the light ripple the far serenade
Has accosted the ear of each passionate maid,
She may open the window that looks on the stream,--
...

Well, I will tell you, kind adviser,
Why thus I ever roam
In distant lands, nor wish to guide
My footsteps to the fair hill--side
...