Ghosts walk the Earth, that rise not from the grave.
The Dead Past hath its living dead. We see
All suddenly, at times, and shudder then,
Their faces pale, and sad accusing eyes.
...
Half waking and half dreaming,
While starry lamps hung low
I saw a vision splendid
Upon the darkness glow.
...
When the sap runs up the tree.
And the vine runs o'er the wall,
When the blossom draws the bee,
From the forest comes a call,
...
Once a poet, long ago,
Wrote a song as void of art
As the songs that children know,
And as pure as a child's heart.
...
O the Queen may keep her golden
Crown and sceptre of command!
I would give them both twice over
To be King of Babyland.
...
There is a saying of renown,
'God made the country, man the town.'
Well, everybody to his trade!
But man likes best the thing he made.
...
The Woman at the Washtub,
She works till fall of night;
With soap and suds and soda
Her hands are wrinkled white.
...
Very often, when I'm drinking,
Of the old days I am thinking,
Of the good old days when living was a Joy,
And each morning brought new Pleasure,
...
The world was in my debt,
I was the Friend of Man,
When, years ago, I met
The Old Bohemian.
...
They say that fair Romance is dead, and in her cold grave lying low,
The green grass waving o'er her head, the mould upon her breasts of snow;
Her voice, they say, is dumb for aye, that once was clarion-clear and high,
But in their hearts, their frozen hearts, they know that bitterly they lie.
...