66

GONE

ONE is the freshness of my youthful prime;
Gone the illusions of a later time;

Gone is the thought that wealth is worth its cost
Or aught I hold so good as what I've lost;
Gone are the beauty and the nameless grace
That once I worshipped in dear Nature's face.
Gone is the mighty music that of yore

Swept through the woods or rolled upon the shore;
Gone the desire of glory in men's breath
To waft my name beyond the deeps of Death;
Gone is the hope that in the darkest day
Saw bright to-morrow with empurpling ray;
Gone, gone, all gone, on which my heart was cast,
Gone, gone forever to the awful Past:

All gone -- but Love!"

Oh, coward to repine!

Thou hast all else, if Love indeed be thine!

CHARLES MACKAY

"L

BEST

OVE is better than house and lands:

So, Sir Stephen, I'll ride with thee." She made one step where the courser stands, One light spring to the saddle-tree.

Love is better than kith or kin:

So close she clung, and so close clasped he,
They heard no sob of the bitter wind,
Or snow that shuddered along the lea.

Love is better than life and breath:
The drifts are over the horse's knee,
Softly they sink to the soft white death,
And the snow shroud hides them silently.

Houses and lands are gone for aye;
Kith and kin like the wild wind flee;
Life and death have vanished away;
But love hath blossomed eternally.

ROSE TERRY COOKE

L

OVE'S light is strange to you? Ah, me!
Your heart is an unquickened seed,

And whatsoe'er your fortunes be,

I tell you, you are poor indeed.

What toucheth it, it maketh bright,
Yet loseth nothing, like the sun,
Within whose great and gracious light
A thousand dew-drops shine as one.
ALICE CARY

AN EXTRAVAGANZA

Enfant! si j'étais roi, je donnerais l'empire.

I'D give, Girl (were I but a king),

Throne, sceptre, empire, — everything: My people suppliant on the knee; My ships that crowd the subject sea; My crown, my baths of porphyry, For one sweet look from thee!

Were I a god, I'd give — the air,
Earth, and the sea; the angels fair;
The skies; the golden worlds around;
The demons whom my laws have bound;
Chaos and its dark progeny;

All space and all eternity,

For one love-kiss from thee!

VICTOR HUGO

THE TWO LOVES

MOOTHING soft the nestling head

SMOO

Of a maiden fancy-led,

Thus a grave-eyed woman said:

"Richest gifts are those we make, Dearer than the love we take That we give for love's own sake.

"Well I know the heart's unrest; Mine has been the common quest, To be loved and therefore blest.

"Favors undeserved were mine;
At my feet as on a shrine
Love has laid its gifts divine.

"Sweet the offerings seemed, and yet With their sweetness came regret, And a sense of unpaid debt.

"Heart of mine unsatisfied,

Was it vanity or pride

That a deeper joy denied?

"Hands that ope but to receive

Empty close; they only live

Richly, who can richly give.

"Still," she sighed with moistening eyes,

"Love is sweet in any guise;

But its best is sacrifice!

"He who, giving, does not crave

Likest is to Him who gave

Life itself the loved to save.

"Love, that self-forgetful gives, Sows surprise of ripened sheaves, Late or soon its own receives."

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

BETTER THINGS

ETTER to smell a violet

BET

Than sip the careless wine;
Better to list one music tone
Than watch the jewels' shine.

Better to have the love of one
Than smiles like morning dew;
Better to have a living seed
Than flowers of every hue.

Better to feel a love within
Than be lovely to the sight;
Better a homely tenderness
Than beauty's wild delight.

Better to love than be beloved,
Though lonely all the day;
Better the fountain in the heart
Than the fountain by the way.

Better the thanks of one dear heart
Than a nation's voice of praise;
Better the twilight ere the dawn
Than yesterday's mid-blaze.

Better a death when work is done
Than earth's most favored birth;
Better a child in God's great house
Than the king of all the earth.

LEIGH HUNT