To William Butler Yeats
Tell us of beauty! Touch thy silver lyre
And bid thy Muse unfold her shining wings!
Tell us of joy—of those unaging things
Which wither not, nor are consumed of fire,
Things unto which the souls of all aspire!
Sing us the mystic song thine Erin sings,
Her poignant dreams, her weird imaginings,
With magic of thy "Land of Heart's Desire!"
Let others hate!—from lips not thine be hurled
Reproaches; since all hate at last must prove
Abortive, though it triumph for a while.
The gospels that indeed have won the world
Laid their foundations in the strength of love.
Sing thou, a lover, of thy wave-washed Isle!
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Dan CostinaÅŸ
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Song of Life
Maiden of the laughing eyes,
Primrose-kirtled, winged, free,
Virgin daughter of the skies—
Joy—whom gods and mortals prize,
Share thy smiles with me!
Yet—lest I, unheeding, borrow
Pleasure that to-day endears
And benumbs the heart to-morrow—
Turn not wholly from me, Sorrow!
Let me share thy tears!
Give me of thy fullness, Life!
Pulse and passion, power, breath,
Vision pure, heroic strife,—
Give me of thy fullness, Life!—
Nor deny me death!
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Pilgrim Song
Written for the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Pennsylvania
Pilgrims of the trackless deep,
Leaving all, our fathers came,
Life and liberty to keep
In Jehovah's awful name.
Neither pillared flame nor cloud
Made the wild, for them, rejoice,
But their hearts, with sorrow bowed,
In the darkness heard His voice.
Things above them they divined—
Thoughts of God, forever true,
And the deathless Compact signed—
Building better than they knew:
Building liberty not planned,
Law that ampler life controls,
All the greatness of our land
Lying shadowed in their souls.
[...] Read more
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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I Know Not How to Find the Spring
I know not how to find the Spring,
Though violets are here,
And in the boughs high over me
The birds are fluting clear;
The magic and the melody,
The rapture—all are fled,
And could they wake, they would but break
My heart, now you are dead.
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Madonna
He gazed, the little vagrant lad,
On the Madonna's gentle face;
And all his wistful visage sad
Renewed its infant grace:
He gazed, reluctant to depart,
Then kissed her, shyly, as he stood—
Ah, wondrous Art! his lonely heart
But yearned to motherhood!
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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As from Afar
To see thee, hear thee, wistful watch I keep—
Mother, who in immensity dost dwell—
A child who listens for the boundless deep,
Her ear against a shell:
And vainly though I seek thy face to scan,
Lost in the vasty temple where thou art,
Faint breathings of thy voice æolian
Vibrate against my heart.
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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"Go Not Too Far"
Go not too far—too far beyond my gaze,
Thou who canst never pass beyond the yearning
Which, even as the dark for dawning stays,
Awaits thy loved returning!
Go not too far! Howe'er thy fancies roam,
Let them come back, wide-circling like the swallow,
Lest I, for very need, should try to come—
And find I could not follow!
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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"I Longed for Love"
Ilonged for love, and eager to discover
Its hiding-place, I wandered far and wide;
And as forlorn I sought the lone world over,
Unrecognized, love journeyed at my side.
I craved for peace, and priceless years expended
In unrewarded search from shore to shore;
But home returned, the weary seeking ended,
Peace welcomed me where dwelt my peace of yore!
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Beethoven
He cursed the day when he was born;
And deaf and desolate,
Resolved, in bitterness forlorn,
To end his hapless fate.
But as the deeper silence grew—
An exile from the throng,
His yearning spirit voices drew
From inner founts of song;
And he who called unfriendly death
To calm rebellious strife,
Won from his own despair the breath
Of an immortal life.
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Crippled
Why hast Thou bound my feet,
Then bade me toil ceaselessly after Thee ?
How should a thing so broken, incomplete —
Ah, how should I, Lord ! plant these faltering feet
Where shifting sands of Earth so baffle me ?
Have I not set thy limits ? Who should know,
Better than I, what sloughs I lead thee through ?
Mine is the power to hinder — and make free :
Walk thou with me!
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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