The Poems of Edward Rowland Sill

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Printed at the Riverside Press, 1902 - Poetry - 327 pages

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Page 67 - The jester doffed his cap and bells, And stood the mocking court before; They could not see the bitter smile Behind the painted grin he wore. He bowed his head, and bent his knee Upon the monarch's silken stool; His pleading voice arose : "O Lord, Be merciful to me, a fool! "No pity...
Page 40 - THIS I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream : — There spread a cloud of dust along a plain ; And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes. A craven hung along the battle's edge, And thought, " Had I a sword of keener steel — That blue blade that the king's son bears, — but this Blunt thing — ! " he snapt and flung it from his hand, And lowering crept away...
Page 67 - The royal feast was done; the King Sought some new sport to banish care. And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool, Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!" The jester doffed his cap and bells. And stood the mocking court before; They could not see the bitter smile Behind the painted grin he wore. He bowed his head, and bent his knee Upon the monarch's silken stool ; His pleading voice arose: "O Lord, Be merciful to me, a fool ! "No pity. Lord, could change the heart From red with wrong to white as wool: The...
Page 50 - There is no world beyond this certain drop. Prove me another ! Let the dreamers dream Of their faint dreams, and noises from without, And higher and lower ; life is life enough.
Page 68 - Our faults no tenderness should ask, The chastening stripes must cleanse them all; But for our blunders — oh, in shame Before the eyes of heaven we fall. "Earth bears no balsam for mistakes; Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool That did his will; but Thou, O Lord, Be merciful to me, a fool!
Page 106 - WHAT if some morning, when the stars were paling, And the dawn whitened, and the East was clear, Strange peace and rest fell on me from the presence Of a benignant Spirit standing near : And I should tell him, as he stood beside me, " This is our Earth — most friendly Earth, and fair; Daily its sea and shore through sun and shadow Faithful it turns, robed in its azure air...
Page 68 - Tis not by guilt the onward sweep Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay ; 'Tis by our follies that so long We hold the earth from heaven away. " These clumsy feet, still in the mire, Go crushing blossoms without end ; These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust Among the heart-strings of a friend.
Page 249 - TEMPTED YES, I know what you say : Since it cannot be soul to soul, Be it flesh to flesh, as it may ; But is Earth the whole ? Shall a man betray the Past For all Earth gives ? " But the Past is dead ? " At last, It is all that lives.
Page 105 - T is but a lifetime, and the end is nigh At best or worst. Let me lift up my head And firmly, as with inner courage, tread Mine own appointed way, on mandates high. Pain could but bring, from all its evil store, The close of pain : hate's venom could but kill; Repulse, defeat, desertion, could no more. Let me have lived my life, not cowered until The unhindered and unhastened hour was here. So soon — what is there in the world to fear?
Page 51 - t was gone; the leaf was dry. The little ghost of an inaudible squeak Was lost to the frog that goggled from his stone; Who, at the huge, slow tread of a thoughtful ox Coming to drink, stirred sideways fatly, plunged, Launched backward twice, and all the pool was stilL...

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