I Love Her Well
I LOVE her well, day after day
I tell the old words over,
They ring no change from grave to gay,
It is enough, I love her!
I love her well—nay never ask
The reason why I do so,
Ask flowers that in the sunshine bask
The reason why they grew so.
They’ll tell you heaven saw the need,
And so, on earth’s brown bosom
The angels scattered out the seed,
The sunbeams kissed to blossom.
I love her well, day after day
I tell the old words over,
They ring no change from grave to gay,
It is enough—I love her!
Good-Night
I AM not brave enough to sing
The requiem of a hope just dead,
That word good-bye will surely bring
The shadow upon swifter wing,
Come, let us say good-night instead.
See, where upon the water’s crest
The sky comes down, a samite pall,
To our poor vision, dim at best—
That curtain of rare amethyst
Marks the sure ending of it all.
Ah, heart, the lesson you forget,
This wind which goes with hurrying sweep
Sees farther on, and farther yet
The white ships go, the waters fret,
The tender stars their vigils keep.