City of the Wandering Spirit

"...You whom the wander-spirit loves
To lead by some forgotten clue
Forever vanishing beyond
Horizon brinks forever new;..."

-Bliss Carman, A Seamark

Drops of Balm

"...Thy look of love has power to calm
The stormiest passion of my soul;
Thy gentle words are drops of balm
In life's too bitter bowl;
No grief is mine, but that alone 

These choicest blessings I have known....."

 
-Percy Shelley, To Harriet, 1814

Less Traveled Road

"...I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference...."


-Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Mere Phantoms

"...Dear simple girl, those flattering arts,
 (From which thou'dst guard frail female hearts,)
 Exist but in imagination,
 Mere phantoms of thine own creation; 
 For he who views that witching grace,
 That perfect form, that lovely face,
 With eyes admiring, oh! believe me,
 He never wishes to deceive thee:..."

-George Gordon, Lord Byron,

ANSWER TO THE FOREGOING, ADDRESSED TO MISS----.

Wonder More

"...I shall not wonder more, then,
But I shall know.

Leaves change and bird, flowers,
And after years are still the same.

The sea's breast heaves in sighs to the moon,
But they are moon and sea forever..."

-Raymond Knister, Change

Divine Repose

"...Now hath the summer reached her golden close,
And, lost amid her corn-fields, bright of soul,
Scarcely perceives her divine repose
How near, how swift, the inevitable goal:
Still, still, she smiles, though from her careless feet
The bounty and the fruitful strength are gone,
And through the soft long wondering days goes on
The silent sere decadence sad and sweet..."
 -Archibald Lampman, September

Wintry Breeze

"...When jokes pass round, and nappy ale
Sends pleasure mounting to the brain;
When hours are filched from night so pale,
And youngsters sigh and maids are fain,-
Then do I hail the wintry breeze
Which brings such ripened joys as these..."


-Charles Mair, Winter

Autumn Leaves

"...The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall"

-Johnny Mercer, Autumn Leaves

Summer Flying Low

"...Was it a year or lives ago
We took the grasses in our hands,
And caught the summer flying low
Over the waving meadow lands,
And held it there between our hands?
-Bliss Carman, Low Tide on Grand Pré, 1886

Dusk & Light

"


...O if love were had for a deep wish
In the deadness of the night,
There's be no truce to longing
Between the dusk and the light..."


-Duncan Campbell Scott, 1862-1947, The Sailor's Sweetheart

Golden Dreams

"...Parent of golden dreams, Romance!
    Auspicious Queen of childish joys,
  Who lead'st along, in airy dance,
    Thy votive train of girls and boys;
  At length, in spells no longer bound,
    I break the fetters of my youth;
  No more I tread thy mystic round,
    But leave thy realms for those of Truth...."


-George Gordon, Lord Byron, To Romance

Leafy Paths

I know of the leafy paths that the witches take,

Who come with their crowns of pearl and their spindles of wool,
And their secret smile, out of the depths of the lake;
And of apple islands where the Danaan kind
Wind and unwind their dances when the light grows cool
On the island lawns, their feet where the pale foam gleams;
No boughs have withered because of the wintry wind,
The boughs have withered because I have told them my dreams.