Tag: Poetry

“To Nature” Poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

To Nature

It may indeed be phantasy, when I
Essay to draw from all created things
Deep, heartfelt, inward joy that closely clings ;
And trace in leaves and flowers that round me lie
Lessons of love and earnest piety.
So let it be ; and if the wide world rings
In mock of this belief, it brings
Nor fear, nor grief, nor vain perplexity.
So will I build my altar in the fields,
And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be,
And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields
Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee,
Thee only God ! and thou shalt not despise
Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice

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“Love’s Philosophy” ~ Poem by Shelley

Love’s Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river,
  And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
  With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
  All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle–
  Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
  And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
  If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
  And the moonbeams kiss the sea;–
What is all this sweet work worth,
  If thou kiss not me?

“A Nation’s Strength ~ Poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Nation’s Strength

Ralph Waldo Emerson

What makes it mighty to defy

The foes that round it throng?

It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand

Go down in battle shock;

Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,

Not on abiding rock.

Is it the sword? Ask the red dust

Of empires passed away;

The blood has turned their stones to rust,

Their glory to decay.

And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown

Has seemed to nations sweet;

But God has struck its luster down

In ashes at his feet.

Not gold but only men can make

A people great and strong;

Men who for truth and honor’s sake

Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,

Who dare while others fly…

They build a nation’s pillars deep

And lift them to the sky.

“How Do I Love Thee” Poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How Do I love Thee

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

“My Heart Leaps Up” Poem by William Wordsworth on Real Joy

My Heart Leaps Up

My heart leaps up when I behold 

   A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began; 

So is it now I am a man; 

So be it when I shall grow old, 

   Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

“Serenity” Poem by Edward Rowland Sill

Serenity

Brook,
Be still,—be still!
Midnight’s arch is broken
In thy ceaseless ripples.
Dark and cold below them
Runs the troubled water,—
Only on its bosom,
Shimmering and trembling,
Doth the glinted star-shine
                  Sparkle and cease.

                  Life,
Be still,—be still!
Boundless truth is shattered
On thy hurrying current.
Rest, with face uplifted,
Calm, serenely quiet;
Drink the deathless beauty—
Thrills of love and wonder
Sinking, shining, star-like;
Till the mirrored heaven
Hollow down within thee
Holy deeps unfathomed,
Where far thoughts go floating,
And low voices wander

“A Prayer” Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Prayer

“Master of sweet and loving lore,
   Give us the open mind
To know religion means no more,
   No less, than being kind.

Give us the comprehensive sight
   That sees another’s need;
And let our aim to set things right
   Prove God inspired our creed.

Give us the soul to know our kin
   That dwell in flock and herd,
The voice to fight man’s shameful sin
   Against the beast and bird.

Give us a heart with love so fraught
   For all created things,
That even our unspoken thought
   Bears healing on its wings.

Give us religion that will cope
   With life’s colossal woes,
And turn a radiant face of hope
   On troops of pigmy foes.

Give us the mastery of our fate
   In thoughts so warm and white,
They stamp upon the brows of hate
   Love’s glorious seal of light.

Give us the strong, courageous faith
   That makes of pain a friend,
And calls the secret word of death
   ‘Beginning,’ and not ‘end.”

Excerpt From
Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels
Ella Wheeler Wilcox