'Tis well to have a merry heart,
However short we stay;
There's wisdom in a merry heart,
Whate'er the world may say!
Philosophy may lift its head,
And find out many a flaw,
But give me that philosophy
That's happy with a straw!
If life but…
Why do the great, the good, the just,Expire in pain, and sleep in dust,
And virtue sink in gloom?
Why does the sage, the patriot why,Like the vile wretch, in anguish die,
And find as dark a tomb?
And why most merit fall at last,Before the…
Indeed! this permission is worthy of praise:You'll allow our dark brother to ride—if he pays,Though, of course, we must seat him aloof and afar—Swart night from blonde day has a separate car!—On this "social distinction" no jeers I would call,The…
Oh God! how beautiful is earth
In sunlight or in shade:
Her forests with their waving arch
Her flowers that gem the glade.
Her hillocks, white with [f?] flocks,
Her fields with grain that glow,
Her sparkling rivers, deep and broad,
That…
Pain's furnace heat within me quivers,
God's breath upon the flame doth blow,
And all my heart in anguish shivers,
And trembles at the fiery glow;
And yet I whisper as God will! And in its hottest fire hold still. He comes and lays my heart, all…
Give! as the morning that flows out of heaven;Give! as the waves when their channel is riven;Give! as the free air and sunshine are given;
Lavishly, utterly, carelessly give!
Not the waste drops of thy cup overflowing,—Not the faint sparks of thy…
When Goethe was told that he was about to die, he folded his arms calmly, and said, "Let the light enter." Light, more light! the shadows deepen,
And my life is ebbing low;
Throw the windows widely open—
Light, more light, before I go.
Softly let…
Under the oaks of Sempach
The Switzers knelt in prayer
And sware upon their sword hilts,
The oath their fathers sware.
Under the oaks of Sempach ,
Their fathers swords they bared,
And dared the powers of Slavery
Their valiant fathers…
If all my path through life should be
Without a thorn, without a care:
If flowers ever strewed the way.
If sorrw never entered there;
If all was quiet, tranquil, smoth;
If happiness reigned without alloy,
If strife and discord never came;
If…
"Not fully known!" Oh. friends who gather round her.
Amid the anguish of this hour of fear,
Through all the horrors of the fate that bound her.
Was this the form that ye have held so dear?
Lover, within whose ear a voice still lingers,
Thrilling…
