 The Prisoner A Fragment Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christof In the dungeon crypts idly did I stray Reckless of the lives wasting there away Draw the ponderous bars Open, ward astern He dared not say me nay The hinges harshly turn Our guests are darkly lodged I whispered gazing through the vault I showed heaven more gray than blue This was when gladspring laughed in awaking pride I darkly lodged enough Returned my solemn guide Then God forgive my youth Forgive my careless tongue I scoffed as the chill chains On the damp flagstones rung Confined in triple walls Art thou so much to fear That we must bind thee down Which they fetters here The captive raised her face It was a soft and mild A sculptured marble saint Or slumbering unweaned child It was so soft and mild It was so sweet and fair Pain could not trace a line Nor grieve a shadow there The captive raised her hand And pressed it to her brow I have been struck, she said And I am suffering now Yet these are little worth Your bolts and iron strong And were they forged in steel They could not hold me long Horse laughed the jailer grim Shall I be warned to hear Does thing form the dreaming wretch That I shall grant thy prayer? Oh, better still Wilt melt my master's heart with groans Ah, sooner might the sun Thor down these granite stones My master's voice is low His aspect bland and kind But hard as hard as flint The soul that lurks behind And I am rough and rude Yet not more rough to see Than is the hidden ghost That has its home in me About her lips there Played a smile of almost scorn My friend, she gently said You have not heard me mourn When you my kindred slives My lost life can restore Then may I weep and sue But never friend before Still, let my tyrants know I am not doomed to wear Year after year in gloom And desolate despair A messenger of hope comes Every night to me And offers for short life Eternal liberty He comes with western winds With evenings wandering airs With that clear dusk of heaven That brings the thickest stars Winds take a pensive tone And stars a tender fire And visions rise and change That kill me with desire Desire for nothing known In my mature years When joy grew mad with awe At counting future tears When, if my spirit sky Was full of flashes warm I knew not whence they came From sun or thunder storm But first, a hush of peace A soundless calm descends The struggle of distress And fierce impatience ends Mute music soothes my breast An uttered harmony That I could never dream Till earth was lost to me Then dawns the invisible The unseen its truth reveals My outward sense is gone My inward essence feels Its wings are almost free Its home, its harbor found Measuring the gulf its tubes And dares the final bound O dreadful is the check Intense the agony When the ear begins to hear And the eye begins to see When the pulse begins to throb The brain to think again The soul to feel the flesh And the flesh to feel the chain Yet I would lose no sting Would wish no torture less The more that anguish racks The earlier it will bless And robed in fires of hell Or bright with heavenly shine If it but herald death The vision is divine She ceased to speak And we, unanswering, turned to go We had no further power to work The captive woe Her cheek, her gleaming eye Declared that man had given A sentence unapproved And overruled by heaven Alice This recording is in the public domain If this be all Redfullyprevox.org by Alice Christoff Oh God, if this indeed be all That life can show to me If on my aching brow may fall No freshening dew from thee If with no brighter light than this The lamp of hope may glow And I may only dream of bliss And wake to weary woe If friendship solace must decay When other joys are gone And love must keep so far away While I go wandering on Wandering and toiling without gain The slave of others will With constant care and frequent pain Despised, forgotten still Grieving to look on vice and sin Yet powerless to quell The silent current from within The outward torrents swell While all the good I would impart The feelings I would share Are driven backward to my heart And turn to warm wood there If clouds must ever keep from sight The glories of the sun And I must suffer winter's blight As summer is begun If life must be so full of care Then call me soon to thee Or give me strength enough To bear my load of misery Acton This recording is in the public domain Life RedfullyBrivox.org By Alice Christoff Life, believe, is not a dream So dark, as sages say After little morning rain Fortells a pleasant day Sometimes there are clouds of gloom But these are transient all If the shower will make the roses bloom Or while I meant its fall Rapidly, merrily Life's sunny hours flit by Gratefully, cheerily Enjoy them as they fly What though death at times Steps in and calls our best away What though sorrow seems to win Or hope a heavy sway Yet hope again elastic springs Unconquered, though she fell Still buoyant are her golden wings Still strong to bear as well Manfully, fearlessly The day of trial bear For gloriously, victoriously Can courage quell despair Cara This recording is in the public domain Hope RedfullyBrivox.org By Alice Christoff Hope was but a timid friend She sat without the grated den Watching how my fate would tend Even a selfish-hearted man She was cruel in her fear Through the bars one dreary day I looked out to see her there And she turned her face away Like a false guard, false watchkeeping Still in strife she whispered peace She would sing while I was weeping If I listened, she would cease False she was and unrelenting When my last joy strewed the ground Even sorrow saw repenting Though sad relics scattered round Hope, whose whisper would have Given balm to all my frenzied pain Stretched her wings and soared to heaven Went and near returned again Alice This recording is in the public domain Memory RedfullyBrivox.org By Alice Christoff The sun of summer shone Green fields and waving woods upon And soft winds wandered by Above a sky of purest blue Around bright flowers of loveliest hue Allured the gaze as I But what were all these charms to me When one sweet breath of memory Came gently wafting by I closed my eyes against the day And called my willing soul away From earth and air and sky That I might simply fancy there One little flower, a primrose fair Just opening into sight As in the days of infancy An opening primrose seemed To me a source of strange delight Sweet memory, ever smile on me Nature's chief beauty spring from thee Oh, still thy tribute bring To make the golden crocus shine Among the flowers the most divine The glory of the spring Still in the wall flowers fragrance dwell And hover round the slight blue bell My childhood's darling flower Smile on the little daisy still The buttercup's bright goblet fill With all thy former power Forever hang thy dreamy spell Round mountain star and heather bell And do not pass away From sparkling frost or wreathed snow And whisper when the wild winds blow Or rippling waters play Is childhood then so all-divine Or memory is the glory thine That halos thus the past Not all divine its banks of grief Although perchance their staby brief Are bitter while they last Nor is the glory all thine own For on our earliest joys alone That holy light is cast With such array no spell of thine Can make our later pleasures shine Though long ago they passed Acton This recording is in the public domain The letter Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff What is she writing? Watch her now How fast her fingers move How eagerly her youthful brow Is bent in thought above Her long curls drooping shade the light She puts them quick aside No knows that band of crystals Bride are hasty touch untied It slips her down her silken dress Falls glittering at her feet And marked it falls For she no less pursues her labor sweet The very loveliest hour that shines Is in that deep blue sky The golden sun of June declines It has not caught her eye The cheerful lawn and unclosed gate The wide road far away In vain for her light footsteps wait She comes not forth today There is an open door of glass Closed by that lady's chair From thence to slopes of mossy grass Descends a marble stair Tall plants of bright and spicy bloom Around the threshold grow Their leaves and blossoms shade the room From that sun's deepening glow Why does she not a moment glance Between the clustering flowers And mark in heaven the radiant dance Of evening's rosy hours Oh, look again Still fixed her eye Smiling, earnest, still And fast her pen and fingers fly Urged by her eager will Her soul is in the absorbing task To whom then doth she ride Nay, watch her still more closely Ask her own eyes serious light Where do they turn As now her pen hangs o'er the unfinished line Whence fell the tearful gleam That then did in their dark spheres shine The summer parlor looks so dark When from that sky you turn And from the expanse of that green park Your scarce may odd discern Yet all the piles of porcelain rare Or flowers tend, couch and vase Sloped as if leaning on the air One picture meets the gaze It is there she turns You may not see, distinct, what form defines The clouded mass of mystery Yon-brode gold frame confines But look again, inured to shade Your eyes now faintly trace A stalwart form, a massive head A firm, determined face Black Spanish locks, a sunburned cheek A brow high, broad and white Where every pharaoh seems to speak Of mind and moral might Is that her god? I cannot tell Her eye a moment met The impending picture then it fell Darkened and dimmed and wet A moment more, a task is done And sealed the letter lies And now, towards the setting sun She turns her tearful eyes Those tears flow over, one do not For by the inscription see In what a strange and distant spot Her heart of hearts must be Three seas and many a league of land That letter must pass or Are read by him to whose loved hand Descent from England's shore Remote colonial wilds detain Her husband, loved those turn She made that smiling English scene Weeps for his wished return Kara This recording is in the public domain A daydream Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff On a sunny bray, alone I lay One summer afternoon It was the marriage time of May With her young lover June From her mother's heart Seemed loathed to part That queen of bridal charms But her father smiled on the fairest child He ever held in his arms The trees did wave their plumy crests The glad birds caroled clear And I, of all the wedding guests Was only sullen there There was not one but wished to shun My aspect void of cheer The very grey rocks, looking on, asked What do you do here? And I could utter no reply In soothe I did not know Why I had brought a clouded eye To greet the general glow So, resting on a heathy bank I took my heart to me And we together sadly sunk Into a reverie We thought, when winter comes again Where will these bright things be? All vanished, like a vision vain An unreal mockery The birds that now saw blightly sing Through deserts frozen dry Poor specters of the perished spring All vanished troops will fly And why should we be glad at all? The leaf is hardly green Before a token of its fall Is on the surface seen Now, whether it were really so I never could be sure But as in fit of pivish woe I stretched me on the moor A thousand thousand gleaming fires Seemed kindling in the air A thousand thousand silvery liars Resound far and near We thought, the very breath I breathed Was full of sparks divine And all my head a couch was wreathed By that celestial shine And while the wide earth echoing rung To their strange menstrual sea The little glittering spirit sung Or seemed to sing to me Oh mortal, mortal, let them die Let time and tears destroy That we may overflow the sky With universal joy Let grief distract the sufferer's breast And night obscure his way They hasten him to endless rest And everlasting day To thee the word is like a tomb A desert's naked shore To us, in unimagined bloom And could we lift the veil And give one brief glimpse to thine eye Thou wouldst rejoice for these that live Because they live to die The music ceased The noonday dream Like dream of night withdrew But fancy still Will sometimes deem Her fond creation true Alice This recording is in the public domain To Cooper Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff Sweet are thy strains, celestial bard And oft, in childhood's years I've read them o'er and o'er again With flood of silent tears The language of my inmost heart I traced in every line My sins, my sorrows, hopes and fears O'er there and only mine All for myself the sigh would swell The tear of anguish start I little knew what wilder woe Had filled the poet's heart I did not know the nights of gloom The days of misery The long, long years of dark despair That crushed and tortured thee But there gone From earth at length Thy gentle soul is past And in the bosom of its God Has found its home at last It must be so if God is love And answers fervent prayer Then surely thou shalt dwell on high And I may meet thee there Is he the source of every good The spring of purity Then in thine hours of deepest woe Thy God was still with thee How else when every hope was fled Couldst thou so fondly cling To holy things and holy men And how so sweetly sing Of things that God alone could teach And whence that purity That hatred of all sinful ways That gentle charity Are these the symptoms Of a heart of heavenly grace bereft For ever banished from its God To Satan's fury left Yet should thy darkest fears be true If heaven be so severe That such a soul as thine is lost Oh, how shall I appear? Acton This recording is in the public domain Regret Read for LibriVox.org By Alice Crystal Long ago I wished to leave The house where I was born Long ago I used to grieve My home seemed so forlorn In other ears Its silent rooms were filled with haunting fears Now their very memory comes Or charged with tender tears Life and marriage I have known Things once deemed so bright Now how utterly is flown Every ray of light Mid the unknown sea of life I know blessed I'll have found At last, through all its wild wave strife My bark is homeward bound Farewell, dark and rolling deep Farewell, foreign shore Open in unclouded sweep Though glorious realm before Yet, though I had safely passed That weary vexed mane Once loved voice through surge And blast could call me back again Though the soul's bright morning rose Or paradise for me William, even from heaven's repose I'd turn, invoked by thee Storm nor surge should air arrest My soul exulting then All my heaven was once thy breast Would it were mine again? Kara This recording is in the public domain To imagination Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff When weary with the long days' care And earthly change from pain to pain And lost and ready to despair Thy kind voice calls me back again O my true friend, I am not alone While thou can speak with such a tone So hopeless is the world without The world within I doubly prize Thy world where guile and hate and doubt And cold suspicion never rise Where thou and I and liberty Have undisputed sovereignty What matters it that all around Danger and guilt and darkness lie If but within our bosoms bound We hold a bright and troubled sky Warm with ten thousand mingled rays Of suns that know no winter days Reason indeed may oft complain For nature's sad reality And tell the suffering heart how vain Its cherished dreams must always be And truth may rudely trample down The flowers a fancy newly blown But thou art ever there to bring The hovering vision back and breathe New glories o'er the blighted spring All the lovelier life and death And whisper with a voice divine Of real worlds as bright as thine I trust not to thy phantom bliss Yet still in evening's quiet hour With never-failing thankfulness I welcome thee benignant power Sure solace of human cares And sweeter hope when hope despairs Alice This recording is in the public domain The Doubter's Prayer Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff Eternal power of earth and air Unseen yet seen in all around Remote but dwelling everywhere Though silent heard in every sound If air thine ear in mercy bent When wretched mortals cried to thee And if indeed thy son was sent To save lost sinners such as me Then hear me now while kneeling here I lift to thee my heart and eye And all my soul ascends in prayer Oh, give me, give me faith! I cry. Without some glimmering in my heart I could not raise this fervent prayer But oh, a stronger light impart And in thy mercy fix it there My faith is with me, I am blessed It turns my darkest night today But while I clasp it to my breast I often feel it slide away Then cold and dark my spirit sinks To see my light of life depart And every fiend of hell me thinks Enjoys the anguish of my heart What shall I do if all my love My hopes, my toil are cast away And if there be no God above To hear and bless me when I pray If this be vain delusion all If death be an eternal sleep And none can hear my secret call Or see the silent tears I weep Oh, help me, God! For thou alone canst my distracted soul relieve For, say, keep not It is thine own Though weak yet longing to believe Oh, drive these cruel doubts away And make me know that thou art God A faith that shines by night and day Will lighten every earthly load If I believe that Jesus died And waking rose to reign above Then surely sorrow, sin and pride Must yield to peace and hope and love And all the blessed words he said Will strengthen holy joy impart A shield of safety o'er my head A spring of comfort in my heart That open book has lain unread For ours upon your knee You've never smiled nor turned your head What can you, sister, see? Come here, the Jane Look down the field How dense a mist creeps on The path, the hedge Are both concealed Even the white gate is gone No landscape through the four-guide trace No hill with pastures green All featureless is nature's face All masked in clouds her mean Scarce is the rustle of a leaf Herd in our garden now The year grows old Its days wax breathe The tresses leave its brow The rain drives fast before the wind The sky is blank and gray Oh, Jane, what sadness Fills the mind on such a dreary day You think too much, my sister dear You sit too long alone What though November days be drear Full soon will they be gone I've swept the hearth and placed your chair Come, Emma, sit by me Our own fireside is never drear Though late and wintry were in the air Though rough the night may be The peaceful glow of our fireside Imparts no peace to me My thoughts would rather wander wide Than rest, dear Jane, with thee I'm on a distant journey bound And if about my heart Too closely kindred ties were bound It would break when forced to part Soon will November day be drear Well have you spoken, Jane My own forebodings tell me more For me, I know by preside sure They will near return again Air long, nor sun nor storm to me Will bring or joy or gloom They reach not that eternity Which soon will be my home Eight months are gone The summer sun sets in a glorious sky A quiet field, all green and blown Receives its rosy dye Jane sits upon a shaded style Alone she sits there now Her head rests on her hand the while And thought or casts her brow She's thinking of one winter's day A few short months ago When Emma's beer was born away Or wastes a frozen snow She's thinking how that drifted snow Dissolved in spring's first gleam And how her sister's memory now fades Even as fades a dream The snow will whiten earth again But Emma comes no more She left midwinter's sleet and drain This world for heaven's far shore On bueless hills she wanders now On Eden's tranquil plain To her shall Jane hereafter go She ne'er shall come to Jane Cara This recording is in the public domain How clear she shines Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff How clear she shines How quietly I lie beneath her guardian light While heaven and earth are whispering me Tomorrow wake but dream tonight Yes, fancy, come my fairy love These throbbing temples softly kiss And bend my lonely couch above And bring me rest and bring me bliss The world is going, dark world adieu Grim world, conceal thee till the day The heart, thou canst not all subdue Must still resist if thou delay Thy love I will not, will not share Thy hatred only wakes a smile Thy grieves may wound Thy wrong may tear But oh, thy lies shall ne'er beguile While gazing on the stars that glow above me In that stormless sea I long to hope that all the woe creation knows Is held in thee And this shall be my dream tonight I'll think the heaven of glorious spheres Is rolling on its course of light In endless bliss through endless years I'll think there's not a one world above Far as these straining eyes can see Where wisdom ever laughed at love Or virtue crouched to infamy Where, writhing neath the strokes of fate The mangled wretch was forced to smile To match his patience against her hate His heart rebellious all the while Where pleasure still will lead to wrong And helpless reason warn in vain And truth is weak and treachery strong And joy the surest path to pain And peace the lethargy of grief And hope a phantom of the soul And life a labour void and brief And death the despot of the whole Alice This recording is in the public domain The teacher's monologue Red Willow Brevox, not talked by Alice Crystal The room is quiet Thoughts alone, people its mute tranquility The yoke put off the long task done I am, as it is blissed to be, still and untroubled Now I see, for the first time how soft the day Or waveless water, starless tree Silent and sunny wings its way Now, as I watch that distant hill So faint, so blue, so far removed Sweet dreams of home my heart may fill That home where I am known and loved It lies beyond, your nausea brow Parts me from all earth holds for me And mourn and eve my yearnings flow Thitherward tending changelessly My happiest hours, I all the time I love to keep in memory Lapsed among moors, air life's first prime Decade to dark anxiety Sometimes I think a narrow heart Makes me thus mourn those far away And keeps my love so far apart From friends and friendships of today Sometimes I think this but a dream I treasure up so jealously All the sweet thoughts I live on seem To vanish into vacancy And then this strange course world around Seems all that's palpable and true And every sight and every sound Combines my spirit to subdue To aching grief so void and blown Is life and earth so worse than vain The hopes that in my own heart sown And cherished by such sun and rain As joy and transient sorrow shed Have ripened to harvest there Alas, we think I hear it said Thy golden sheaves are empty air All fades away, my very home I think will soon be desolate I hear at times a warning come Of bitter partings at its gate And if I should return and see The hearth fire quenched The vacant chair And hear it whispered mournfully That farewells have been spoken there What shall I do and with a turn Where look for peace when seas to mourn It is not the air I wish to play The strain I wish to sing My willful spirit slipped away And struck another string I neither want its smile nor tear Bright joy nor bitter woe But just a song that's sweet and clear Though happily said might flow A quiet song to solace me When sleep refused to come A strain to chase despondency When sorrowful for home In vain I try, I cannot sing All feel so cold and dead No wild distress nor gushing spring Of tears in anguish shed But all the impatient gloom Of one who waits a distant day When some great task of suffering Done repose shall toil repay For youth departs and pleasure flies And life consumes away And youth rejoicing ardued eyes Beneath this drear delay And patience weary with her yoke Is yielding to despair And hell's elastic spring is broke Beneath a strain of care Life will be gone ere I have lived Where now is life's first prime? I've worked and studied, longed and grieved Through all that rosy time To toil, to think, to long, to grieve Is such my future fate The mourn was dreary Must the eve be also desolate? Well, such a life at least makes death A welcome wished for friend Then aid me reason, patience, faith To suffer to the end Cara This recording is in the public domain Sympathy Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff There should be no despair for you While nightly stars are burning While evening pours its silent dew And sunshine guilds the morning There should be no despair Though tears may flow down like a river Are not the best beloved of years Around your heart forever? They weep, you weep It must be so Winds sigh as you are sighing And winter sheds his grief in snow Where autumn's leaves are lying Yet these revive And from their fate your fate cannot be parted Then journey on, if not elate Still never broken hearted Alice This recording is in the public domain Past days Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff It is strange to think there was a time When mirth was not an empty name When laughter really cheered the heart And frequent smiles and bidden came And tears of grief would only flow In sympathy for others' woe When speech expressed the inward thought And heart to kindred heart was bare And summer days were far too short For all the pleasures crowded there And silence solitude and rest Now welcome to the weary breast Were all unpriced, uncaughted then And all the joy one spirit showed The other deeply felt again And friendship like a river flowed Constant and strong its silent cause For naught withstood its gentle force When night, the holy time of peace Was dreaded as the parting hour When speech and mirth at once must cease And silence must resume her power Though ever free from pains and woes She only brought a calm repose And when the blessed dawn again Brought daylight to the blushing skies We woke and not reluctant then To joylessly but it we rise But full of hope and glad and gay We welcomed the returning day Acton This recording is in the public domain Passion Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff Some have won a wild delight By daring wild as sorrow Could I gain thy love tonight? I'd hazard death tomorrow Could the battle struggle earn One kind glance from thine eye How this withering heart would burn The head if I'd to try Welcome nights of broken sleep And days of carnage cold Could I deem that thou would sweep To hear my perils told Tell me, if with wandering bands I roam full far away Wilt thou to those distant lands In spirit ever stray? Wild, long, a trumpet sounds afar Bit me, bit me go Where sike and Britain meet in war On Indian satellites flow Blood has died the satellites' waves With scarlet stain I know Indus borders yawn with graves Yet command me go Though rank and high the holocaust Of nations' steams to heaven Glad at joy in the death-doomed host Were but the mandate given Passion's strength should nerve my arm Its ardour stir my life Till human force to that dread charm Should yield and sink in wild alarm Like trees to tempest strife If hot from war I seek thy love Darest thou turn aside? Darest thou then my fiery proof By scorn and maddening pride? No, my will shall yet control thy will So high and free, and love shall tame That haughty soul, yes, tenderest love for me I'll read my triumph in thine eyes Behold and prove the change Then leave perchance my noble prize Once more in arms to range I'd die when all the foam is up The bright wine sparkling high Nor wait till in the exhausted cup Life's dull dregs only lie Then love thus crowned with sweet reward O blessed with fullness large I'd mount the saddle, draw the sword And perish in the charge Kara This recording is in the public domain Preference Read fully Brevox.org by Alice Christoff Not in scorn do I reprove thee Not in pride thy vows I waive But believe, I could not love thee Word thou Prince and I a slave These then are thine oaths of passion This, thy tenderness for me Judged even by thine own confession Thou art steeped in perfidy Having vanquished, thou wouldst leave me Thus I read thee long ago Therefore dared I not deceive thee Even with friendship's gentle show Therefore with impassive coldness Have I ever met thy gaze Though full oft with daring boldness Thou thine eyes to mind its rays Why that smile? Thou now redeeming Is my coldness all and true But a mask of frozen seaming Hiding secret fires from view Touch my hand, thou self-deceiver Nay, be calm or I am so Does it burn? Does my lip quiver? As mine eye in a troubled glow Canst thou call a moment's color To my forehead, to my cheek Canst thou tinge their tranquil pallor With one flattering feverish streak Am I marble? What? No woman could so calm before thee stand Nothing living, sentient human Could so coldly take thy hand? Yes, a sister might, a mother My goodwill is sisterly Dream not, then, I strive to smother Fires that inly burn for thee Rave not, rage not Wrath is fruitless Purely cannot change my mind I but deem the feeling rootless Which so whirls in passion's wind Can I love? Oh, deeply, truly Warmly, fondly, but not thee And my love is answered duly With an equal energy Wouldst thou see their rival? Hason, draw that curtain softer side Look where yon thick branches Chasing noon with shades of even tide In that glade where foliage Blending forms a green arch overhead Sits thy rival thoughtful bending Or a stand with paper spread Motionless, his fingers plying That untired and resting pen Time untied and noticed flying There he sits, the first of men Man of conscience, man of reason Stern perchance but ever just Photo falsehood, wrong and treason Honest shield and virtuous trust Worker, thinker, firm defender Of heaven's truth, man's liberty Soul of iron, proved to slander Rock where founders tyranny Fame he seeks not, but full surely She will seek him in his home This I know, and wait securely For the atoning hour to come To that man my faith is given Therefore, soldier, cease to sue While God reigns in earth and heaven I to him will still be true Kara This recording is in the public domain Plead for me Read fully bryvoks.org by Alice Christoff O thy bright eyes must answer now When reason with a scornful brow Is mocking at my overthrow O thy sweet tongue must plead for me And tell why I have chosen thee Stern reason is to judgment come Arraid in all her forms of gloom Will thou my advocate be done? No radiant angel, speak and say Why I did cast the world away Why I have persevered to shun The common paths that others run And on a strange road journeyed on Heedless alike of wealth and power Of glorious wreath and pleasures flower These once indeed seemed beings divine And they, perchance, heard vows of mine And saw my offerings on their shrine But careless gifts are seldom prized And mine were worthily despised So with a ready heart I swore To seek their altar stone no more And gave my spirit to adore thee My present phantom thing My slave, my comrade and my king A slave, because I rule thee still Inclimed thee to my changeful will And make thy influence good or ill A comrade, for by day and night Thou art my intimate delight My darling pain that wounds and seers And rings a blessing out from tears By deadening me to earthly cares And yet the king, though prudence well Is subject to rebel. And am I wrong to worship Where faith cannot doubt nor hope despair Since my own soul can grant my prayer? Speak, God of visions, bleed for me And tell why I have chosen thee. Alice. This recording is in the public domain. Reconciliation. Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff Though bleak these woods And damp the ground With fallen leaves so thickly strone And cold the wind that wanders round With wild and melancholy moan There is a friendly roof I know Might shield me from the wintry blast There is a fire whose ruddy glow Will cheer me for my wanderings past And so, though still, where ere I go Cold stranger glances meet my eye Though, when my spirit sinks in woe Unheeded swells, then bitten sigh Though solitude endured too long Bits youthful joys too soon decay Makes Martha stranger to my tongue And overclouds my noon of day When kindly thoughts that would have way Blow back discouraged to my breast I know there is, though far away A home where heart and soul may rest Warm hands are there that clasped in mine The warmer heart will not belie While mirth and truth and friendship shine In smiling lip and earnest eye The eyes that gathers round my heart May there be thought, and sweetly then The joys of youth that now depart Will come to cheer my soul again So far I roam That thought shall be my hope My comfort everywhere While such a home remains to me My heart shall never know despair Acton This recording is in the public domain Evening solace Redvilliprivox.org by Alice Christoff The human heart has hidden treasures In secret kept in silent sealed The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures Whose charms were broken if revealed And days may pass in gay confusion And nights in rosy red fly While lost in fame's or wealth's illusion The memory of the past may die. But there are hours of lonely musing Such as in evening silence come When soft as birds their opinions closing The heart's best feelings gather home And in our souls there seems to languish A tender grieve that is not woe And thoughts that once rung groans Now cause but some mild tears to flow And feelings once as strong as passions Float softly back a faded dream Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations The tale of others' suffering seem Oh, when the heart is freshly bleeding How longs it for that time to be When through the midst of years receding Its woes but live in reverie And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer On evening shade and loneliness And while the sky grows dim and dimmer Feel no untold and strange distress Only a deeper impulse given By lonely hour and darkened room To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven Seeking a life and world to come This recording is in the public domain Self-interrogation Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff The evening passes fast away It is almost time to rest What thoughts has left the vanished day What feelings in thy breast The vanished day It leaves a sense of labour hardly done Of little gained with vast expense A sense of grief alone Time stands before the door of death Upbraiding bitterly And conscience, with exhaustless breath Pause black reproach on me And though I've said that conscience lies And time should fate condemn Still, sad repentance clouds my eyes And makes them yield to them Then art thou glad to seek repose Art glad to leave the sea And anchor all thy weary woes In calm eternity Nothing regrets to see thee go Not one voice sobs farewell And where thy heart has suffered so Can't thou decide it well? Alas, the countless links are strong That bind us to our clay The loving spirit lingers long And would not pass away And rest is sweet When laurel'd fame will crown the soldier's crest But a brave heart, with a tarnished name Would rather fight than rest While thou hast fought for many a year Hast fought thy whole life through Hast humbled falsehood, trampled fear What is there left to do? It is true, this arm has hotly striven Has dared what few would dare Much have I done and freely given But little learned to bear Look on the grave where thou must sleep Thy last and strongest foe It is endurance not to weep If that repose seem woe The long war closing in defeat Defeat serenely born Thy midnight rest may still be sweet And break in glorious mourn Alice This recording is in the public domain Lines composed in a wood on a windy day Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze For above and around me the wild wind is roaring Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas The long withered grass in the sunshine is glancing The bare trees are tossing their branches on high The dead leaves beneath them are merrily dancing The white clouds are scutting across the blue sky I wish I could see how the ocean is lashing The foam of its billows to whirl winds of spray I wish I could see how its proud waves are dashing And hear the wild roar of their thunder today Acton This recording is in the public domain Stanzas Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff If thou be in a lonely place If one hour's calm be thine As evening bends her placid face Or these sweet days decline If all the earth and all the heaven Now look serene to thee As all them shuts the summer even One moment, think of me Pause in the lane returning home To dusk it will be still Pause near the Elm, a sacred gloom Its breezeless boughs will fill Look at that soft and golden light High in the unclouded sky Watch the last bird's belated flight As it flits silent by Hark for a sound upon the wind A step, a voice, a sigh If all be still, then yield thy mind Unchecked to memory If thine love were like mine How blessed that twilight hour would seem When back from the regretted past Returned our early dream If thine love were like mine How wild their longings even to pain For sunset soft and moonlight mild To bring that hour again But oft, when in thine arms I lay I've seen thy dark eyes shine And deeply felt their changeful ray Spoke other love than mine My love is almost anguished now It beats so strong and true To a rapture could I deem That thou such anguish ever knew I have been but thy transient flower Thou word my God divine Till checked by death's congealing power This heart must throb for thine And while my dying hour were blessed If life's expiring breath should pass As thy lips gently pressed my forehead Cold in death And sound my sleep would be and sweet Beneath the churchyard tree If sometimes in thy heart should beat One pulse still true to me Kara This recording is in the public domain Death Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff Death That struck when I was most confiding In my certain faith of joy to be Strike again At times withered branch dividing From the fresh root of eternity Leaves upon times branch were growing brightly Full of sap and full of silver dew Birds beneath its shelter gathered nightly Daily round its flowers the wild bees flew Sorrow passed and plucked the golden blossom Guilds stripped off the foliage in its bride But within its parents kindly bosom Float forever life's restoring tide Little mourned I for the parted gladness For the vacant nest and silent song Hope was there and laughed me out of sadness Whispering winter will not linger long And behold with tenfold increase blessing Spring adorned the beauty bird and spray Wind and rain and fervent heat, caressing Lavished glory on that second May Chi it rose, no winged grief could sweep it Sin was scared to distance with its shine Love and its own life had power to keep it From all wrong, from every blight but thine Cruel death, the young leaves droop and languish Evening's gentle air may still restore No, the morning sunshine mocks my anguish Time for me must never blossom more Strike it down that other boughs may flourish Where that perished sapling used to be Thus at least its mouldering corpse will nourish That from which it sprung, eternity Alice This recording is in the public domain Views of life Read volibrivox.org by Alice Christoff When sinks my heart in hopeless gloom And life can show no joy for me And I behold a yawning tomb Where bowers and palaces should be In vain you talk of morbid dreams In vain you gaily smiling say What to me so dreary seems The healthy mind deems bright and gay I too have smiled and thought like you But madly smiled and falsely deemed Truth led me to the present view I am waking now, towards then I dreamed I lately saw a sunset sky And stood enraptured to behold Its varied hues of glorious dye Leasy clouds of shining gold These blushing to corrosive hue Beneath them shone a flood of green Nor less divine the glorious blue That smiled above them and between I cannot name each lovely shade I cannot say how bright they shone But one by one I saw them fade And what remained when they were gone Dull clouds remained of somber hue And when their borrowed charm was o'er The azure sky had faded too That smiled so softly bright before So gilded by the glow of youth Our varied life looks fair and gay And so remains the naked truth When that false light is passed away Why blame me then my keenest sight That clearly sees a world of woes Through all the haze of golden light That flattering falsehood round it throws When the young mother smiles above The first born darling of her heart Her bosom glows with earnest love While tears of silent transport start Found the dreamer, little does she know The anxious toil, the suffering The blasted hopes, the burning woe The object of her joy will bring Her blinded eyes beholden not now What soon or late must be his doom The anguish that will cloud his brow The bed of death, the dreary tomb As little know the youthful pair In mutual love supremely blessed What weariness and cold despair Air long will seize the aching breast And even should love and faith remain The greatest blessings life can show Amid adversity and pain to shine Throughout with cheering glow They do not see how cruel death Comes on their loving hearts to part One feels not now the gasping breath The rending of the earth-bound heart The souls and body's agony Air she may sing to her oppose The sad survivor cannot see The grave above his darling close Nor how, despairing and alone He then must wear his life away And linger, feebly toiling on And fainting, sink into decay O youth may listen patiently While sad experience tells her tale But doubts it smiling in his eye Or ardent hope will still prevail He hears how feeble pleasure dies By guilt destroyed and pain and woe He turns to hope and she replies Believe it not, it is not so O heed her not, experiences For thus she whispered once to me She told me in my youthful days How glorious manhood's prime would be When in the time of early spring Too chill the winds that o'er me passed She said each coming day would bring A fairer heaven, a gentler blast And when the sun too seldom beamed The sky forecast too darkly frowned The soaking rain too constant streamed And mist too dreary gathered round She told me summer's glorious ray Would chase those vapours all away And scatter glories round With sweetest music fill the trees Load with rich scent the gentle breeze And strew with flowers the ground But when beneath that scorching ray I languished weary through the day While birds refused to sing Verge your decayed from field and tree And panting nature mourned with me The freshness of the spring Wait but a little while she said Till summer's burning days have fled And autumn shall restore With golden riches of her own And summer's glorious mellowed down The freshness you deplore And long I waited but in vain That freshness never came again Though summer passed away Though autumn's mists hung cold and chill And drooping nature languished still And sank into decay Till wintry blasts foreboding blue Through leafless trees and then I knew That hope was all a dream But thus, fond youth, she cheated me And she will prove as false to thee Though sweet her words may seem Stern-prophet, seize thy bowding's dire Thou canst not quench the ardent fire That warms the breast of youth Oh, let it cheer him while it may And gently, gently die away Chilled by the damse of truth Tell him that earth is not our rest Its joys are empty, frail at best And point beyond the sky But gleams of light may reach us here And hope the roughest path can cheer Then do not bid it fly Though hope may promise joys That still unkindly time will nareful fill Or if they come at all We never find them unalloyed Hurtful perchance or soon destroyed They vanish or they fall Yet hope itself a brightness throws For all our labours and our woes While dark foreboding care A thousand ills will oft portend At Providence may nare intend A trembling heart to bear Or if they come it oft appears Our woes are lighter than our fears And far more bravely born Then let us not enchance our doom But ear in midnight's blackest gloom Expect the rising morn Because the road is rough and long Shall we despise the sky-lark song That cheers the wanderer's way Or trample down with reckless feet The smiling florets bright and sweet Because they soon decay Past pleasant scenes unnoticed by Because the next is bleak and drear Or not enjoy a smiling sky Because a tempest may be near No, while we journey on our way We'll smile on every lovely thing And ever as they pass away To memory and hope will cling And though that awful river flows Before us when the journey's past Per chance of all the pilgrim's woes Most dreadful shrink not till the last Though icy cold and dark and deep Beyond its miles that blessed shore Where none shall suffer, none shall weep And bliss shall reign forevermore Acton This recording is in the public domain Parting There's no use in weeping Though we are condemned to part There's such a thing as keeping Our remembrance in one's heart There's such a thing as dwelling On the thought ourselves have nursed And with scorn and courage telling The world to do its worst We'll not let its follies grieve us We'll just take them as they come And then every day we'll leave us A merry laugh for home When we've left each friend and brother When we're parted wide and far We will think of one another As even better than we are Every glorious sight above us Every pleasant sight beneath We'll connect with those that love us Whom we truly love till death In the evening when we're sitting By the fire perchance alone Then shall heart with warm heart meeting Give responsive tone for tone We can burst the bonds which chain us Which cold human hands have wrought And where none shall dare restrain us We can meet again in thought So there's no use in weeping Bear a cheerful spirit still Never doubt that faith is keeping Future good for present ill Cara This recording is in the public domain Stanzas too Redfullyprevox.org By Alice Christoff Well, some may hate And some may scorn And some may quite forget thy name But my sad heart must ever mourn Thy ruined hopes, thy blighted fame It was thus I thought an hour ago Even weeping o'er that wretched woe One word turned back my gushing tears And lit my altered eye with snares Then blessed the friendly dust I said That hides thy unlamented head Vein as thou word and weak as vein The slave of falsehood, pride and pain My heart has not akin to thine Thy soulless powerless overmine But these were thoughts that vanished too Unwise and holy and untrue Do I despise the timid deer Because his limbs are fleed with fear? Or would I mock the wolf's death howl Because his foam is gaunt and foul? Or hear with joy the leverage cry Because it cannot bravely die? No, then above his memory Let pity's heart as tender be Say, earth lie lightly on that breast And kind heaven grant that spirit rest Alice This recording is in the public domain Appeal Read volibrivox.org by Alice Christoff Oh, I am very weary Tears no longer flow My eyes are tired of weeping My heart is sick of woe My life is very lonely My days pass heavily I'm weary of repining Wilt thou not come to me? Oh, didst thou know my longings For thee from day to day My hopes so often blighted Thou wouldst not thus delay Acton This recording is in the public domain Honours Martyr Read volibrivox.org by Alice Christoff The moon is full this winter night The stars are clear though few And every window glistens bright With leaves of frozen dew The sweet moon through your lattice gleams And lights your room like day And there you pass in happy dreams The peaceful hours away While I, with effort hardly quelling The anguish in my breast Wander about the silent dwelling And cannot think of rest The old clock in the gloomy hall Ticks on from hour to hour And every time its measured call Seems lingering slow and slower And oh how slow that keen-eyed star Has tracked the chilly grey What, watching yet? How very far the morning lies away Without your chamber door I stand Love, are you slumbering still? My cold heart underneath my hand Has almost ceased thrill Bleak, bleak the east When sobs and sighs And drowns the turret bell Whose sad note and distinguished dies Unheard, like my farewell Tomorrow's corn will blight my name And hate will trample me Will load me with a coward's shame A traitor's perjury All's friends will launch their coward's nears True friends will wish me dead And I shall cause the bitterest tears That you have ever shed The dark deeds of my outlawed race Will then like virtues shine And men will pardon their disgrace Beside the guilt of mine For who forgives the accursed crime Of dastard treachery Rebellion in its chosen time May freedom's champion be Revenge may stain a righteous sword It may be just to slay But traitor, traitor From that word all true Breasts shrink away Oh, I would give my heart to death To keep my honour fair Yet I'll not give my inward faith My honour's name to spare Not even to keep your priceless love Dare I, beloved, deceive This treason should the future prove Then, only then, believe I know the path I ought to go I follow fiercely Inquiring not what deeper woe Stern duty stores for me So foes pursue And cold allies mistrust me, everyone Let me be false in others' eyes Be faithful in my own Alice This recording is in the public domain The student's serenade Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff I have slept upon my couch But my spirit did not rest For the labours of the day Yet my weary soul oppressed And before my dreaming eyes Still the learned volumes lay And I could not close their leaves And I could not turn away But I hoped my eyes at last And I heard a muffled sound Twas the night breeze come to say That the snow was on the ground Then I knew that there was rest On the mountains bosom free So I left my fevered couch And I flew to wake and thee I have flown to wake and thee For if thou wilt not arise Then my soul can drink no peace From these holy moonlight skies And this waste of virgin snow To my sight will not be fair Unless thou wilt smiling come Love to wander with me there Then awake, Maria, awake For if thou couldst only know How the quiet moonlight sleeps On this wilderness of snow And the groves of ancient trees In their snowy garbaraid Till they stretch into the gloom Of the distant valley's shade I know thou wouldst rejoice To inhale this bracing air Thou wouldst break thy sweetest sleep To behold a scene so fair For these wintry wilds alone Thou wouldst joy to wander free And it will not please thee less Though that bliss be shared with me Acton This recording is in the public domain Stanzas Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff I'll not weep that thou art going to leave me There's nothing lovely here And doubly will the dark world grieve me While thy heart suffers there I'll not weep because the summer's glory Must always end in gloom And follow out the happiest story It closes with the tomb And I am weary of the anguish Increasing winter's bear Weary to touch the spirit language Through ears of dead despair So if a tear When thou art dying Should happily fall from me It is but that my soul is sighing To go and rest with thee Ellis This recording is in the public domain The captive dove Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff Poor restless dove I pity thee And when I hear thy plaintive moan I mourn for thy captivity And in thy woes forget mine own To see thee stand prepared to fly And flap those useless wings of thine And gaze into the distant sky Would melt a harder heart than mine In vain, in vain, thou canst not rise Thy prison-roof confines thee there It slender wise delude thine eyes And quench thy longings with despair O thou art made to wander free In sunny mead and shady grove And far beyond the rolling sea In distant climbs, at will to rove Yet, hath thou but one gentle maid Thy little drooping heart to cheer And share with thee thy captive state Thou couldst be happy even there Yes, even there, if listening By one faithful dear companion stood While gazing on her full black eye Thou mightst forget thy native wood But thou, poor solitary dove Must make unheard thy joyless moan The heart that nature formed to love Must pine neglected and alone Acton This recording is in the public domain Winter Stores Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff We take from life one little share And say that this shall be A space redeemed from toil and care From tears and sadness free And happily death unstrings his bow And sorrow stands apart Little while we know the sunshine of the heart Existence seems a summer eve Warm, soft and full of peace Our free, unfettered feelings Give the soul its full release A moment, then it takes the power To call up thoughts that throw Around that charmed and hallowed hour This life's divinest glow But time, though viewlessly it flies And slowly will not stay Alike through clear and clouded skies It cleaves its silent way Alike the bitter cup of grief Alike the draught of bliss Its progress leaves but moment brief Or baffled lips to kiss The sparkling draught is dried away The hour of rest is gone And urgent voices round us say Ho lingura, hasten on And has the soul then only gained From this brief time of ease A moment's rest when overstrained One hurried glimpse of peace No, while the sun shone kindly o'er us And flowers bloomed round our feet While many a bud of joy before us Unclosed its petal sweet An unseen work within was plying Like horny-seeking bee From flower to flower unwearied Lying, laboured one faculty Thoughtful for winter's future sorrow Its gloom and scarcity Presigned today of one tomorrow Toiled quiet memory Tis she that from each transient pleasure Extracts a lasting good Tis she that finds in summer treasure To serve for winter's food And when youth's summer day is vanished And age brings winter stress Her stores with hoarded sweets replenished Life's evening hours will bless Cara This recording is in the public domain My Comforter Redvillibrivox.org by Alice Christoff Will hast thou spoken And yet not taught a feeling strange or new Thou hast but roused a latent thought A cloud-closed beam of sunshine broad To gleam in open view Deep down concealed within my soul That light lies yet from men Yet glows and quenched though shadows roll Its gentle ray cannot control About the sullen den Was I not vexed in these gloomy ways To walk alone so long Around me wretches uttering praise Or howling o'er their hopeless days And each with frenzy's tongue A brotherhood of misery Their smiles as sad as sighs Whose madness daily maddened me Distorting into agony the bliss before my eyes So stood I, in heaven's glorious sun And in the glare of hell My spirit drank a mingle tone Of seraph's song and demon's moan What my soul bore My soul alone within itself may tell Like a soft air above a sea Tossed by the tempest's stir A thaw-wind melting quietly The snow-drift on some wintry lee No, what sweet thing resembles thee My thoughtful comforter And yet a little longer speak Calm this resentful mood And while the savage heart grows meek Or other token do not seek But let the tear upon my cheek Evince my gratitude Alice This recording is in the public domain Self-congratulation Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff Ellen, you were thoughtless ones Of beauty or of grace Simple and homely in attire Careless of form and face Then whence this change And wherefore now so often smooth your hair And wherefore deck your youthful form With such unwearyed care Tell us and cease to tear our ears With that familiar strain Why will you play those simple tunes So often or again? Indeed, dear friends, I can but say that childhood's thoughts are gone Each ear its own new feelings brings And ears move swiftly on And for these little simple heirs I love to play them o'er so much I dare not promise now to play them nevermore I answered, and it was enough They turned them to depart They could not read my secret thoughts Nor see my throbbing heart I've noticed many a youthful form Upon whose changeful face The most workings of the soul The gaze a well might trace The speaking eye, the changing lip The ready blushing cheek The smiling or be clouded brow Their different feelings speak But thank God, you might gaze on mine For hours and never know The secret changes of my soul From joy to keenest woe Last night, as we sat round the fire Merrily, we heard without approaching steps Of one well known to me There was no trembling in my voice No blush upon my cheek No lastrous sparkle in my eyes Of hope or joy to speak But oh, my spirit burned within My heart beat full and fast He came not nigh, he went away And then my joy was passed And yet my comrades marked it not My voice was still the same They saw me smile And all my face, no signs of sadness came They little knew my hidden thoughts And they will never know The aching anguish of my heart The bitter burning woe Acton This recording is in the public domain The missionary Read for LibriVox.org by Alice Christoff Plough vessel, plough the British Maine Seek the free ocean's wider plain Leave English scenes and English skies Unbind the sever English ties Bear me to climbs remote and strange Where altered life fast following change What action never ceasing toil Shall stir, turn, dig the spirit soil Fresh roots shall plant, fresh seed shall sow Till a new garden there shall grow Cleared of the weeds that fill it now Mere human love, mere selfish yearning Which cherished would arrest me yet I grasp the plough, there's no returning Let me then struggle to forget But England's shores are yet in view And England's skies of tender blue Are arched above her guardian sea I cannot yet remembrance flee I must again then firmly face That task of anguish to retrace Wedded to home, I home forsake Fearful of change, I changes make Too fond of ease, I plunge in toil Lover of calm, I seek turmoil Nature and hostile destiny Stir in my heart a conflict wild And long and fierce the war will be Air duty both has reconciled What other tie yet holds me fast To the divorced, abandoned past? Smoldering on my heart's altar lies The fire of some great sacrifice Not yet half quenched, the sacred steel But lately struck my carnal will My lifelong hope, first joy and last What I loved well and clung too fast What I wished wildly to retain What I renounced with soul-felt pain What, when I saw it, axe-struck perish Left me no joy on earth to cherish A man bereft, yet sternly now I do confirm that Jeff the Vow Shall I retract, or fear, or flee? Did Christ, when rose that fatal tree Before him on mount Calvary? It was a long fight, hard fought, but won And what I did was justly done Yet, Helen, from thy love I turned When my heart most for thy heart burned I dared thy tears, I dared thy scorn Easier the death-bang had been born Helen, thou mightst not go with me I could not, dared not stay for thee I heard afar in bonds complain The savage from beyond the main And that wild sound rose o'er the cry Wrung out by passions agony And even when, with the bitterest tear I ever shed my nigh's were dim Still, with the Spirit's vision clear I saw Hell's Empire, vast and grim Spread on each Indian River's shore Each realm of Asia covering awe There, the weak, trampled by the strong Live but to suffer, hopeless die There pagan priests whose creed is wrong Extortion, lust and cruelty Crush our lost race and brimming fill The bitter cup of human ill And I, who have the healing creed The faith benign of Mary's son Shall I behold my brother's need And selfishly to aid him shun? I, who upon my mother's knees In childhood read Christ's written word Received his legacy of peace His holy rule of action heard I, in whose heart the sacred sense Of Jesus' love was early felt Of his pure, full benevolence His pitting tenderness for guilt His shepherd care for wandering sheep For all weak, sorrowing, trembling things His mercy vast, his passion deep Of anguish for man's sufferings I, schooled from childhood in such law That I draw back or hesitate When called to heal the sickness sore Of those far-off and desolate Dark, in the realm and shades of death Nations and tribes and empires lie But even to them the light of faith Is breaking on their somber sky And beat mine to beat them race Their drooped heads to the kindling scene And know and hail the sunrise blaze Which heralds Christ the Nazarene I know how hell the veil will spread Over their brows and filmy eyes And earthward crush the lifted head That would look up and seek the skies I know what war the fiend will wage Against that soldier of the cross Who comes to dare his demon rage And work his kingdom's shame and loss Yes, hard and terrible the toil Of him who steps on foreign soil Resolved to plant the gospel vine Where tyrants rue and slaves repine Eager to lift religion's light Where thickest shades of mental night Screen the false god and fiendish right Reckless that missionary blood Shed in wild wilderness and wood Has left upon the unblessed air The man's deep moan, the martyr's prayer I know my lot, I only ask Power to fulfill the glorious task Willing the spirit, may the flesh Strength for the day receive afresh May burning sun or deadly wind Prevail not awe and earnest mind May torment strange or dares death Nor trample truth nor baffle faith Though such blood drops should fall from me As fell in all getsemony Welcome the anguish So it gave more strength to work More skill to save And oh, if brief must be my time If hostile hand or fatal climb Cut short my cause Still awe my grave Lord, may thy harvest widening wave So I the culture may begin Let others thrust the sickle in If but the seed will faster grow May my blood water what I sow What have I ever trembling stood And feared to give to God that blood What has the coward love of life Made me to shrink from the righteous strife Have human passions, human fears Severed me from those pioneers Whose task is to march first And trace paths for the progress of our race It has been so But grant me, Lord, now to stand steadfast By thy word Protected by a salvation's helm Shielded by faith With truth begot To smile when trials seek to whelm And stand mid-testing fires and hurt Hurling hell's strongest bulwarks down Even when the last bang thrills my breast When death bestows the martyr's crown And calls me into Jesus' rest Then for my ultimate reward Then for the world rejoicing word The voice from Father, Spirit, Son Servant of God, well hast thou done Cara, this recording is in the public domain The Old Stoic Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff Riches I hold in light esteem And love I laugh to scorn And last of fame was but a dream That vanished with the mourn And if I pray The only prayer that moves my lips for me Is leave the heart that now I bear And give me liberty Yes, as my swift days near their goal It is all that I implore In life and death A chainless soul With courage to endure Ellis This recording is in the public domain Lactuations Read for LibriVox.org by Ellis Christoff What though the sun had left my sky To save me from despair The blessed moon arose on high And shone serenely there I watched her with a tearful gaze Rise slowly o'er the hill While through the dim horizon's haze A light gleamed faint and chill I thought such one and lifeless beams Could near my heart repay For the bright sun's most transient gleams That cheered me through the day That as above that mist's control She rose and bright as dawn I felt her light upon my soul But now that light is gone Thick vapours snatched her from my sight And I was darkling left All in the cold and gloomy night Of light and hope bereft Until me thought a little star Shone forth with trembling ray To cheer me with its light afar But that too passed away Anon, an earthly meteor blazed The gloomy darkness through I smiled, yet trembled while I gazed But that soon vanished too And darker drearier fell The night upon my spirit then But what is that faint struggling light? Is it the moon again? Kind heaven Increase that silvery gleam And bid these clouds depart And let her soft celestial