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Gay Girl to Good Girl

What is vrtue, when all's done,
Withered breast, shaking knees?
Cold thoughts sitting in the sun,
If it only bring you these?

Men love virtue — so they say,
So they say, but what they do
Kisses half your soul away,
And takes virtue out of you!

When you die, they'll say, " Poor thing! "
When I'm dead, they'll lean above;
One will kiss me, one will bring
A posy for the sake of love.

When we're both dead, gone far hence,
Will it matter what we've been?
On your virtues and my sins
Grass will grow as quick and green.

Heliodore

Who will remember Heliodore?
The nightingales, the nightingales
That sing tonight in vain for thee,
Whose nights no singing shall restore?
The myrtle that in vain has shed
Bloom for thy bridal feet to tread
That wander dim and sunless vales
Far off, too far for love and me?
What music has Persephone,
What golden glade, what balmy grove
To bower sweet birds in lutany?
What lip or lyre speaks low in love,
Where grey ghosts after and before
Weave thee a mournful canopy
Of hemlock and of hellebore?
Is this thy maiden company?

A Night Thought

Long have I gazed upon all lovely things,
Until my soul was melted into song, —
Melted with love, till from its thousand springs
The stream of adoration, swift and strong,
Swept in its ardour, drowning brain and tongue,
Till what I most would say was borne away unsung.

The brook is silent when it mirrors most
Whate'er is grand or beautiful above;
The billow which would woo the flowery coast
Dies in the first expression of its love;
And could the bard consign to living breath
Feelings too deep for thought, the utterance were death!

Songs

" Damon by all the Powers above
" Plighted to me eternal love;
" And as a rose adorn'd my breast,
" He on its leaf the vow imprest;
" But, while the winds did round us play,
" Vow, leaf, and promise blew away. "

For this , when Summer mornings glow,
O! shall I veil their beams in woe;
And 'mid the rosy hours of youth,
Weep and repine o'er vanish'd truth?
No! let me hail the shining day,
Blithe as the lark, that meets its ray.

Beauty, and Health, have joys that prove
Balm for the wounds of slighted Love;

To Wang Lun

I was just
shoving off
in my boat

when I heard
someone stomping
and singing on the shore!

Peach Blossom Lake
is a thousand feet deep

but it can't compare
with Wang Lun's love
or the way he said

To the Right Reverend Father in God, John, Lord Archbishop of Saint Andrews

In love and piety great Bishop by ,
O how you honour well the Deity;
How you do love the people and care so,
No prose so by above their reach to sow .

Sow you do Gods blest Word, casting the seed,
Preparing so that it increase may breed,
On the grounds strength or weaknes, having eye,
Respecting not to please the sence thereby:
Seeking the true and Orthodoxall sence,
With plainnes and with simple Innocence;
On sowing not with high and lofty prose ,
Onely in teaching, seeking to win those
Do to Gods Word attend, thus it doth fall,

Mural

We must burn up
like incense
Give of ourselves
Lower our hands until we feel
them in the body of another
Love each other in the word,
on the way, in solitude,
our testimonial for a time
without extreme positions.
Construct more smiles
in order to give them
Live in every syllable
the commandments
of Betances.
Eat of the fruit of that tree.
Drink of the peace of the thought.
And
love ourselves,
above all,
love ourselves.

The Smiling Fair

I.

Little flutt'ring busy Heart,
Tell me why this pleasing Smart?
What's the Reason when we meet,
Dimpl'd Smiles each other greet.

II.

Sure some attractive Pow'r,
From our Birth to present Hour,
Pre-ordain'd that we should love,
Let us then its Pleasures prove.

III.

Frankly, thus, my lovely Fair,
By your sparkling Eyes, and Hair,
I invite you to explain,
Why create each other Pain?

IV.

Hence dull ceremonious Mode,
How I hate the formal Road!
Real Love brooks no Delay,
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