Philip James Bailey

Friend! many a year hath passed
Since last I clasped thine hand--
It may be we shall meet no more
Till in the Heavenly land;…

Apollo laid his lyre upon a stone;
The stone was seized with music; and the touch
Of mortal could awake the god's own tone
For ever after. Marvel ye not much.…

On the Opening of the Castle as a Permanent Art Museum.Throw back the gates of time!
See, on this rock sublime,
The earth--bred Briton serve his gods on high;
Savagely he rejoiced,…

Time's lapse, who notes mid flights like this? Once more
In merry medley mixed, youth's liberal mirth,
Disport we; now, the natural luxuries taste
Of love, trust, amity, un--Circaean cups…

Of all the rivers in the land,
Thee most I love, fair Trent,
For in thy stream and by thy banks
My happiest hours I've spent.…

The soul--state, intermediate 'twixt earth's life
And the world future, unconceived till seen,
We search with curious awe; mark dormant death;
Nor, joyless, evil accost, by heaven restrained;…

That aëry lodestone, operant still,
The love of boundless knowledge, leads us down
Deeplier than ever leadline went, to search
The central rayless light we have within,…

In one of earth's
Head cities, awaiting this, the effect unknown,
Of evil, not, truly, all--wise, we towerlike rise;
With eminent but indifferent eye survey,…

Even while a star
Might twinkle twice, or calm, retiring sea,
Irresolute yet to leave, his moonlit kiss
Shimmering repeat upon the impassive shore,…

Graced by sweet promise plight on lunar plains,
And 'gainst all ill armoured by spirit divine,
Our seeker of soul's holy mysteries, lift
By spiritual hand from earth's gross vanities;…

Once in days of yore a little Princess, who had summers seen
Scarcely seven, and was christened by the holy name Christine,
Found herself, at eve, disporting in a fairy ring of green.She had left the kingly castle; left her sire's and mother's side,
Left the banquet, where her brother feasted with his royal bride;…

Enter now heaven. Even man's deathly life
May be there by God's leave. Once brought to God,
The soul's probation and foredoom, and heaven's
Designs towards man, whole man, man personal, show,…

Our next
Adventure seems to promise fair, for be there
One scene, in life whence evil may be ruled
Absent, 'tis sure pure early love. But not…

Earth regained,
And lone sea--shore where the great waves come in
Frothed like a horse put to his heart--burst speed,
Sobbing up--hill, note we, his ends frustrate,…

Law moral one and same all being imbounds,
Compresses, animates, even as natural law
The orb, of light and gravity. Where is soul,
There fallibility, choice, and righteous doom,…

Behold us spiritwise in heaven; unite
In angel worship of the infinite God
World destinative. Evil, all tempting, man
Maligned, God vindicates himself, and prove…

Count not the ripples upon life's stream, our days;
Nor eddying errors as a change misdeem
Of current; mark thou wiselier, the main flow
Of ever Godward being. The hand supreme…

All man's acts,
Serious or trivial, all man's thoughts perchance
Pass not unmarked of angel eye, or God's.
We know in daytime there are stars about us,…

Now sets the youth out for joy, the city of joy,
Whose walls illuminated with all--hued spheres
Beacon the immense of life. He, 'neath the care
Of his kindly enemy, begins his course;…

Comes on a quarrel stormy and stern, if brief,
'Tween the two foe friends, this demanding what
Cannot be;--who immunity shall secure
'Gainst self--sought evil?--that, safe grants withholding,…

WE live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.…

Traversed the void,
Hell's fires, unholy not, not hopeless, reached,
The initials even of good in the sad mock
Of mortal revelry mark; the quelling truth…

Not on one plane indeviable, the soul
Makes way, but moonlike waveringly as though
Not to advance for a time content; the while
Urged by interior fate to compass heaven…

Festus. Glad am I
To light on guests so well disposed,
So well engaged.
George. One beaker try…