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Poems

By the author of "The Patience of Hope" [i.e. Dora Greenwell]
Greenwell, Dora (1821-1882)
  
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[section]
  
CHRISTINA.
  
GOD'S SINGER.
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A STORY OF OLDEN TIME.
 I. 
[[FIRST PART.]]
 II. 
SECOND PART.
  
SEEKING.
  
THE KISS.
  
WHEN THE NIGHT AND MORNING MEET.
  
THE SOUL'S PARTING.
  
RECONCILIATION.
  
GONE.
  
HAUNTED GROUND.
  
POETS.
  
A COMPARISON.
  
THE ETERNAL NOW.
  
CONSOLATION.
  
PENCIL-MARKS IN A BOOK OF DEVOTION.
  
“FAINT, YET PURSUING.”
  
ENTREAT FOR ME.
  
A VISION OF GREEN LEAVES.
  
TO A LONG-PARTED FRIEND.
  
“SO IT HAPPENS.”
  
THE PICTURE AND THE SCROLL.
  
TO A YOUNG GIRL.
  
A SONG OF MEMORY.
  
TO JOSEPHINE.
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THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS.
 I. 
I. AGNES AT HER WINDOW.
 II. 
II. THE SERENADE.
 III. 
III. AGNES AMONG THE SISTERS.
 IV. 
IV. And oft upon me is the fancy borne
  
WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
  
MADANA.
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VALENTINES AND SONGS.
  
LUISA.
  
THE SUMMER FRIEND.
  
“QUI SAIT AIMER, SAIT MOURIR.”
  
THE BROKEN CHAIN.
  
A VALENTINE.
  
A VALENTINE.
  
“ICH DIEN.”
  
THE BABES IN THE WOOD.
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SONNETS.
  
ASCENDING.
  
LIFE TAPESTRY.
  
LOVE BIRDS.
  
TO ELIZABETH BARRET BROWNING.
  
TO A REMEMBERED STREAM, AND A NEVER FORGOTTEN FRIEND.
  
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.
  
RESERVE.
  
DREAMS.
  
THE SOUL'S WOOERS.
  
HOPE.
  
TO A FRIEND.
  
TO L. M.
  
TO THE AUTHOR OF ZISKA.
  
REST.
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PART FIRST
  
TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
  
TO AN EARLY FRIEND.
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OLD LETTERS.
  
[section]
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
  
AFTER PARTING.
  
IN ABSENCE.
  
THE FIRST LETTER.
  
SILENCE.
  
IN ILLNESS.
  
VII.
  
VIII.
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TO A LONG-PARTED FRIEND.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
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TO --- ---.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
TO A DISTANT FRIEND.
  
TO MY FRIENDS AT ------.
  
MEETING.
  
PARTING.
  
TO A DEPARTED SPIRIT.
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PART SECOND.
  
THE RECONCILER.
  
THE QUESTION.
  
FORSAKEN.
  
THE LESSON.
  
THE TWO RELIGIONS.
  
LOVE.
  
IN SADNESS.
  
THE SUMMONS.
  
PAX IN NOVISSIMO.
  
A MEDITATION.
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EARLIER POEMS.
  
ASPIRATION.
  
MARY.
  
CHILDHOOD.
  
WINTER.
  
THE DEFORMED CHILD.
  
THE DAUGHTER OF THE HALL.
  
THE LOVER'S QUARREL.
  
THE OLD FAMILY.
  
“REJOICE EVERMORE.”
  
BALLAD.
  
THE IRISH EMIGRANT'S SONG.
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SONGS OF FAREWELL.
  
PARTING.
  
DEATH.

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219

THE TWO RELIGIONS.

The heart is like the World—
A dreamer, yea, a Pagan in its youth;
It takes its visions—being fair—for truth,
And seeks no further; loving best to brood
In lonely thought, it throngs its solitude
With wondrous shapes, it flings upon the air
Its Shadow, worshipping before that fair
And floating semblance! caring but to please
The noble and the beautiful, for these?
Its flowery altars shine; it will not seek
Communion with the baser crowd, in scorn
It holds all lowly things, and for the weak
It takes no thought;
Yet hath this haughty creed
Been found too narrow for its scope, too cold
E'en for the soil that raised it; in its need
The spirit turns from its as from its old
Fond faiths the Earth revolted—each hath tried
And each grown weary, casts the broken chain
Away, to greet a purer Worship, wide
220

As is the world that it was made for, warm
As Heaven that it was sent from; it hath place
For all, it gathers in a wide embrace
Things dis-esteemed, it goeth forth to seek
The things that none desire; its words are meek
Yet eloquent; it loveth in the shade
Of inner calm to muse, yet will not shun
The Many, looking in the face of One
Divine, yet like unto His brethren made!
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