The complete poetical works of John Hay :: :: University of Virginia Library

The complete poetical works of John Hay

including many poems now first collected

Hay, John (1838-1905)

THE PIKE COUNTY BALLADS

JIM BLUDSO

LITTLE BREECHES

BANTY TIM

THE MYSTERY OF GILGAL

GOLYER

THE PLEDGE AT SPUNKY POINT

WANDERLIEDER

SUNRISE IN THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE

THE SPHINX OF THE TUILERIES

THE SURRENDER OF SPAIN

THE PRAYER OF THE ROMANS

A DREAM OF BRIC-À-BRAC

RELIGION AND DOCTRINE

SINAI AND CALVARY

THE VISION OF SAINT PETER

ISRAEL

THE CROWS AT WASHINGTON

REMORSE

ESSE QUAM VIDERI

WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME

THROUGH THE LONG DAYS

A PHYLACTERY

BLONDINE

DISTICHS

[I Wisely a woman prefers to a lover a man who neglects her]

[II There are three species of creatures who when they seem coming are going]

[III Pleasures too hastily tasted grow sweeter in fond recollection]

[IV As the meek beasts in the Garden came flocking for Adam to name them]

[V What is a first love worth, except to prepare for a second]

[VI Health was wooed by the Romans in groves of the laurel and myrtle]

[VII Wine is like rain: when it falls on the mire it but makes it the fouler]

[VIII Break not the rose; its fragrance and beauty are surely sufficient]

[IX When you break up housekeeping, you learn the extent of your treasures]

10.

[X Maidens! why should you worry in choosing whom you shall marry]

11.

[XI Unto each man comes a day when his favorite sins all forsake him]

12.

[XII Be not too anxious to gain your next-door neighbor's approval]

13.

[XIII Who would succeed in the world should be wise in the use of his pronouns]

14.

[XIV The best loved man or maid in the town would perish with anguish]

15.

[XV True luck consists not in holding the best of the cards at the table]

16.

[XVI Pleasant enough it is to hear the world speak of your virtues]

17.

[XVII Try not to beat back the current, yet be not drowned in its waters]

18.

[XVIII Make all good men your well-wishers, and then, in the years' steady sifting]

TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT

ATAVISM

TWILIGHT ON SANDUSKY MARSH

TO THE VESPER SPARROW

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176

THROUGH THE LONG DAYS

Through the long days and years
What will my loved one be,
Parted from me?—
Through the long days and years.

Always as then she was
Loveliest, brightest, best,
Blessing and blest,—
Always as then she was.

Never on earth again
Shall I before her stand,
Touch lip or hand,—
Never on earth again.

But while my darling lives
Peaceful I journey on,
Not quite alone,
Not while my darling lives.