Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/1059

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Say, heart, is there aught like this
In a world that is full of bliss?
'Tis more than skating, bound
Steel-shod to the level ground.

Speed slackens now, I float
Awhile in my airy boat;
Till, when the wheels scarce crawl,
My feet to the treadles fall.

Alas, that the longest hill
Must end in a vale; but still,
Who climbs with toil, wheresoe'er,
Shall find wings waiting there.



BLISS CARMAN

b. 1861


857. Why

For a name unknown,
Whose fame unblown
Sleeps in the hills
  For ever and aye;

For her who hears
The stir of the years
Go by on the wind
  By night and day;

And heeds no thing
Of the needs of spring,
Of autumn's wonder
  Or winter's chill;