Arthur O'Shaughnessy

“ He has never heard in his grave.
One of the women who only love
Loved and grieved and faded away:
Ah me! are these gone to the God above,
What more of each can I say?
They are human flowers that flower and fall,
This is the song and the end of them all. ”

“ The days, the nights, and he forgot all fear
Of death: each day he thought there should have been
A shining ladder set for him to climb
Athwart some opening in the heavens, e'en
To God's eternity, and see, sublime —
His face whose shadow passing fills all time.
But he walked through the ancient wilderness.
O, there the prints of feet were numberless
And holy all about him I And quite plain
He saw each spot an angel silver-shod
Had lit upon; where Jacob too had lain
The place seemed fresh, — and, bright and lately trod,
A long track showed where Enoch walked with God. ”

“ For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
A breath of our inspiration 25
Is the life of each generation;
A wondrous thing of our dreaming
Unearthly, impossible seeming—
The soldier, the king, and the peasant
Are working together in one, 30
Till our dream shall become their present,
And their work in the world be done. ”