Selected Poems

He did not love in the human way.

All the same, there is a difficulty. I should like him to be happy in heaven here,

But he cannot come by wishing. Only by being already at home here.

No man has seen her, this pitiful ghost,

And no woman either, but heard her at most,

Sighing and tapping and sighing again,

You have weaned me too soon, you must nurse me again.

Who is this that comes in grandeur, coming from the blazing East?

This is he we had not thought of, this is he the airy Christ.

To choose a god of love, as he did and does,

Is a little move then? Yes, it is. A larger one will be when men

Love love and hate hate but do not deify them? It will be a larger one.

I wish I was more cheerful, it is more pleasant,

Also it is a duty, we should smile as well as submitting

To the purpose of One Above who is experimenting

With various mixtures of human character which goes best,

All is interesting for him it is exciting, but not for us.

There I go again. Smile, smile, and get some work to do

Then you will be practically unconscious without positively having to go.

The religion of Christianity

Is mixed of sweetness and cruelty

Reject this Sweetness, for she wears

A smoky dress out of hell fires.

Was he married, did he try

To support as he grew less fond of them

Wife and family?

I made Man with too many faults. Yet I love him.

And if he wishes, I have a home above for him.

The flower and fruit of love are mine

The ant, the fieldmouse and the mole

The boat that took my love away

He sent again to me

To tell me that he would not sleep

Alone beneath the sea.

Why does my Muse only speak when she is unhappy?

She does not, I only listen when I am unhappy.