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A BOOK OF
EPIGRAMS
GATHERED BY
Ralph A. Lyon
EVANSTON
William S. Lord
1902
EPIGRAMS
POETRY
She comes like the hushed beauty of the night,
But sees too deep for laughter;
Her touch is a vibration and a light
From worlds before and after.
[Charles E. Markham
POETRY
Poetry? Can I define it, you inquire?
Yes; by your pleasure,
Poetry is Thought, in princeliest attire,
Treading a measure.
[Duffield Osborne
THE YEAR'S MINSTRELSY
Spring, the low prelude of a lordlier song;
Summer, a music without hint of death:
Autumn, a cadence lingeringly long:
Winter, a pause;—the Minstrel-Year takes breath.
[William Watson
THE SUN
All the World's bravery that delights our eyes,
Is but thy several liveries;
Thou the rich dye on them bestow'st,
Thy nimble Pencil paints this landscape as thou go'st.
[Abraham Cowley
FAREWELL
I strove with none, for none was worth my strife.
Nature I loved, and next to nature, art.
I warm'd both hands before the fire of life:
It sinks; and I am ready to depart.
[Walter Savage Landor
LIFE
As a shaft that is sped from a bow unseen to an unseen mark,
As a bird that gleams in the firelight, and hurries from dark to dark,
As the face of the stranger who smiled as we passed in the crowded
street,—
Our life is a glimmer, a flutter, a memory, fading, yet sweet!
[William Cranston Lawton
EPIGRAM ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD FORBES.
Nature, a jealous mistress, laid him low.
He woo'd and won her; and, by love made bold,
She showed him more than mortal man should know,
Then slew him lest her secret should be told.
[Sydney Dobell
ON LONGFELLOW'S DEATH
No puissant singer he, whose silence grieves
To-day the great West's tender heart and strong;
No singer vast of voice: yet one who leaves
His native air the sweeter for his song.
[William Watson
DANIEL WEBSTER
We have no high cathedral for his rest,
Dim with proud banners and the dust of years;
All we can give him is New England's breast
To lay his head on—and his country's tears.
[Thomas William Parsons
EUGENE FIELD
Fades his calm face beyond our mortal ken,
Lost in the light of lovelier realms above;
He left sweet memories in the hearts of men
And climbed to God on little children's love.
[Frank L. Stanton
THE DEBTOR CHRIST
Quid Mihi Et Tibi
What, woman, is my debt to thee,
That I should not deny
The boon thou dost demand of me?
“I gave thee power to die.”
[John B. Tabb
TWO SPIRITS
A spirit above and a spirit below,
A spirit of joy and a spirit of woe;
The spirit above is the spirit divine,
The spirit below is the spirit of wine.
[Anonymous
ON A SUN-DIAL
With warning hand I mark Time's rapid flight
From life's glad morning to its solemn night;
Yet, through the dear God's love, I also show
There's Light above me by the Shade below.
[John Greenleaf Whittier
BORROWING
From the French
Some of your hurts you have cured,
And the sharpest you still have survived,
But what torments of grief you endured
From evils which never arrived!
[Ralph Waldo Emerson
YOUTH
The Tear, down Childhood's cheek that flows,
Is like the dew-drop on the Rose;
When next the Summer breeze comes by,
And waves the bush, the Flower is dry.
[Sir Walter Scott
MY TROUBLES
I wrote down my troubles every day;
And after a few short years,
When I turned to the heartaches passed away,
I read them with smiles, not tears.
[John Boyle O'Reilly
SENSIBILITY
The soul of Music slumbers in the shell,
Till waked and kindled by the Master's spell;
And feeling Hearts—touch them but lightly—pour
A thousand melodies unheard before!
[Samuel Rogers
IS LOVE SO BLIND
The records of ancient times declare
That hapless Love is blind,
Yet many's the virtue, sweet and rare,
That only Love can find.
[Henry W. Allport
SYMPATHY
What gem hath dropp'd and sparkles o'er his chain?
The Tear most sacred, shed for other's pain,
That starts at once—bright—pure—from Pity's mine,
Already polish'd by the Hand Divine.
[Lord Byron
GRIEF
What cannot be preserved when Fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the Thief;
He robs himself, that spend a bootless Grief.
[William Shakespeare
OPPORTUNITY
It is a hag whom Life denies his kiss
As he rides questward in knight-errant wise;
Only when he hath passed her is it his
To know too late the Fairy in disguise.
[Madison Cawein
COMPETITION
The race is won! As victor I am hailed
With deafening cheers from eager throats; and yet
Gladder the victory could I forget
The strained, white faces of the men who failed.
[Julia Shayer
SLANDER
Oh! many a shaft, at random sent,
Finds mark the archer little meant;
And many a Word, at random spoken,
May soothe or wound a Heart that's broken.
[Sir Walter Scott
VICE
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
[Alexander Pope
TALKING
Words learn'd by rote, a Parrot may rehearse,
But talking is not always to converse;
Not more distinct from Harmony divine,
The constant creaking of a Country Sign.
[William Cowper
THINKERS, PAST AND PRESENT
God, by the earlier sceptic, was exiled;
The later is more lenient grown and mild:
He sanctions God, provided you agree
To any other other name for deity.
[William Watson
THE COOK WELL DONE
Why call me a bloodthirsty, gluttonous sinner
For pounding my chef when my peace he subverts?
If I can't thrash my cook when he gets a poor dinner,
Pray how shall the scamp ever get his desserts?
[Martial
“U” AND “I”
The difference between you and me
Is this, dear—more's the pity—
You're summering in the mountains,
I'm simmering in the city!
[Ogden Ward
THE FIVE DOUBLE U'S
Winsomeness, wardrobe, words of eloquence,
Wisdom, and wealth, bring men to consequence.
That's something which a man in vain pursues
Who is not blest with these five w's.[1]
[From the Sanskrit (Tr. by Chas. R. Lanman)
[1]The Sanskrit word for each of these five things begins with w.
WEALTH
Can wealth give Happiness? look round, and see
What gay distress! what splendid misery!
Whatever Fortune lavishly can pour,
The mind annihilates, and calls for more.
[Edward Young
EQUITY—?
The meanest man I ever saw
Allus kep' inside o' the law;
And ten-times better fellers I've knowed
The blame gran' jury's sent over the road.
[James Whitcomb Riley
A WHOLLY UNSCHOLASTIC OPINION
Plain hoss-sense in poetry-writin'
Would jest knock sentiment a-kitin'!
Mostly poets is all star-gazing'
And moanin' and groanin' and paraphrasin'!
[James Whitcomb Riley
GOLDEN ROD
It is the twilight of the year
And through her wondrous wide abode
The autumn goes, all silently,
To light her lamps along the road.
[Charles Hanson Towne
GRACE
Thou canst not move thy staff in air,
Or dip thy paddle in the lake,
But it carves the bow of beauty there,
And the ripples in rhyme the oar forsake.
[Ralph Waldo Emerson
FROM THE FRENCH
Says Marmontel, The secret's mine
Of Racine's art-of-verse divine.
To do thee justice, Marmontel,
Never was secret kept so well.
[William Watson
TWO POETS
A peacock's-tail-like splendour hath this Muse,
With eyes that see not throng'd, and gorgeous hues.
The swan's white grace that other wears instead,
Stately with stem-like throat and flower-like head.
[William Watson
TOMORROW
'Tis so far fetch'd, this morrow, that I fear
'Twill be both very old and very dear.
Tomorrow I will live, the fool doth say,
Why e'en to-day's too late, the wise lived yesterday.
[Anonymous
QUATRAIN
Fear not the menace of the By-and-by;
To-day is ours, tomorrow Fate must give;
Stretch out your hands and eat, although ye die—
Better to die than never once to live.
[Richard Hovey
ON MODERN STATESMEN
Midas, they say, possess'd the art of old,
Of turning whatso'er he touch'd to gold.
This modern statesmen can reverse with ease;
Touch them with gold, they'll turn to what you please.
[Anonymous
ON FOLLY
The world of fools has such a store,
That he who would not see an ass
Must bide at home and bolt his door,
And break his looking-glass.
[From the French of La Monnoye
ON THE ENBANKMENT
The impassive stony Sphinx kissed by the amorous moon;
The little coster-girl, a Covent Garden rose;
Three thousand years apart! And yet alike for once in this—
Tonight, each has a secret she will not disclose.
[William Theodore Peters
LOVE
That happy minglement of Hearts,
Where, changed as chemic compounds are,
Each with its own Existence parts,
To find a new one, happier far!
[Thomas Moore
LOVE
A mighty Pain to Love it is,
And 'tis a Pain that Pain to miss;
But of all Pains, the greatest Pain
It is to Love, and Love in vain.
[Abraham Cowley
ON WOMEN AND HYMEN
Whether tall men, or short men, are best,
Or bold men, or modest and shy men,
I can't say, but I this can protest,
All the fair are in favour of Hy-men.
[Anonymous
PETER AND HIS WIFE
After such years of dissension and strife,
Some wonder that Peter should weep for his wife;
But his tears on her grave are nothing surprising,—
He's laying her dust, for fear of its rising.
[Thomas Hood
WHICH WAY DID HE GO?
(An Obituary)
His earthly warfare now is o'er
And closed his life sublime;
From this cold world he vanished for
A brighter, warmer clime.
[Frank L. Stanton
WAR'S GLORIOUS ART
One to destroy is murder by the law,
And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe:
To murder thousands takes a spacious name,
War's Glorious art, and gives immortal Fame.
[Edward Young
ETERNITY
The One remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity.
[Percy Bysshe Shelley