For Myself Alone, I Would Not Be

    "For myself alone, I would not be
    Ambitious in my wish; but, for you,
    I would be trebled twenty times myself;
    A thousand times more fair,
    Ten thousand times more rich."

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist and poet best known as the author of the novel 'Little Women' and its sequels 'Little Men' and 'Jo's Boys.' Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, she grew up in Massachusetts. She was an abolitionist and a feminist and was active in both the Transcendentalist and suffragist movements. Alcott began writing to support her family and went on to publish numerous works that have had a lasting impact on American literature.

Louisa May Alcott

Chingery Wangery Chan

Louisa May Alcott, Simple Poetry

Welcome, Maids Of Honor

Louisa May Alcott, Simple Poetry

A Lament For S. B. Pat Paw

Louisa May Alcott, Simple Poetry

My Kingdom

Louisa May Alcott, Simple Poetry

English

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Of Such As I Have.

Love me for what I am, Love. Not for sake
Of some imagined thing which I might be,
Some brightness or some goodness not in me,
Born of your hope, as dawn to eyes that wake
Imagined morns before the morning break.
If I, to please you (whom I fain would please),
Reset myself like new key to old tune,
Chained thought, remodelled action, very soon
My hand would slip from yours, and by degrees
The loving, faulty friend, so close to-day,
Would vanish, and another take her place,--
A stranger with a stranger's scrutinies,
A new regard, an unfamiliar face.
Love me for what I am, then, if you may;
But, if you cannot,--love me either way.

Susan Coolidge

A. B. A. Lines Written by Louisa M. Alcott to Her Father

    Like Bunyan's pilgrim with his pack,
    Forth went the dreaming youth
    To seek, to find, and make his own
    Wisdom, virtue, and truth.
    Life was his book, and patiently
    He studied each hard page;
    By turns reformer, outcast, priest,
    Philosopher and sage.

    Christ was his Master, and he made
    His life a gospel sweet;
    Plato and Pythagoras in him
    Found a disciple meet.
    The noblest and best his friends,
    Faithful and fond, though few;
    Eager to listen, learn, and pay
    The love and honor due.

    Power and place, silver and gold,
    He neither asked nor sought;
    Only to serve his fellowmen,
    With heart and word and thought.
    A pilgrim still, but in his pack
    No sins ...

Louisa May Alcott

My Kingdom

    A little kingdom I possess,
    Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
    And very hard I find the task
    Of governing it well.
    For passion tempts and troubles me,
    A wayward will misleads,
    And selfishness its shadow casts
    On all my words and deeds.


    "How can I learn to rule myself,
    To be the child I should, --
    Honest and brave, -- nor ever tire
    Of trying to be good?
    How can I keep a sunny soul
    To shine along life's way?
    How can I tune my little heart
    To sweetly sing all day?


    "Dear Father, help me With the love
    That casteth out my fear!
    Teach me to lean on thee, and feel
    That thou art very near;
    That no temptation is unseen,
    No childish gri...

Louisa May Alcott

Would I, To Save My Dear Child? (Hymn)

"Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself."

Would I, to save my dear child dutiful,
    Dare the white breakers on a storm-rent shore?
Ay, truly, Thou all good, all beautiful,
    Truly I would, - then truly Thou would'st more.

Would I for my poor son, who desolate
    After long sinning, sued without my door
For pardon, open it? Ay, fortunate
    To hear such prayer, I would, - Lord, Thou would'st more.

Would I for e'en the stranger's weariness
    And want divide, albeit 'twere scant, my store?
Ay, and mine enemy, sick, shelterless,
    Dying, I would attend, - O, Lord, Thou more.

In dust and ashes my long infamy
    Of unbelief I rue. My love before
Thy love I set: my heart's discovery,
    Is sweet, - what...

Jean Ingelow

For A Girl In A Book

Kim, composite of all my loves,
less real than most, more real than all;
of my making, all the good and
some of the bad, yet of yourself;
sole, unique, strong, alone,
whole, independent, one: yet mine
in that you cannot be unfaithful.

Ben Jonson

To One Who Teaches Me

"To one who teaches me
The sweetness and the beauty
Of doing faithfully
And cheerfully my duty."

Louisa May Alcott