Greatness Lives Apart.

    Great natures live apart; the mountain gray
        May call no comrade to his lonely side;
    The giant ocean, wrapped in storm and spray,
        Has no companion for her endless tide;
        The forest monarch, where his parents died,
    Can find no brother in his lofty sway,
        And mighty rivers chafe their margins wide
    Where infant rills and childish fountains play.

    So heroes live; no raptured blossoms start
        Where rugged heights of human glory end;
        No tender songs of loving beauty blend
    Their chorus in the great man's peerless heart;
    Fate fills their souls with magnitude, and art
        Supplies their lives with no congenial friend.

Freeman Edwin Miller

Freeman Edwin Miller was an American poet, journalist, and teacher, best known for his work in Oklahoma. Born on November 9, 1864, in New Jersey, Miller moved to Oklahoma in 1894, where he became a prominent figure in the literary and educational communities. He is remembered for his contributions to early Oklahoma literature, as well as his work in promoting education and journalism in the region. He passed away on July 14, 1951.

Freeman Edwin Miller

Poems.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

Nature Has A Thousand Choirs.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

The Growth Of Song.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

When Christmas Comes.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Truest Heroes Are Unknown.

    All worthies are not sung in song.
        That live their lives and do their deeds
        Where wounded nature writhes and bleeds
    Beneath the savage blows of wrong;
    From humble duties tender grown,
    The truest heroes are unknown.

    The heart that toils where none may know
        And uncomplaining conquers care,
        To save his loved ones or to spare
    His fellows from the pangs of woe,
    Is more the hero than who shields
    His country on the bleeding fields.

    He claims no praises for his love,
        He seeks no tribute for his worth,
        But sows the desert hearts of earth
    With blossoms from the vales above;
    And in their sunshine warm and bright
    He holds these duties as his right.

 ...

Freeman Edwin Miller

Despondency.

    O, gloomy world that rolls in weary space,
        And moans wild music to the broken spheres,
        Whose rivers wander into seas of tears,
    Despair has bound thee in a close embrace;
        A birth, a life, a death; man is no more!

    Death grows beside existence, and with time
        Is comrade of its changes; cycles roll
        Their heavy circles through the human soul,
    And pour their dirges into mournful rhyme;
        A birth, a life, a death; man is no more!

    He gropes in shadows for a happy beam
        That shall delight his bosom; into mist
        Dissolves the substance that ambition kissed,
    While greatness grows the garland of a dream;
        A birth, a life, a death; man is no more!

    Endeavor struggles to...

Freeman Edwin Miller

The Dying Hero.

    His greatness hath not left him; till the years
        Have won the nation from her children dead,
    And robbed her of remembrance where she rears
        Her monuments above the blood they shed,
    Will his name want for homage; with sad fears
        The Union winds her garlands o'er his head,
    And fondly wreathes her love, bedewed with tears,
        To bless the hero on his dying bed.

    His luster lives untarnished; as he lies
        Where Malady has bound him in wild pain,
    And only Death can loose the heavy chain
        That galls her captive while his nature dies,
    He seems far greater in his country's eyes,
        Than if an Appomattox spake again.

Freeman Edwin Miller

Two Lives.

    Two infants in their cradles lie,
        Where lullabies of peace
    In gentle strains of tender music die.
        And carols never cease.

    Two urchins o'er the meadow lands
        Are bounding in their plays,
    Where sweet enjoyment with angelic hands
        Winds gladness o'er the days.

    Two boys, where golden fancies bless,
        Repose in sunny beams,
    And muse away the hours of happiness
        On couches made of dreams.

    Two men upon a summer sea
        Are toiling, brave and strong,
    Where pleasures roll their elfin harmony
        And labor ends in song.

    Two gray-haired sages, silvered o'er,
        In life meet once again,
    To name the wondrous happiness they bore
        Amon...

Freeman Edwin Miller

Stanzas.

    God bless the man who gave us rest
        And him who taught us play,
    For kindness reigned within his breast
        To all our sorrow slay;
    The weary heart, the fainting limb,
        The soul that droops in woe,
    Should most unceasing praise on him
        In gratitude bestow.

    He is the hero of the race,
        The toiling nation's friend,
    For pity smiles upon his face
        With joys that never end;
    He tears away the iron gyves
        That chain our best repose,
    And makes the deserts of our lives
        To blossom as the rose.

    He pours his balms into the wound
        Of bosom weak and sad,
    Till holy pleasures flit around
        And all the heart is glad;
    Till all is sweet tha...

Freeman Edwin Miller

When Fortunes Frown.

    When fortunes frown, the woes, bedight
    With brooding shadows, bring the night,
        While dismal sorrows darkness dole,
        And disappointments rise and roll
    Above the longings for the light.

    Despair, with hands that curse and blight,
    Sows weakness in the hearts of might
        Until they falter near the goal,
        When fortunes frown.

    But onward still! The valleys white
    With Heaven's blossoms are in sight;
        The Holy Mountains, knoll on knoll,
        Are waiting for the Master Soul,
    And he shall conquer for the right,
        When fortunes frown!

Freeman Edwin Miller