Sing Not Of Beauty.

    Sing not of beauty's grace to me;
        Its very name a story tells
    Of doubly dark inconstancy,
        Love falser than a hundred hells.

    Its face is often but a screen
        To hide a devil's heart of guile,
    Of thoughts and deeds of shameful mien,
        By winning looks of heartless wile.

    Its laughing smile is but the gleam
        That springs from dross of foulest make;
    It stirs a sweet but idle dream,
        Then leaves the trusting heart to break.

    Sing not of beauty's grace to me;
        I can not bear to hear the name;
    For, oh! Too oft in it I see
        A soul of falsehood and of shame!

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

Spinsterhood.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

Sing Me The Old Songs, Mother.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

A Sonnet.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

When Fortunes Frown.

Freeman Edwin Miller, Simple Poetry

English

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Sing Me The Old Songs, Mother.

    Our souls are the deserts of sorrow,
        Our hearts are the ashes of hope,
    And madly from gladness we borrow
        The brightness where sadness may grope;
    My raptures in wretchedness vanish,
        My bosom is weeping with wrongs;
    Then sing me the old songs, mother,
        Then sing me the dear old songs.

    My joys are in memory lying,
        Still ardently happy with youth,
    When smiles in ambition were dying,
        And life was the vision of youth;
    My brow for your gentle caresses
        And kisses of tenderness longs;
    Then sing me the old songs, mother,
        Then sing me the dear old songs.

    Sweet murmurs in mystical measures
        Come soothingly over my soul,
    Where voices of babyis...

Freeman Edwin Miller

Sing Me A Song, O, Wind.

    Sing me a song, O, Wind,
        Of musical cadence sweet,
    Which in the wood around
        Shall often and oft repeat;
    Soft as an angel's song
        That never can give annoy,
    Which in the balmy notes
        Shall tell me its tales of joy.

    Sing me a song, O, Wind,
        Of countries beyond the sea,
    Which in thy wand'rings oft
        Thou pass with a footstep free;
    Lands that are ever green
        'Neath blaze of the tropic spells,
    Bright with their blessed suns,
        Where summer forever dwells.

    Sing me a song, O, Wind,
        Of groves with a verdure fair,
    Waving their boughs of green
        O'er solitudes grand and rare;
    Groves with a stillness sweet,
        With c...

Freeman Edwin Miller

Ex Anima.

    The gloomy hours of silence wake
        Remembrance and her train,
    And phantoms through the fancies chase
        The mem'ries that remain;
    And hidden in the dark embrace
        Of days that now are gone,
    I see a form, a fairy form,
        And fancy hurries on!

    I see the old familiar smile,
        I hear the tender tone,
    I greet the softness of the glance
        That cheered me when alone;
    The ruby chains of rich romance
        That bound our bosoms o'er,
    I still can know, I still can feel,
        As they were felt before.

    I name the vows, the fresh young vows,
        That we together said;
    What matters it? She can not know;
        She slumbers with the dead!
    Again the fields ...

Freeman Edwin Miller

Sweet Fairies From The Isles Of Song.

    Sweet fairies from the isles of song,
        Bewitching choirs from music land,
        The pleasures of your wondrous band
    Once wooed me from the ways of wrong;
    Once won my heart with fond caress
        To sacred vales of summer glees,
        Till carols fraught with lullabies
    Filled all my soul with blessedness!

    My yearnings miss those gentle sprites,
        Whose laughing lips and angel eyes
        And voices ever winsome-wise,
    Bedewed my dreams with new delights;
    For in the sad hours of my pain
        I hold them as I hold the dead,
        And trust that in the vales they tread,
    My hands shall clasp their hands again.

    From those glad meadows where they play
        'Neath lovely sun and gentle sta...

Freeman Edwin Miller

A Ballad Of Too Much Beauty

There is too much beauty upon this earth
    For lonely men to bear,
Too many eyes, too enchanted skies,
    Too many things too fair;
And the man who would live the life of a man
Must turn his eyes away - if he can.

He must not look at the dawning day,
    Or watch the rising moon;
From the little feet, so white, so fleet,
    He must turn his eyes away;
And the flowers and the faces he must pass by
With stern self-sacrificing eye.

For beauty and duty are strangers forever,
    Work and wonder ever apart,
And the laws of life eternally sever
    The ways of the brain from the ways of the heart;
Be it flower or pearl, or the face of a girl,
Or the ways of the waters as they swirl.

Lo! beauty is sorrow, and sorrowful men
    Hav...

Richard Le Gallienne

O, Gentle Shade Of Quiet Woods.

    O, gentle shade of quiet woods,
        Where nature dwells in leafy halls,
        I love the sacred voice that falls
    In music o'er thy solitudes!
    Within thine arms the weary heart
        Is hidden from the toils of men,
    And pleasure makes ambition start
        Into a nobler life again.

    Among the fragrant shadows throng
        With all the riches of their truth,
        Glad echoes from the days of youth
    And mingle into laughing song;
    While angel fingers touch the keys
        That slumber in the silent breast,
    Till mem'ry wakes her lullabies
        And childhood fancies rock to rest.

    Again the hours of early joy
        Upon the aged years intrude,
        And dance amid the summer wood
    T...

Freeman Edwin Miller