Eugene Field

"No more your needed rest at night     By ribald youth is troubled;     No more your windows, fastened tight,     Yield to their knocks redouble"

"Since Chloe is so monstrous fair,     With such an eye and such an air,     What wonder that the world complains     When she each am'rous suit"

"Dear Miller: You and I despise     The cad who gathers books to sell 'em,     Be they but sixteen-mos in cloth     Or stately folios garbed in"

"I count my treasures o'er with care.--     The little toy my darling knew,     A little sock of faded hue,     A little lock of golden hair."

"What end the gods may have ordained for me,     And what for thee,     Seek not to learn, Leuconoe; we may not know;     Chaldean tables cannot"

"Seek not, Leucone, to know how long you're going to live yet,     What boons the gods will yet withhold, or what they're going to give yet;"

"I     Once a fowler, young and artless,     To the quiet greenwood came;     Full of skill was he and heartless     In pursuit of feathered game."

"There is a certain Yankee phrase     I always have revered,     Yet, somehow, in these modern days,     It's almost disappeared;     It was th"

"A little boy whose name was Tim     Once ate some jelly-cake for tea--     Which cake did not agree with him,     As by the sequel you shall se"

"Thar showed up out 'n Denver in the spring of '81     A man who'd worked with Dana on the Noo York Sun.     His name was Cantell Whoppers, 'nd h"

"Through sleet and fogs to the saline bogs     Where the herring fish meanders,     An army sped, and then, 't is said,     Swore terribly in Fl"

"Where wail the waters in their flaw     A spectre wanders to and fro,     And evermore that ghostly shore     Bemoans the heir of Yvytot."

"You vain, self-conscious little book,     Companion of my happy days,     How eagerly you seem to look     For wider fields to spread your lays"

"I'd not complain of Sister Jane, for she was good and kind,     Combining with rare comeliness distinctive gifts of mind;     Nay, I'll admit it"

"Full many a sinful notion     Conceived of foreign powers     Has come across the ocean     To harm this land of ours;     And heresies called"

"In maudlin spite let Thracians fight     Above their bowls of liquor;     But such as we, when on a spree,     Should never brawl and bicker!"

"Father calls me William, sister calls me Will,     Mother calls me Willie, but the fellers call me Bill!     Mighty glad I ain't a girl - ruther"

"'Tis years, soubrette, since last we met,     And yet, ah yet, how swift and tender     My thoughts go back in Time's dull track     To you, sw"

"I like the Anglo-Saxon speech     With its direct revealings;     It takes a hold, and seems to reach     'Way down into your feelings;     Th"

"Mcenas, thou of royalty's descent,     Both my protector and dear ornament,     Among humanity's conditions are     Those who take pleasure in"

"You, blatant coward that you are,     Upon the helpless vent your spite.     Suppose you ply your trade on me;     Come, monkey with this bard,"

"My books are on their shelves again     And clouds lie low with mist and rain.     Afar the Arno murmurs low     The tale of fields of melting"

"Though care and strife     Elsewhere be rife,     Upon my word I do not heed 'em;     In bed I lie     With books hard by,     And with incre"

"Of all the gracious gifts of Spring,     Is there another can safely surpass     This delicate, voluptuous thing--     This dapple-green, plump"

"The little toy dog is covered with dust,     But sturdy and stanch he stands;     And the little toy soldier is red with rust,     And his musk"

"(FROM THE GERMAN OF MARTIN LUTHER)     O heart of mine! lift up thine eyes     And see who in yon manger lies!     Of perfect form, of face divine"

"Misery is my lot,     Poverty and pain;     Ill was I begot,     Ill must I remain;     Yet the wretched days     One sweet comfort bring,"

"In an ocean, 'way out yonder     (As all sapient people know),     Is the land of Wonder-Wander,     Whither children love to go;     It's the"

"O Nicias, not for us alone     Was laughing Eros born,     Nor shines alone for us the moon,     Nor burns the ruddy morn;     Alas! to-morrow"

"Who should come up the road one day But the doctor-man in his two-wheel shay! And he whoaed his horse and he cried "Ahoy! I have brought you folks a b"

"Achievin' sech distinction with his moddel tabble dote Ez to make his Red Hoss Mountain restauraw a place uv note, Our old friend Casey innovated some"

"One night a tiny dewdrop fell Into the bosom of a rose,-- "Dear little one, I love thee well, Be ever here thy sweet repose!" Seeing the rose with lo"

"The mountain brook sung lonesomelike, and loitered on its way Ez if it waited for a child to jine it in its play; The wild-flowers uv the hillside ben"

"Oh, come with me to the Happy Isles In the golden haze off yonder, Where the song of the sun-kissed breeze beguiles, And the ocean loves to wander. F"

"There are two stars in yonder steeps     That watch the baby while he sleeps.     But while the baby is awake     And singing gayly all day lon"

"Prudence Mears hath an old blue plate     Hid away in an oaken chest,     And a Franklin platter of ancient date     Beareth Amandy Baker's cre"

"Lofty and enduring is the monument I've reared,--     Come, tempests, with your bitterness assailing;     And thou, corrosive blasts of time, by"

"There are two phrases, you must know,     So potent (yet so small)     That wheresoe'er a man may go     He needs none else at all;     No ser"

"A sorry life, forsooth, these wretched girls are undergoing,     Restrained from draughts of pleasant wine, from loving favors showing,     For"

"How trifling shall these gifts appear     Among the splendid many     That loving friends now send to cheer     Harvey and Ellen Jenney."

"Who should come up the road one day     But the doctor-man in his two-wheel shay!     And he whoaed his horse and he cried "Ahoy!     I have br"

"'Twas in the Crescent City not long ago befell     The tear-compelling incident I now propose to tell;     So come, my sweet collector friends,"

"O virgin, tri-formed goddess fair,     The guardian of the groves and hills,     Who hears the girls in their despair     Cry out in childbirth"

"'Tis the time of the year's sundown, and flame     Hangs on the maple bough;     And June is the faded flower of a name;     The thin hedge hid"

"Oh, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul,     The evening shades are falling,--     Hush thee, my dear, dost thou not hear     The voice of the Maste"

"A tortuous double iron track; a station here, a station there;     A locomotive, tender, tanks; a coach with stiff reclining chair;     Some pos"

"Sing, Christmas bells!     Say to the earth this is the morn     Whereon our Savior-King is born;     Sing to all men,--the bond, the free,"

"Sweet Phyllis, I have here a jar of old and precious wine,     The years which mark its coming from the Alban hills are nine,     And in the gar"

"The wind comes whispering to me of the country green and cool--     Of redwing blackbirds chattering beside a reedy pool;     It brings me sooth"

"May the man who has cruelly murdered his sire--     A crime to be punished with death--     Be condemned to eat garlic till he shall expire"

"The Greeks had genius,--'t was a gift The Muse vouchsafed in glorious measure; The boon of Fame they made their aim And prized above all worldly treas"

"Whereas, good friend, it doth appear     You do possess the notion     To his awhile away from here     To lands across the ocean;     Now, by"

"Still serve me in my age, I pray,     As in my youth, O faithful one;     For years I've brushed thee every day--     Could Socrates have bette"

"There's a dear little home in Good-Children street -     My heart turneth fondly to-day     Where tinkle of tongues and patter of feet     Make"

"Of mornings, bright and early,     When the lark is on the wing     And the robin in the maple     Hops from her nest to sing,     From yonder"

"If our own life is the life of a flower     (And that's what some sages are thinking),     We should moisten the bud with a health-giving flood"

"Now lithe and listen, gentles all,     Now lithe ye all and hark     Unto a ballad I shall sing     About Buena Park.     Of all the wonders"

"The angel host that sped last night,     Bearing the wondrous news afar,     Came in their ever-glorious flight     Unto a slumbering little st"

"Way up at the top of a big stack of straw     Was the cunningest parlor that ever you saw!     And there could you lie when aweary of play"

"Why, Mistress Chloe, do you bother     With prattlings and with vain ado     Your worthy and industrious mother,     Eschewing them that come t"