Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

VIII. Wedded Love

My Love

James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)

NOT as all other women are

Is she that to my soul is dear;

Her glorious fancies come from far,

Beneath the silver evening-star,

And yet her heart is ever near.

Great feelings hath she of her own,

Which lesser souls may never know;

God giveth them to her alone,

And sweet they are as any tone

Wherewith the wind may choose to blow.

Yet in herself she dwelleth not,

Although no home were half so fair;

No simplest duty is forgot;

Life hath no dim and lowly spot

That doth not in her sunshine share.

She doeth little kindnesses,

Which most leave undone, or despise;

For naught that sets one heart at ease,

And giveth happiness or peace,

Is low-esteemed in her eyes.

She hath no scorn of common things;

And, though she seem of other birth,

Round us her heart entwines and clings,

And patiently she folds her wings

To tread the humble paths of earth.

Her glorious fancies come from far,

And deeds of week-day holiness

Fall from her noiseless as the snow;

Nor hath she ever chanced to know

That aught were easier than to bless.

She is most fair, and thereunto

Her life doth rightly harmonize;

Feeling or thought that was not true

Ne’er made less beautiful the blue

Unclouded heaven of her eyes.

She is a woman—one in whom

The spring-time of her childish years

Hath never lost its fresh perfume,

Though knowing well that life hath room

For many blights and many tears.

I love her with a love as still

As a broad river’s peaceful might,

Which, by high tower and lowly mill,

Goes wandering at its own will,

And yet doth ever flow aright.

And, on its full, deep breast serene,

Like quiet isles my duties lie;

It flows around them and between,

And makes them fresh and fair and green—

Sweet homes wherein to live and die.