Nathaniel Parker Willis Poems

The shadows lay along broadway,
’t was near the twilight-tide,
and slowly there a lady fair
was walking in her pride.
...

On the cross-beam under the old south bell
the nest of a pigeon is builded well.
In summer and winter that bird is there,
...

There’s something in a noble boy,
a brave, free-hearted, careless one,
with his unchecked, unbidden joy,
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When the rose is brightest,
its bloom will soonest die;
when burns the meteor brightest,
’t will vanish from the sky.
...

Nay, lady, one frown is enough
in a life as soon over as this—
and though minutes seem long in a huff,
they’re minutes ’tis pity to miss!
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’Twas late, and the gay company was gone,
and the light lay soft on the deserted room
from alabaster vases, and a scent
...

’Tis seldom that “coolness” entices,
and love is no better for chilling—
but come up to Thompson's for ices,
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Fleetly hath passed the year. The seasons came
duly as they are wont—the gentle spring,
and the delicious summer, and the cool,
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I was in Greece. It was the hour of noon,
and the ægean wind had dropped asleep
upon hymettus, and the thymy isles
of salamis and ægina lay hung
...

They may talk of love in a cottage
and bowers of trellised vine—
of nature bewitchingly simple,
and milkmaids half divine;
...