On winter mornings cold and drear, When six o'clock alarms I hear, 'Tis then I love to shift my ear, And hug my downy pillows. When in the shade it's ninety-three, No job in town looks good to me, I'd rather loaf down by the sea, And watch the foaming billows. Some people think the world's a school, Where labor is the only rule; But I'll not make myself a mule, And don't you ever doubt it. I know that work may have its use, But still I feel that's no excuse For turning it into abuse; What do _you_ think about it? Let others fume and sweat and boil, And scratch and dig for golden spoil, And live the life of work and toil, Their lives to labor giving. But what is gold when life is sped, And life is short, as has been said, And we are such a long time dead, I'll spend my life in living. OMAR Old Omar, jolly sceptic, it may be That, after all, you found the magic key To life and all its mystery, and I Must own you have almost persuaded me. DEEP IN THE QUIET WOOD Are you bowed down in heart? Do you but hear the clashing discords and the din of life? Then come away, come to the peaceful wood, Here bathe your soul in silence. Listen! Now, From out the palpitating solitude Do you not catch, yet faint, elusive strains? They are above, around, within you, everywhere. Silently listen! Clear, and still more clear, they come. They bubble up in rippling notes, and swell in singing tones. Now let your soul run the whole gamut of the wondrous scale Until, responsive to the tonic chord, It touches the diapason of God's grand cathedral organ, Filling earth for you with heavenly peace And holy harmonies. VOLUPTAS To chase a never-reached mirage Across the hot, white sand, And choke and die, while gazing on Its green and watered strand. THE WORD OF AN ENGINEER "She's built of steel From deck to keel, And bolted strong and tight; In scorn she'll sail The fiercest gale, And pierce the darkest night. "The builder's art Has proved each part Throughout her breadth and length; Deep in the hulk, Of her mighty bulk, Ten thousand Titans' strength." The tempest howls, The Ice Wolf prowls, The winds they shift and veer, But calm I sleep, And faith I keep In the word of an engineer. Along the trail Of the slender rail The train, like a nightmare, flies And dashes on Through the black-mouthed yawn Where the cavernous tunnel lies. Over the ridge, Across the bridge, Swung twixt the sky and hell, On an iron thread Spun from the head Of the man in a draughtsman's cell. And so we ride Over land and tide, Without a thought of fear-- _Man never had The faith in God That he has in an engineer!_ LIFE