Anne Whitney

1821-1915

 

The Same (Twas then we said...)

by Anne Whitney

'Twas then we said, thrice happy in our earth,
That when ripe summer in the cornfield stirred,
And brought its mother instinct to the bird,
Silent within the boughs, -- there should go forth
An unsuspected power of good, to girth
The world with more enduring beauty, since
Two lives should then grow one, for furtherance
Before all things, of ends of godlike worth.
Now... I know not... God's way is scarcely clear;
Perhaps earth could not clasp so great a good,
And heaven takes up the trust... still, work is here,
And something dearer in the springing sod
Than was of old, when all was very dear --
And so once more, but more alone with God.

Source:

Poems
Copyright 1859
346 & 348 Broadway
D. Appleton & Company
New York
 

Recommended Works

And for that thou art Beauty, and thy name... - Anne WhitneyTo Sleep - John KeatsCheerfulness Taught By Reason - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn The Grasshopper And Cricket - John KeatsNo slight caprice rules thee. -- Who sounds one note... - Anne WhitneyLargess from seven-fold heavens, I pray, descend... - Anne WhitneyFuturity - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningInsufficiency - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningPast And Future - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo A Sleeping Child - Thomas HoodPerplexed Music - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Receiving A Gift - Thomas HoodOn A Portrait Of Wordsworth - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningPatience Taught By Nature - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Spirit - Anne WhitneyWritten On The Day That Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison - John KeatsThe Same (Twas then we said...) - Anne WhitneyTo My Brother George - John KeatsDark rolling clouds in wild confusion driven... - Caroline Bowles SoutheyO night, a terrible dismay still lurks... - Anne WhitneyDarkness surrounds me with its phantom hosts... - Anne WhitneyWhy did I laugh to-night? - John KeatsI know this spirit bridges unknown space... - Anne WhitneyO Mankind's God! most silent and most lowly - Anne WhitneyThe Seraph And Poet - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Haydon - John KeatsOn Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour - John KeatsOn First Looking Into Chapman's Homer - John KeatsOn Leigh Hunt's Poem, The Story Of Rimini. - John KeatsTo A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses - John KeatsFor The Fourteenth Of February - Thomas HoodTears - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSonnet To A Sonnet - Thomas HoodAddressed To Haydon - John KeatsO high-born souls, such as God sends to mould... - Anne WhitneyLear - Thomas HoodTo Kosciusko - John KeatsDiscontent - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningO fair mistrust of earth's more solid shows... - Anne WhitneyAddressed To The Same - John KeatsTo J. H. Reynolds - John KeatsTo A Young Lady Who Sent Me A Laurel Crown. - John KeatsWork (What are we set on earth for? ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSubstitution - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningGrief - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe day is gone, and all its sweets are gone! ... - John KeatsExaggeration - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Ailsa Rock - John KeatsTo Fancy - Thomas HoodAfter dark vapors have oppress'd our plains ... - John KeatsTo My Brother - John KeatsTo George Sand: A Recognition - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Same - Anne WhitneyC. L'E. - Anne WhitneyTo George Sand: A Desire - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Two Sayings - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo _. (Time's sea hath been five years at its low ebb, ...) - John KeatsConsolation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFalse Poets And True - Thomas HoodIn the still hours, a stiller strength was born - Anne WhitneyOn A Dream - John KeatsOf better fortune coming, then, talk not... - Anne WhitneyThe Same (Might we make quest ...) - Anne WhitneyBereavement - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningBy every sweet tradition of true hearts,... - Thomas HoodA Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningI cry your mercy -- pity -- love -- ay, love ... - John KeatsTo Homer - John KeatsWork And Contemplation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFrom all these mounds, though day blows fresh and warm, - Anne WhitneyO solitude! if I must with thee dwell, - John KeatsHappy is England! I could be content ... - John KeatsOn Fame (Fame, like a wayward girl, will still be coy ...). - John KeatsOh! how I love, on a fair summer's eve, ... - John KeatsAnswer To A Sonnet Ending Thus: -- - John KeatsRead me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud - John KeatsAn Apprehension - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Nile - John KeatsTo The Ocean - Thomas HoodOn A Picture Of Leander - John KeatsThe Soul's Expression - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo _. (Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs ...) - John KeatsI dreamed an angel, Angel twice, through death... - Anne WhitneyAdequacy - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Human Seasons - John KeatsWithin my life another life runs deep, - Anne WhitneyStoop low, dear Night, a little star-breeze wakes - Anne WhitneyNight - Anne WhitneyThe Prisoner - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWritten In The Cottage Where Burns Was Born - John KeatsIt is not death, that sometime in a sigh... - Thomas HoodKeats's Last Sonnet - John KeatsOn Fame (How fever'd is the man, who cannot look ...) - John KeatsHow bravely Autumn paints upon the sky - Thomas HoodTo ____. (My heart is sick with longing, though I feed) - Thomas HoodWhen I have fears that I may cease to be ... - John KeatsHow many bards gild the lapses of time! - John KeatsYet are there sunbeams, though the kingly sun... - Anne WhitneyThe Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo one who has been long in city pent, ... - John KeatsThe Passion Flower - Anne WhitneyThe world is with me, and its many cares... - Thomas HoodThis pleasant tale is like a little copse: ... - John KeatsThe Meaning Of The Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again. - John KeatsOn The Sea - John KeatsThou seem'st to solve the eternal unity... - Anne WhitneyAlas! and yesternight I woke in terror, - Anne WhitneyTO G. A. W. - John KeatsThree Flowers - Thomas Bailey AldrichTo An Enthusiast - Thomas HoodIf by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd ... - John KeatsContinence - Anne WhitneyIrreparableness - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningKeen Fitful Gusts Are Whispering Here And There - John KeatsOn Seeing The Elgin Marbles - John KeatsSo reed-like fragile, in the world's whirl nought... - Anne WhitneyPain In Pleasure - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningComfort (Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet ...) - Elizabeth Barrett Browning