Thomas Moore

"Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast, The rapids are near, and the daylight's past."

"Just as the mind the erring sense believes, The erring mind, in turn, the sense deceives."

"Self is the medium thro' which Judgment's ray Can seldom pass without being turned astray."

"Patience lingers o'er the weedy shore, And, mutely waiting till the storm be o'er, Turns to young Hope, who still directs his eye To some blue spot, just breaking in the sky!"

"A Persian's heaven is easily made: 'Tis but black eyes and lemonade."

"Oft, in the stilly night, Ere Slumber's chain has bound me, Fond Memory brings the light Of other days around me; The smiles, the tears, Of boyhood's years, The words of love then spoken; The eyes that shone, Now dimm'd and gone, The cheerful hearts now broken!"

"I feel like one, Who treads alone Some banquet-hall deserted, Whose lights are fled, Whose garlands dead, And all but he departed!"

"What though youth gave love and roses, Age still leaves us friends and wine."

"All that's bright must fade,— The brightest and the fleetest; All that's sweet was made, But to be lost when sweetest."

"Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumphed—his people are free."

"Oh, call it by some better name, For friendship sounds too cold."

"Come, come," said Tom's father, "at your time of life, There's no longer excuse for thus playing the rake-- It is time you should think, boy, of taking a wife." "Why, so it is father--whose wife shall I take?"

"Go where glory waits thee, But while fame elates thee, Oh! still remember me!"

"Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonour'd his relics are laid."

"And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls, Shall long keep his memory green in our souls."

"The harp that once through Tara's halls The soul of music shed, Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls As if that soul were fled. So sleeps the pride of former days, So glory's thrill is o'er; And hearts that once beat high for praise Now feel that pulse no more."

"Life is a waste of wearisome hours Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns; And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers, Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns."

"Rich and rare were the gems she wore, And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore."

"Believe me, if all those endearing young charms Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow and fleet in my arms, Like fairy gifts fading away. Thou wouldst still be adored as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will, And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart, Would entwine itself verdantly still."

"No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close, As the sun-flower turns on her god when he sets The same look which she turn'd when he rose."

"But there's nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream."

"The tribute most high to a head that is royal, Is love from a heart that loves liberty too."

"Eyes of unholy blue."

"'Tis the last rose of Summer, Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone."

"When true hearts lie wither'd And fond ones are flown, Oh, who would inhabit This bleak world alone?"

"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him; His father's sword he has girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him."

"And the best of all ways To lengthen our days Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear!"

"You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."

"No eye to watch, and no tongue to wound us All earth forgot, and all heaven around us."

"The light that lies In woman's eyes, Has been my heart's undoing."

"My only books Were woman's looks, And folly's all they've taught me."

"Love, nursed among pleasures, is faithless as they, But the love born of Sorrow, like Sorrow, is true."

"Ask a woman's advice, and, whate'er she advise, Do the very reverse and you're sure to be wise."

"Accurst is the march of that glory Which treads o'er the hearts of the free."

"Man for his glory To ancestry flies; But Woman's bright story Is told in her eyes."

"This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas, The past, the future,—two eternities!"

"But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last."

"There's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream, And the nightingale sings round it all the day long; In the time of my childhood 'twas like a sweet dream, To sit in the roses and hear the bird's song."

"Some flow'rets of Eden ye still inherit, But the trail of the serpent is over them all."

"Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun, Grow pure by being purely shone upon."

"One morn a Peri at the gate Of Eden stood disconsolate."

"Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, And multiply each through endless years,— One minute of heaven is worth them all."

"But the trail of the serpent is over them all."

"Oh, ever thus, from childhood's hour, I 've seen my fondest hopes decay; I never loved a tree or flower But 't was the first to fade away. I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well And love me, it was sure to die."

"Paradise itself were dim And joyless, if not shared with him!"

"It is only to the happy that tears are a luxury."

"Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, But turn to ashes on the lips."

"Oh for a tongue to curse the slave Whose treason, like a deadly blight, Comes o'er the councils of the brave, And blasts them in their hour of might!"

"Beholding heaven, and feeling hell."

"Faintly as tolls the evening chime, Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time."