Poem by Florence Earle Coates

Didst Thou Rejoice?

Didst thou rejoice because the day was fair,—
⁠      Because, in orient splendor newly dressed,
      ⁠On flowering glebe and bloomless mountain-crest
      ⁠The sun complacent smiled? Ah! didst thou dare
The careless rapture of that bird to share
⁠      Which, soaring toward the dawn from dewy nest,
⁠      Hailed it with song? From Ocean's treacherous breast
⁠      Didst borrow the repose mild-mirrored there?
Thou foolish heart! Behold! the light is spent;
⁠      Rude thunders shake the crags; songs timorous cease;
      ⁠Lo! with what moan and mutinous lament
Ocean his pent-up passions doth release!
⁠      O thou who seekest sure and fixed content,
      ⁠Search in thy soul: there find some source of peace. 

1. Let Me Believe
2. Be Thou My Guide
3. By the Conemaugh
4. To the Tsar (1890)
5. Cora

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