Anne Brontë – A Fragment

'Maiden, thou wert thoughtless onceOf beauty or of grace,Simple and homely in attireCareless of form and face.Then whence this change, and why so oftDost smooth thy hazel hair?And wherefore deck thy youthful formWith such unwearied care?'Tell us ­- and cease to tire our earsWith...

Anne Brontë – Views Of Life

When sinks my heart in hopeless gloom,And life can show no joy for me;And I behold a yawning tomb,Where bowers and palaces should be;In vain you talk of morbid dreams;In vain you gaily smiling say,That what to me so dreary seems,The healthy mind deems bright and gay.I too have smiled,...

Anne Brontë – The Three Guides

Spirit of Earth! thy hand is chill:I've felt its icy clasp;And, shuddering, I remember stillThat stony-hearted grasp.Thine eye bids love and joy depart:Oh, turn its gaze from me!It presses down my shrinking heart;I will not walk with thee!"Wisdom is mine," I've heard thee say:"Beneath...

Anne Brontë – The Narrow Way

Believe not those who sayThe upward path is smooth,Lest thou shouldst stumble in the way,And faint before the truth.It is the only roadUnto the realms of joy;But he who seeks that blest abodeMust all his powers employ.Bright hopes and pure delightUpon his course may beam,And there,...

Anne Brontë – I hoped

I hoped, that with the brave and strong,My portioned task might lie;To toil amid the busy throng,With purpose pure and high.But God has fixed another part,And He has fixed it well;I said so with my bleeding heart,When first the anguish fell.Thou, God, hast taken our delight,Our...

Anne Brontë – The Arbour

I'll rest me in this sheltered bower, And look upon the clear blue sky That smiles upon me through the trees, Which stand so thickly clustering by; And view their green and glossy leaves, All glistening in the sunshine fair; And list the rustling of their boughs, So...

Anne Brontë – Past Days

'Tis strange to think there WAS a time When mirth was not an empty name, When laughter really cheered the heart, And frequent smiles unbidden came, And tears of grief would only flow In sympathy for others' woe; When speech expressed the inward thought, And heart...

Anne Brontë – Music On Christmas Morning

Music I love--but never strain Could kindle raptures so divine, So grief assuage, so conquer pain, And rouse this pensive heart of mine-- As that we hear on Christmas morn, Upon the wintry breezes borne. Though Darkness still her empire keep, And hours must pass,...

Anne Brontë – Home

That sun surveys a lovely scene From softly smiling skies; And wildly through unnumbered trees The wind of winter sighs: Now loud, it thunders o'er my head, And now in distance dies. But give me back my barren hills Where colder breezes rise: Where scarce the...

Anne Brontë – Lines composed in a Wood on a Windy Day

My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze; For above and around me the wild wind is roaring, Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas. The long withered grass in the sunshine is glancing, The bare trees are tossing their...

Anne Brontë – Call Me Away

Call me away; there's nothing here, That wins my soul to stay; Then let me leave this prospect drear, And hasten far away. To our beloved land I'll flee, Our land of thought and soul, Where I have roved so oft with thee, Beyond the world's control. I'll sit and watch...

Anne Brontë – Alexander And Zenobia

Fair was the evening and brightly the sunWas shining on desert and grove,Sweet were the breezes and balmy the flowersAnd cloudless the heavens above.It was Arabia's distant landAnd peaceful was the hour;Two youthful figures lay reclinedDeep in a shady bower.One was a boy of just...

Anne Brontë – A Voice From The Dungeon

I'm buried now; I've done with life; I've done with hate, revenge and strife; I've done with joy, and hope and love And all the bustling world above. Long have I dwelt forgotten here In pining woe and dull despair; This place of solitude and gloom Must be my dungeon...

Anne Brontë – A Prayer

My God (oh, let me call Thee mine,Weak, wretched sinner though I be),My trembling soul would fain be Thine;My feeble faith still clings to Thee.Not only for the Past I grieve,The Future fills me with dismay;Unless Thou hasten to relieve,Thy suppliant is a castaway.I cannot say my...

Anne Brontë – I hoped…

I hoped, that with the brave and strong,My portioned task might lie;To toil amid the busy throng,With purpose pure and high.But God has fixed another part,And He has fixed it well;I said so with my bleeding heart,When first the anguish fell.Thou, God, hast taken our delight,Our...