George Eliot – Count That Day Lost

 If you sit down at set of sunAnd count the acts that you have done,And, counting, findOne self-denying deed, one wordThat eased the heart of him who heard,One glance most kindThat fell like sunshine where it went – Then you may count that day well spent.But if, through all...

George Eliot – I Am Lonely

The world is great: the birds all fly from me, The stars are golden fruit upon a tree All out of reach: my little sister went, And I am lonely. The world is great: I tried to mount the hill Above the pines, where the light lies so still, But it rose higher: little Lisa...

George Eliot – Making Life Worth While

Every soul that touches yours - Be it the slightest contact - Get there from some good; Some little grace; one kindly thought; One aspiration yet unfelt; One bit of courage For the darkening sky; One gleam of faith To brave the thickening ills of life; One glimpse of brighter...

George Eliot – Sweet Endings Come And Go, Love

"La noche buena se viene, La noche buena se va, Y nosotros nos iremos Y no volveremos mas." -- Old Villancico. Sweet evenings come and go, love, They came and went of yore: This evening of our life, love, Shall go and come no more. When we have passed away, love, All things...

George Eliot – In a London Drawingroom

The sky is cloudy, yellowed by the smoke. For view there are the houses opposite Cutting the sky with one long line of wall Like solid fog: far as the eye can stretch Monotony of surface & of form Without a break to hang a guess upon. No bird can make a shadow as...

George Eliot – I Grant You Ample Leave

"I grant you ample leave To use the hoary formula 'I am' Naming the emptiness where thought is not; But fill the void with definition, 'I' Will be no more a datum than the words You link false inference with, the 'Since' & 'so' That, true or not, make up the...

George Eliot – Blue Wings

Warm whisp'ring through the slender olive leaves Came to me a gentle sound, Whis'pring of a secret found In the clear sunshine 'mid the golden sheaves: Said it was sleeping for me in the morn, Called it gladness, called it joy, Drew me on 'Come hither, boy.' To where...

George Eliot – Bright, O Bright Fedalma

Maiden crowned with glossy blackness, Lithe as panther forest-roaming, Long-armed Naiad when she dances On a stream of ether floating, Bright, o bright Fedalma! Form all curves like softness drifted, Wave-kissed marble roundly dimpling, Far-off music slowly wingèd, Gently...

George Eliot – Brother And Sister

I I cannot choose but think upon the time When our two lives grew like two buds that kiss At lightest thrill from the bee's swinging chime, Because the one so near the other is. He was the elder and a little man Of forty inches, bound to show no dread, And I the...

George Eliot – Sweet Springtime

It was in the prime Of the sweet springtime In the linnet's throat Trembled the love note, And the love-stirred air Thrilled the blossoms there. Little shadows danced, Each a tiny elf Happy in large light And the thinnest self. It was but a minute In a far-off...

George Eliot – Self and Life

SELF Changeful comrade, Life of mine, Before we two must part, I will tell thee, thou shalt say, What thou hast been and art. Ere I lose my hold of thee Justify thyself to me. LIFE I was thy warmth upon thy mother's knee When light and love within her eyes...