December 27, 1879 + 

Every time would have its song + 

If the heart were right, + 

Seeing Love all tender-strong + 

Fills the day and night. + 

Weary drop the hands of Prayer + 

Calling out for peace; + 

Love always and everywhere + 

Sings and does not cease. + 

Fear, the caitiff, through the night + 

Silent peers about; + 

Love comes singing with a light + 

And doth cast him out. + 

Hate and Guile and Wrath and Doubt + 

Never try to sing; + 

If they did, oh, what a rout + 

Anguished ears would sting! + 

Pride indeed will sometimes aim + 

At the finer speech, + 

But the best that he can frame + 

Is a peacock-screech. + 

Greed will also sometimes try: + 

Happiness he hunts! + 

But his dwelling is a sty, + 

And his tones are grunts. + 

Faith will sometimes raise a song + 

Soaring up to heaven, + 

Then she will be silent long, + 

And will weep at even. + 

Hope has many a gladsome note + 

Now and then to pipe; + 

But, alas, he has the throat + 

Of a bird unripe. + 

Often Joy a stave will start + 

Which the welkin rends, + 

But it always breaks athwart, + 

And untimely ends. + 

Grief, who still for death doth long, + 

Always self-abhorred, + 

Has but one low, troubled song, + 

“I am sorry, Lord.” + 

But Love singeth in the vault. + 

Singeth on the stair; + 

Even for Sorrow will not halt, + 

Singeth everywhere. + 

For the great Love everywhere + 

Over all doth glow; + 

Draws his birds up trough the air, + 

Tends his birds below. + 

And with songs ascending sheer + 

Love-born Love replies, + 

Singing “Father” in his ear + 

Where she bleeding lies. + 

Therefore, if my heart were right + 

I should sing out clear, + 

Sing aloud both day and night + 

Every month in the year! + 