The Poe Museum Blog

To M. L. S. Of all who hail thy presence as the morning —Of all to whom thy absence is the night —The blotting utterly from out high heavenThe sacred sun — of all who, weeping, bless theeHourly for hope — for life — ah! above all,For the resurrection of deep-buried faithIn Truth — in Virtue — in Humanity —Of all who, on Despair's unhallowed bedLaying them down to die, have suddenly risenAt thy soft-murmured words, “Let there be light!”At the soft-murmured words that were fulfilledIn the seraphic glancing of thine eyes —Of all who owe thee most — whose gratitudeNearest approaches worship — ...

To Her Whose Name is Written Below For her these lines are penned, whose luminous eyes,Bright and expressive as the stars of Leda,Shall find her own sweet name that, nestling, liesUpon this page, enwrapped from every reader.Search narrowly these words, which hold a treasureDivine — a talisman — an amuletThat must be worn at heart. Search well the measure —The words — the letters themselves. Do not forgetThe smallest point, or you may lose your labor.And yet there is in this no Gordian knot,Which one might not undo without a sabre.If one could merely comprehend the plotUpon the open ...

To Helen I saw thee once — once only — years ago:I must not say how many — but not many.It was a July midnight; and from outA full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,Sought a precipitant pathway up through heaven,There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,Upon the upturn’d faces of a thousandRoses that grew in an enchanted garden,Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tip-toe —Fell on the upturn’d faces of these rosesThat gave out, in return for the love-light,Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death —Fell ...

Lines Written in an Album Eliza! — let thy generous heartFrom its present pathway part not!Being every thing which now thou art,Be nothing which thou art not.So with the world thy gentle ways —Thy unassuming beauty —And truth shall be a theme of praiseForever — and love a duty. E. A. P. Edgar Allan Poe Originally Published in 1835 ...