Poems by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

Unearthly monster that with fiery eyes
In anger glaring
Mocks sullenly the looks ...

Butterfly, butterfly, where are you going?
Do you dine today with the regal rose
Or nectar si...

A land with peace and plenty crowned,
Where luxury and wealth abound;
A land where Freedom's ...

Ye timbered pastures, bright with Autumn splendor,
Yet softened with the haze by distance lent...

The tropical islands of Tonga
In the Southern Pacific sea lie
Like fragments of cool rainbow co...

We bring no rich gifts like the wise men of old;
No myrrh and frankincense, no silver and gold...

Forth from his lonely haunt,
Lean, evil-eyed and gaunt
Stealthily stealing
To where on low c...

From the blackness and darkness of chaos
Jehovah said: "Let there be light."
And the first sunn...

I have done the best I could, O Lord!
Yet my cramped life writhes in pain
For the World's cold...

Dark were the world if o'er its gloom
The gospel light had never dawned,
Hopeless our fate if ...

Evil Enchantress spread thy raven wings,
Thy demon wings;
Touch not my spirit with thy venome...

Sublime and wonderful art thou, O deep,
Illustrious ocean, vast unmeasured waste!
Lost in th...

Trackless and bare are the sands of the desert
No verdure adorns them, no green tree is there; ...

When sunset tints the western skies
With evening's roseate flush,
When the woodlands lie in sh...

I dream of a land where no thunder-cloud gathers,
Where across the calm waters no tempest may s...