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diff --git a/44778-h/44778-h.htm b/44778-h/44778-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4ffdfb --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/44778-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2346 @@ + +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Religious Poems, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + + + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .verse {font-size: 85%; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + + .poem1 {margin-left: 30%; text-align: left;} + .blockquot {margin-left: 20%; text-align: left; margin-right: 20%; font-size: 85%; margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + + + + + img {border: 0;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%} + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + + .split { + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-left: 0; + padding-top: 0; + padding-bottom: 0; + margin-left:-1em; + } + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + + +/* Footnotes */ + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align:baseline; + position: relative; + bottom: 0.33em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + +/*Drop caps*/ +.drop-cap {margin-left: 30%; +} +.drop-cap:first-letter +{ + float: left; + margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; + font-size: 250%; + line-height:0.5em; +} +@media handheld +{ + p.drop-cap:first-letter + { + float: none; + margin: 0; + font-size: 100%; + } +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44778 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 469px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="469" height="800" alt="Cover" /> +</div> +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h1>RELIGIOUS POEMS.</h1> + +<div class='center'> +<small>BY</small><br /> +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.<br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.</i><br /><br /><br /> +</div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="400" height="269" alt="house" /> +</div> + + +<div class='center'><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +BOSTON:<br /> +TICKNOR AND FIELDS.<br /> +1867.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class='copyright'> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by<br /> +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE,<br /> +in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co.,<br /> +Cambridge.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'> </td> + +<td align="right"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">St. Catherine borne by Angels</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Charmer</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Knocking</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Old Psalm Tune</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Other World</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Mary at the Cross</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Inner Voice</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Abide in me, and I in you</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Secret</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Think not all is over</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Lines to the Memory of "Annie"</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Crocus</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Consolation</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'>"<span class="smcap">Only a Year</span>"</td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Below</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Above</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Lines on the Death of Mrs. Stuart</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Summer Studies</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_57">57</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><br /><span class="smcap">Hours of the Night.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Midnight</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">First Hour</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Second Hour</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Third Hour</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Fourth Hour</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Day Dawn</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">When I awake I am still with Thee</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'><br /><span class="smcap">Pressed Flowers from Italy.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'> <span class="smcap">A Day in the Pamfili Doria</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'> <span class="smcap">The Gardens of the Vatican</span></td> + +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'> <span class="smcap">St. Peter's Church</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'> <span class="smcap">The Miserere</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="600" height="406" alt="angel in flight with sword other angles in flight" /> +</div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h2>ST. CATHERINE BORNE BY ANGELS.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +SLOW through the solemn air, in silence sailing,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Borne by mysterious angels, strong and fair,</span><br /> +She sleeps at last, blest dreams her eyelids veiling,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Above this weary world of strife and care.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lo how she passeth!—dreamy, slow, and calm:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scarce wave those broad, white wings, so silvery bright;</span><br /> +Those cloudy robes, in star-emblazoned folding,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweep mistily athwart the evening light.</span><br /> +<br /> +Far, far below, the dim, forsaken earth,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The foes that threaten, or the friends that weep;</span><br /> +Past, like a dream, the torture and the pain:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For so He giveth his beloved sleep.</span><br /> +<br /> +The restless bosom of the surging ocean<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gives back the image as the cloud floats o'er,</span><br /> +Hushing in glassy awe his troubled motion;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">For one blest moment he complains no more.</span><br /> +<br /> +Like the transparent golden floor of heaven,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His charmed waters lie as in a dream,</span><br /> +And glistening wings, and starry robes unfolding,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And serious angel eyes far downward gleam.</span><br /> +<br /> +O restless sea! thou seemest all enchanted<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By that sweet vision of celestial rest;</span><br /> +Where are the winds and tides thy peace that haunted,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So still thou seemest, so glorified and blest!</span><br /> +<br /> +Ah, sea! to-morrow, that sweet scene forgotten,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dark tides and tempests shall thy bosom rear;</span><br /> +And thy complaining waves, with restless motion,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall toss their hands in their old wild despair.</span><br /> +<br /> +So o'er our hearts sometimes the sweet, sad story<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of suffering saints, borne homeward crowned and blest,</span><br /> +Shines down in stillness with a tender glory,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And makes a mirror there of breathless rest.</span><br /> +<br /> +For not alone in those old Eastern regions<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are Christ's beloved ones tried by cross and chain;</span><br /> +In many a house are his elect ones hidden,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His martyrs suffering in their patient pain.</span><br /> +<br /> +The rack, the cross, life's weary wrench of woe,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The world sees not, as slow, from day to day,</span><br /> +In calm, unspoken patience, sadly still,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The loving spirit bleeds itself away.</span><br /> +<br /> +But there are hours when, from the heavens unfolding,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come down the angels with the glad release;</span><br /> +And we look upward, to behold in glory<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our suffering loved ones borne away to peace.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ah, brief the calm! the restless wave of feeling<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rises again when the bright cloud sweeps by,</span><br /> +And our unrestful souls reflect no longer<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">That tender vision of the upper sky.</span><br /> +<br /> +Espoused Lord of the pure saints in glory,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To whom all faithful souls affianced are,</span><br /> +Breathe down thy peace into our restless spirits,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And make a lasting, heavenly vision there.</span><br /> +<br /> +So the bright gates no more on us shall close;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No more the cloud of angels fade away;</span><br /> +And we shall walk, amid life's weary strife,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the calm light of thine eternal day.</span><br /><br /><br /> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1">[A]</a> According to this legend, Catherine was a noble maiden +of Alexandria, distinguished alike by birth, riches, beauty, and +the rarest gifts of genius and learning. In the flower of her +life she consecrated herself to the service of her Redeemer, +and cheerfully suffered for his sake the loss of wealth, friends, +and the esteem of the world. Banishment, imprisonment, +and torture were in vain tried to shake the constancy of her +faith; and at last she was bound upon the torturing-wheel for +a cruel death. But the angels descended, so says the story, +rent the wheel, and bore her away, through the air, far over +the sea, to Mount Sinai, where her body was left to repose, +and her soul ascended with them to heaven.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE CHARMER.</h2> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"<i>Socrates.</i> However, you and Simmias appear to me as if +you wished to sift this subject more thoroughly, and to be +afraid, like children, lest, on the soul's departure from the +body, winds should blow it away.</p> + +<p>"Upon this Cebes said, 'Endeavor to teach us better, Socrates. +Perhaps there is a childish spirit in our breast that +has such a dread. Let us endeavor to persuade him not to +be afraid of death, as of hobgoblins.'</p> + +<p>"'But you must charm him every day,' said Socrates, 'until +you have quieted his fears.'</p> + +<p>"'But whence, O Socrates,' he said, 'can we procure a skilful +charmer for such a case, now you are about to leave us.'</p> + +<p>"'Greece is wide, Cebes,' he said, 'and in it surely there +are skilful men; and there are many barbarous nations, all of +which you should search, seeking such a charmer, sparing +neither money nor toil.'"—Last words of Socrates, as narrated +by Plato in the <i>Phædo</i>.</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +WE need that charmer, for our hearts are sore<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With longings for the things that may not be,</span><br /> +Faint for the friends that shall return no more,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dark with distrust, or wrung with agony.</span><br /> +<br /> +"What is this life? and what to us is death?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whence came we? whither go? and where are those</span><br /> +Who, in a moment stricken from our side,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Passed to that land of shadow and repose?</span><br /> +<br /> +"And are they all dust? and dust must we become?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or are they living in some unknown clime?</span><br /> +Shall we regain them in that far-off home,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And live anew beyond the waves of time?</span><br /> +<br /> +"O man divine! on thee our souls have hung;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou wert our teacher in these questions high;</span><br /> +But ah! this day divides thee from our side,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And veils in dust thy kindly-guiding eye.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Where is that Charmer whom thou bidst us seek?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On what far shores may his sweet voice be heard?</span><br /> +When shall these questions of our yearning souls<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be answered by the bright Eternal Word?"</span><br /> +<br /> +So spake the youth of Athens, weeping round,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When Socrates lay calmly down to die;</span><br /> +So spake the sage, prophetic of the hour<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When earth's fair morning star should rise on high.</span><br /> +<br /> +They found Him not, those youths of soul divine,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Long seeking, wandering, watching on life's shore;</span><br /> +Reasoning, aspiring, yearning for the light,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death came and found them—doubting as before.</span><br /> +<br /> +But years passed on; and lo! the Charmer came,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pure, simple, sweet, as comes the silver dew,</span><br /> +And the world knew him not,—he walked alone,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Encircled only by his trusting few.</span><br /> +<br /> +Like the Athenian sage, rejected, scorned,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Betrayed, condemned, his day of doom drew nigh;</span><br /> +He drew his faithful few more closely round,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And told them that his hour was come—to die.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Let not your heart be troubled," then He said,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"My Father's house hath mansions large and fair;</span><br /> +I go before you to prepare your place,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I will return to take you with me there."</span><br /> +<br /> +And since that hour the awful foe is charmed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And life and death are glorified and fair;</span><br /> +Whither He went we know, the way we know,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And with firm step press on to meet him there.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>KNOCKING.</h2> + +<div class='verse'>"Behold, I stand at the door and knock."<br /></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +KNOCKING, knocking, ever knocking?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who is there?</span><br /> +'Tis a pilgrim, strange and kingly,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Never such was seen before;—</span><br /> +Ah, sweet soul, for such a wonder<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Undo the door.</span><br /> +<br /> +No,—that door is hard to open;<br /> +Hinges rusty, latch is broken;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bid Him go.</span><br /> +Wherefore, with that knocking dreary<br /> +Scare the sleep from one so weary?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Say Him,—no.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 212px;"> +<img src="images/i011.jpg" width="212" height="400" alt="Jesus standing at the door knocking" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem1'> +Knocking, knocking, ever knocking?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What! Still there?</span><br /> +O, sweet soul, but once behold Him,<br /> +With the glory-crownéd hair;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>And those eyes, so strange and tender,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Waiting there;</span><br /> +Open! Open! Once behold Him,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Him, so fair.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ah, that door! Why wilt Thou vex me,<br /> +Coming ever to perplex me?<br /> +For the key is stiffly rusty,<br /> +And the bolt is clogged and dusty;<br /> +Many-fingered ivy-vine<br /> +Seals it fast with twist and twine;<br /> +Weeds of years and years before<br /> +Choke the passage of that door.<br /> +<br /> +Knocking! knocking! What! still knocking?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He still there?</span><br /> +What's the hour? The night is waning,—<br /> +In my heart a drear complaining,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And a chilly, sad unrest!</span><br /> +Ah, this knocking! It disturbs me,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>Scares my sleep with dreams unblest!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Give me rest,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rest,—ah, rest!</span><br /> +<br /> +Rest, dear soul, He longs to give thee;<br /> +Thou hast only dreamed of pleasure,<br /> +Dreamed of gifts and golden treasure,<br /> +Dreamed of jewels in thy keeping,<br /> +Waked to weariness of weeping;—<br /> +Open to thy soul's one Lover,<br /> +And thy night of dreams is over,—<br /> +The true gifts He brings have seeming<br /> +More than all thy faded dreaming!<br /> +<br /> +Did she open? Doth she? Will she?<br /> +So, as wondering we behold,<br /> +Grows the picture to a sign,<br /> +Pressed upon your soul and mine;<br /> +For in every breast that liveth<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>Is that strange mysterious door;—<br /> +Though forsaken and betangled,<br /> +Ivy-gnarled and weed-bejangled,<br /> +Dusty, rusty, and forgotten;—<br /> +There the piercéd hand still knocketh,<br /> +And with ever-patient watching,<br /> +With the sad eyes true and tender,<br /> +With the glory-crownéd hair,—<br /> +Still a God is waiting there.<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE OLD PSALM TUNE.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +YOU asked, dear friend, the other day,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why still my charméd ear</span><br /> +Rejoiceth in uncultured tone<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That old psalm tune to hear?</span><br /> +<br /> +I've heard full oft, in foreign lands,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The grand orchestral strain,</span><br /> +Where music's ancient masters live,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revealed on earth again,—</span><br /> +<br /> +Where breathing, solemn instruments,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In swaying clouds of sound,</span><br /> +Bore up the yearning, trancéd soul,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like silver wings around;—</span><br /> +<br /> +I've heard in old St. Peter's dome,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where clouds of incense rise,</span><br /> +Most ravishing the choral swell<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mount upwards to the skies.</span><br /> +<br /> +And well I feel the magic power,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When skilled and cultured art</span><br /> +Its cunning webs of sweetness weaves<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Around the captured heart.</span><br /> +<br /> +But yet, dear friend, though rudely sung,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That old psalm tune hath still</span><br /> +A pulse of power beyond them all<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My inmost soul to thrill.</span><br /> +<br /> +Those halting tones that sound to you,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are not the tones I hear;</span><br /> +But voices of the loved and lost<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">There meet my longing ear.</span><br /> +<br /> +I hear my angel mother's voice,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those were the words she sung;</span><br /> +I hear my brother's ringing tones,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As once on earth they rung;</span><br /> +<br /> +And friends that walk in white above<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come round me like a cloud,</span><br /> +And far above those earthly notes<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their singing sounds aloud.</span><br /> +<br /> +There may be discord, as you say;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those voices poorly ring;</span><br /> +But there's no discord in the strain<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those upper spirits sing.</span><br /> +<br /> +For they who sing are of the blest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The calm and glorified,</span><br /> +Whose hours are one eternal rest<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">On heaven's sweet floating tide.</span><br /> +<br /> +Their life is music and accord;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their souls and hearts keep time</span><br /> +In one sweet concert with the Lord,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One concert vast, sublime.</span><br /> +<br /> +And through the hymns they sang on earth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sometimes a sweetness falls</span><br /> +On those they loved and left below,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And softly homeward calls,—</span><br /> +<br /> +Bells from our own dear fatherland,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Borne trembling o'er the sea,—</span><br /> +The narrow sea that they have crossed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The shores where we shall be.</span><br /> +<br /> +O sing, sing on, beloved souls!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sing cares and griefs to rest;</span><br /> +Sing, till entrancéd we arise<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To join you 'mong the blest.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE OTHER WORLD.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +IT lies around us like a cloud,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A world we do not see;</span><br /> +Yet the sweet closing of an eye<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">May bring us there to be.</span><br /> +<br /> +Its gentle breezes fan our cheek;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amid our worldly cares,</span><br /> +Its gentle voices whisper love,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And mingle with our prayers.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sweet hearts around us throb and beat,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweet helping hands are stirred,</span><br /> +And palpitates the veil between<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">With breathings almost heard.</span><br /> +<br /> +The silence, awful, sweet, and calm,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They have no power to break;</span><br /> +For mortal words are not for them<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To utter or partake.</span><br /> +<br /> +So thin, so soft, so sweet, they glide,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So near to press they seem,</span><br /> +They lull us gently to our rest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They melt into our dream.</span><br /> +<br /> +And in the hush of rest they bring<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis easy now to see</span><br /> +How lovely and how sweet a pass<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The hour of death may be;—</span><br /> +<br /> +To close the eye, and close the ear,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wrapped in a trance of bliss,</span><br /> +And, gently drawn in loving arms,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">To swoon to that—from this,—</span><br /> +<br /> +Scarce knowing if we wake or sleep,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scarce asking where we are,</span><br /> +To feel all evil sink away,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All sorrow and all care.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sweet souls around us! watch us still;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Press nearer to our side;</span><br /> +Into our thoughts, into our prayers,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With gentle helpings glide.</span><br /> +<br /> +Let death between us be as naught,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A dried and vanished stream;</span><br /> +Your joy be the reality,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our suffering life the dream.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MARY AT THE CROSS.</h2> + +<div class='verse'>"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother."<br /></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +O WONDROUS mother! since the dawn of time<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was ever love, was ever grief, like thine?</span><br /> +O highly favored in thy joy's deep flow,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And favored, even in this, thy bitterest woe!</span><br /> +<br /> +Poor was that home in simple Nazareth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where, fairly growing, like some silent flower,</span><br /> +Last of a kingly race, unknown and lowly,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O desert lily, passed thy childhood's hour.</span><br /> +<br /> +The world knew not the tender, serious maiden,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who through deep loving years so silent grew,</span><br /> +Full of high thought and holy aspiration,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which the o'ershadowing God alone might view.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;"> +<img src="images/i023.jpg" width="250" height="400" alt="Mary and Baby Jesus under a crown" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem1'> +And then it came, that message from the highest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such as to woman ne'er before descended,</span><br /> +The almighty wings thy prayerful soul o'erspread,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And with thy life the Life of worlds was blended.</span><br /> +<br /> +What visions then of future glory filled thee,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The chosen mother of that King unknown,</span><br /> +Mother fulfiller of all prophecy<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which, through dim ages, wondering seers had shown!</span><br /> +<br /> +Well did thy dark eye kindle, thy deep soul<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rise into billows, and thy heart rejoice;</span><br /> +Then woke the poet's fire, the prophet's song,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tuned with strange burning words thy timid voice.</span><br /> +<br /> +Then, in dark contrast, came the lowly manger,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The outcast shed, the tramp of brutal feet;</span><br /> +Again behold earth's learned and her lowly,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sages and shepherds, prostrate at thy feet.</span><br /> +<br /> +Then to the temple bearing—hark again<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What strange conflicting tones of prophecy</span><br /> +Breathe o'er the child foreshadowing words of joy,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">High triumph blent with bitter agony!</span><br /> +<br /> +O, highly favored thou in many an hour<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spent in lone musings with thy wondrous Son,</span><br /> +When thou didst gaze into that glorious eye,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hold that mighty hand within thine own.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blest through those thirty years, when in thy dwelling<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He lived a God disguised with unknown power;</span><br /> +And thou his sole adorer, his best love,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trusting, revering, waited for his hour.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blest in that hour, when called by opening heaven<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With cloud and voice, and the baptizing flame,</span><br /> +Up from the Jordan walked th' acknowledged stranger,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And awe-struck crowds grew silent as he came.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blessed, when full of grace, with glory crowned,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">He from both hands almighty favors poured,</span><br /> +And, though He had not where to lay his head,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brought to his feet alike the slave and lord.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crowds followed; thousands shouted, "Lo, our King!"<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fast beat thy heart. Now, now the hour draws nigh:</span><br /> +Behold the crown, the throne, the nations bend!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah, no! fond mother, no! behold him die!</span><br /> +<br /> +Now by that cross thou tak'st thy final station,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And shar'st the last dark trial of thy Son;</span><br /> +Not with weak tears or woman's lamentation,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But with high, silent anguish, like his own.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hail! highly favored, even in this deep passion;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hail! in this bitter anguish thou art blest,—</span><br /> +Blest in the holy power with Him to suffer<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those deep death-pangs that lead to higher rest.</span><br /> +<br /> +All now is darkness; and in that deep stillness<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The God-man wrestles with that mighty woe;</span><br /> +Hark to that cry, the rock of ages rending,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'Tis finished!" Mother, all is glory now!</span><br /> +<br /> +By sufferings mighty as his mighty soul<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hath the Redeemer risen forever blest;</span><br /> +And through all ages must his heart-beloved<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through the same baptism enter the same rest.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE INNER VOICE.</h2> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"Come ye yourselves into a desert place and rest awhile; +for there were many coming and going, so that they had no +time so much as to eat."</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +'MID the mad whirl of life, its dim confusion,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its jarring discords and poor vanity,</span><br /> +Breathing like music over troubled waters,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What gentle voice, O Christian, speaks to thee?</span><br /> +<br /> +It is a stranger,—not of earth or earthly;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By the serene, deep fulness of that eye,—</span><br /> +By the calm, pitying smile, the gesture lowly,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It is thy Saviour as he passeth by.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Come, come," he saith, "O soul oppressed and weary,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come to the shadows of my desert rest,</span><br /> +Come walk with me far from life's babbling discords,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And peace shall breathe like music in thy breast.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Art thou bewildered by contesting voices,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sick to thy soul of party noise and strife?</span><br /> +Come, leave it all, and seek that solitude<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where thou shalt learn of me a purer life.</span><br /> +<br /> +"When far behind the world's great tumult dieth,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou shalt look back and wonder at its roar;</span><br /> +But its far voice shall seem to thee a dream,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its power to vex thy holier life be o'er.</span><br /> +<br /> +"There shalt thou learn the secret of a power,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mine to bestow, which heals the ills of living;</span><br /> +To overcome by love, to live by prayer,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To conquer man's worst evils by forgiving."</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU.</h2> + +<div class='verse'>THE SOUL'S ANSWER.</div> + +<div class='drop-cap'> +THAT mystic word of thine, O sovereign Lord,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is all too pure, too high, too deep for me;</span><br /> +Weary of striving, and with longing faint,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I breathe it back again in <i>prayer</i> to thee.</span><br /> +<br /> +Abide in me, I pray, and I in thee;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From this good hour, O, leave me nevermore;</span><br /> +Then shall the discord cease, the wound be healed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The lifelong bleeding of the soul be o'er.</span><br /> +<br /> +Abide in me; o'ershadow by thy love<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each half-formed purpose and dark thought of sin;</span><br /> +Quench, e'er it rise, each selfish, low desire,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And keep my soul as thine, calm and divine.</span><br /> +<br /> +As some rare perfume in a vase of clay<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pervades it with a fragrance not its own,</span><br /> +So, when thou dwellest in a mortal soul,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown.</span><br /> +<br /> +Abide in me: there have been moments blest<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When I have heard thy voice and felt thy power;</span><br /> +Then evil lost its grasp, and passion, hushed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Owned the divine enchantment of the hour.</span><br /> +<br /> +These were but seasons, beautiful and rare;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abide in me, and they shall ever be.</span><br /> +Fulfil at once thy precept and my prayer,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come, and abide in me, and I in thee.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE SECRET.</h2> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"Thou shalt keep them in the secret of thy presence from +the strife of tongues."</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +WHEN winds are raging o'er the upper ocean,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And billows wild contend with angry roar,</span><br /> +'Tis said, far down beneath the wild commotion,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That peaceful stillness reigneth evermore.</span><br /> +<br /> +Far, far beneath, the noise of tempest dieth,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And silver waves chime ever peacefully;</span><br /> +And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er he flieth,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Disturbs the sabbath of that deeper sea.</span><br /> +<br /> +So to the soul that knows thy love, O Purest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There is a temple peaceful evermore!</span><br /> +And all the babble of life's angry voices<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Die in hushed stillness at its sacred door.</span><br /> +<br /> +Far, far away the noise of passion dieth,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And loving thoughts rise ever peacefully;</span><br /> +And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er he flieth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Disturbs that deeper rest, O Lord, in thee.</span><br /> +<br /> +O rest of rests! O peace serene, eternal!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou ever livest and thou changest never;</span><br /> +And in the secret of thy presence dwelleth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fulness of joy, forever and forever.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THINK NOT ALL IS OVER.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +THINK not, when the wailing winds of autumn<br /> +Drive the shivering leaflets from the tree,—<br /> +Think not all is over: spring returneth,<br /> +Buds and leaves and blossoms thou shalt see.<br /> +<br /> +Think not, when the earth lies cold and sealed,<br /> +And the weary birds above her mourn,—<br /> +Think not all is over: God still liveth,<br /> +Songs and sunshine shall again return.<br /> +<br /> +Think not, when thy heart is waste and dreary,<br /> +When thy cherished hopes lie chill and sere,—<br /> +Think not all is over: God still loveth,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>He will wipe away thy every tear.<br /> +<br /> +Weeping for a night alone endureth,<br /> +God at last shall bring a morning hour;<br /> +In the frozen buds of every winter<br /> +Sleep the blossoms of a future flower.<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>LINES</h2> + +<div class='verse'>TO THE MEMORY OF "ANNIE," WHO DIED AT MILAN, +JUNE 6, 1860.</div> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom +seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith +unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me +where thou hast laid him."—<span class="smcap">John</span> xx. 15.</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +IN the fair gardens of celestial peace<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Walketh a Gardener in meekness clad;</span><br /> +Fair are the flowers that wreathe his dewy locks,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And his mysterious eyes are sweet and sad.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fair are the silent foldings of his robes,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Falling with saintly calmness to his feet;</span><br /> +And when he walks, each floweret to his will<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With living pulse of sweet accord doth beat.</span><br /> +<br /> +Every green leaf thrills to its tender heart,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the mild summer radiance of his eye;</span><br /> +No fear of storm, or cold, or bitter frost,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shadows the flowerets when their sun is nigh.</span><br /> +<br /> +And all our pleasant haunts of earthly love<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are nurseries to those gardens of the air;</span><br /> +And his far-darting eye, with starry beam,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Watcheth the growing of his treasures there.</span><br /> +<br /> +We call them ours, o'erwept with selfish tears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'erwatched with restless longings night and day;</span><br /> +Forgetful of the high, mysterious right<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He holds to bear our cherished plants away.</span><br /> +<br /> +But when some sunny spot in those bright fields<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Needs the fair presence of an added flower,</span><br /> +Down sweeps a starry angel in the night:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At morn, the rose has vanished from our bower.</span><br /> +<br /> +Where stood our tree, our flower, there is a grave!<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blank, silent, vacant, but in worlds above,</span><br /> +Like a new star outblossomed in the skies,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The angels hail an added flower of love.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dear friend, no more upon that lonely mound,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Strewed with the red and yellow autumn leaf,</span><br /> +Drop thou the tear, but raise the fainting eye<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond the autumn mists of earthly grief.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thy garden rose-bud bore, within its breast,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those mysteries of color, warm and bright,</span><br /> +That the bleak climate of this lower sphere<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Could never waken into form and light.</span><br /> +<br /> +Yes, the sweet Gardener hath borne her hence,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor must thou ask to take her thence away;</span><br /> +Thou shalt behold her in some coming hour,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Full-blossomed in his fields of cloudless day.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE CROCUS.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +BENEATH the sunny autumn sky,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With gold leaves dropping round,</span><br /> +We sought, my little friend and I,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The consecrated ground,</span><br /> +Where, calm beneath the holy cross,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'ershadowed by sweet skies,</span><br /> +Sleeps tranquilly that youthful form,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those blue unclouded eyes.</span><br /> +<br /> +Around the soft, green swelling mound<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We scooped the earth away,</span><br /> +And buried deep the crocus-bulbs<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Against a coming day.</span><br /> +"These roots are dry, and brown, and sere;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why plant them here?" he said,</span><br /> +"To leave them, all the winter long,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">So desolate and dead."</span><br /> +<br /> +"Dear child, within each sere dead form<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There sleeps a living flower,</span><br /> +And angel-like it shall arise<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In spring's returning hour."</span><br /> +Ah, deeper down—cold, dark, and chill—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We buried our heart's flower,</span><br /> +But angel-like shall he arise<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In spring's immortal hour.</span><br /> +<br /> +In blue and yellow from its grave<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Springs up the crocus fair,</span><br /> +And God shall raise those bright blue eyes,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those sunny waves of hair.</span><br /> +Not for a fading summer's morn,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not for a fleeting hour,</span><br /> +But for an endless age of bliss,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall rise our heart's dear flower.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CONSOLATION.</h2> + +<div class='verse'>WRITTEN AFTER THE SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN.</div> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first +heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was +no more sea."</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +AH, many-voiced and angry! how the waves<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beat turbulent with terrible uproar!</span><br /> +Is there no rest from tossing,—no repose?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where shall we find a haven and a shore?</span><br /> +<br /> +What is secure from the loud-dashing wave?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There go our riches, and our hopes fly there;</span><br /> +There go the faces of our best beloved,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whelmed in the vortex of its wild despair.</span><br /> +<br /> +Whose son is safe? whose brother, and whose home?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dashing spray beats out the household fire;</span><br /> +By blackened ashes weep our widowed souls<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Over the embers of our lost desire.</span><br /> +<br /> +By pauses, in the fitful moaning storm,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We hear triumphant notes of battle roll.</span><br /> +Too soon the triumph sinks in funeral wail;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The muffled drum, the death march, shakes the soul!</span><br /> +<br /> +Rocks on all sides, and breakers! at the helm<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weak human hand and weary human eyes.</span><br /> +The shout and clamor of our dreary strife<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goes up conflicting to the angry skies.</span><br /> +<br /> +But for all this, O timid hearts, be strong;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be of good cheer, for, though the storm must be,</span><br /> +<i>It hath its Master:</i> from the depths shall rise<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New heavens, new earth, where shall be no more sea.</span><br /> +<br /> +No sea, no tossing, no unrestful storm!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forever past the anguish and the strife;</span><br /> +The poor old weary earth shall bloom again,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">With the bright foliage of that better life.</span><br /> +<br /> +And war, and strife, and hatred, shall be past,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And misery be a forgotten dream.</span><br /> +The Shepherd God shall lead his peaceful fold<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By the calm meadows and the quiet stream.</span><br /> +<br /> +Be still, be still, and know that he is God;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be calm, be trustful; work, and watch, and pray,</span><br /> +Till from the throes of this last anguish rise<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The light and gladness of that better day.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>"ONLY A YEAR."</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +ONE year ago,—a ringing voice,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A clear blue eye,</span><br /> +And clustering curls of sunny hair,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Too fair to die.</span><br /> +<br /> +Only a year,—no voice, no smile,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No glance of eye,</span><br /> +No clustering curls of golden hair,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fair but to die!</span><br /> +<br /> +One year ago,—what loves, what schemes<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Far into life!</span><br /> +What joyous hopes, what high resolves,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">What generous strife!</span><br /> +<br /> +The silent picture on the wall,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The burial stone,</span><br /> +Of all that beauty, life, and joy<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remain alone!</span><br /> +<br /> +One year,—one year,—one little year,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And so much gone!</span><br /> +And yet the even flow of life<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moves calmly on.</span><br /> +<br /> +The grave grows green, the flowers bloom fair,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Above that head;</span><br /> +No sorrowing tint of leaf or spray<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Says he is dead.</span><br /> +<br /> +No pause or hush of merry birds,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That sing above,</span><br /> +Tells us how coldly sleeps below<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The form we love.</span><br /> +<br /> +Where hast thou been this year, beloved?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What hast thou seen?</span><br /> +What visions fair, what glorious life,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where thou hast been?</span><br /> +<br /> +The veil! the veil! so thin, so strong!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twixt us and thee;</span><br /> +The mystic veil! when shall it fall,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That we may see?</span><br /> +<br /> +Not dead, not sleeping, not even gone,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But present still,</span><br /> +And waiting for the coming hour<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of God's sweet will.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lord of the living and the dead,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our Saviour dear!</span><br /> +We lay in silence at thy feet<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This sad, sad year!</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 303px;"> +<img src="images/i047.jpg" width="303" height="390" alt="Flying angel" /> +</div> + + +<h2>BELOW.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +LOUDLY sweep the winds of autumn<br /> +O'er that lone, beloved grave,<br /> +Where we laid those sunny ringlets,<br /> +When those blue eyes set like stars,<br /> +Leaving us to outer darkness.<br /> +O the longing and the aching!<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>O the sere deserted grave!<br /> +<br /> +Let the grass turn brown upon thee,<br /> +Brown and withered like our dreams!<br /> +Let the wind moan through the pine-trees<br /> +With a dreary, dirge-like whistle,<br /> +Sweep the dead leaves on its bosom,—<br /> +Moaning, sobbing through the branches,<br /> +Where the summer laughed so gayly.<br /> +<br /> +He is gone, our boy of summer,—<br /> +Gone the light of his blue eyes,<br /> +Gone the tender heart and manly,<br /> +Gone the dreams and the aspirings,—<br /> +Nothing but the <i>mound</i> remaineth,<br /> +And the aching in our bosoms,<br /> +Ever aching, ever throbbing:<br /> +Who shall bring it unto rest?<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>ABOVE.</h2> + +<div class='verse'>A VISION.</div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +COMING down a golden street<br /> +I beheld my vanished one,<br /> +And he moveth on a cloud,<br /> +And his forehead wears a star;<br /> +And his blue eyes, deep and holy,<br /> +Fixed as in a blessed dream,<br /> +See some mystery of joy,<br /> +Some unuttered depth of love.<br /> +<br /> +And his vesture is as blue<br /> +As the skies of summer are,<br /> +Falling with a saintly sweep,<br /> +With a sacred stillness swaying;<br /> +And he presseth to his bosom<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>Harp of strange and mystic fashion,<br /> +And his hands, like living pearls,<br /> +Wander o'er the golden strings.<br /> +<br /> +And the music that ariseth,<br /> +Who can utter or divine it?<br /> +In that strange celestial thrilling,<br /> +Every memory of sorrow,<br /> +Every heart-ache, every anguish,<br /> +Every fear for the to-morrow,<br /> +Melt away in charméd rest.<br /> +<br /> +And there be around him many,<br /> +Bright with robes like evening clouds,—<br /> +Tender green and clearest amber,<br /> +Crimson fading into rose,<br /> +Robes of flames and robes of silver,—<br /> +And their hues all thrill and tremble<br /> +With a living light of feeling,<br /> +Deepening with each heart's pulsation,<br /> +Till in vivid trance of color<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>That celestial rainbow glows.<br /> +<br /> +How they float and wreathe and brighten,<br /> +Bending low their starry brows,<br /> +Singing with a tender cadence,<br /> +And their hands, like spotless lilies,<br /> +Folded on their prayerful breasts.<br /> +In their singing seem to mingle<br /> +Tender airs of by-gone days;—<br /> +Mother-hymnings by the cradle,<br /> +Mother-moanings by the grave,<br /> +Songs of human love and sorrow,<br /> +Songs of endless love and rest;—<br /> +In the pauses of that music<br /> +Every throb of sorrow dies.<br /> +<br /> +O my own, my heart's belovéd,<br /> +Vainly have I wept above thee?<br /> +Would I call thee from thy glory<br /> +To this world's impurity?—<br /> +Lo! it passeth, it dissolveth,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>All the vision melts away;<br /> +But as if a heavenly lily<br /> +Dropped into my aching breast,<br /> +With a healing sweetness laden,<br /> +With a mystic breath of rest,<br /> +I am charmed into forgetting<br /> +Autumn winds and dreary grave.<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>LINES</h2> + +<div class='verse'>SUGGESTED BY THE DEATH OF MRS. PROFESSOR STUART +OF ANDOVER, MASS.</div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +HOW quiet, through the hazy autumn air,<br /> +The elm-boughs wave with many a gold-flecked leaf!<br /> +How calmly float the dreamy mantled clouds<br /> +Through these still days of autumn, fair and brief!<br /> +<br /> +Our Andover stands thoughtful, fair, and calm,<br /> +Waiting to lay her summer glories by<br /> +E'er the bright flush shall kindle all her pines,<br /> +And her woods blaze with autumn's heraldry.<br /> +<br /> +By the old mossy wall the golden-rod<br /> +Waves as aforetime, and the purple sprays<br /> +Of starry asters quiver to the breeze,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>Rustling all stilly through the forest ways.<br /> +<br /> +No voice of triumph from those silent skies<br /> +Breaks on the calm, and speaks of glories near,<br /> +Nor bright wings flutter, nor fair glistening robes<br /> +Proclaim that heavenly messengers are here.<br /> +<br /> +Yet in our midst an angel hath come down,<br /> +Troubling the waters in a peaceful home;<br /> +And from that home, of life's long sickness healed,<br /> +A saint hath risen, where pain no more may come.<br /> +<br /> +Christ's fair elect one, from a hidden life<br /> +Of loving deeds and words of gentleness,<br /> +Hath passed where all are loving and beloved,<br /> +Beyond all weariness and all distress.<br /> +<br /> +Calm, like a lamb in shepherd's bosom borne,<br /> +Quiet and trustful hath she sunk to rest;<br /> +God breathed in tenderness the sweet "Well done!"<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>That scarce awoke a trance so still and blest.<br /> +<br /> +Ye who remember the long loving years,<br /> +The patient mother's hourly martyrdom,<br /> +The self-renouncing wisdom, the calm trust,<br /> +Rejoice for her whose day of rest is come!<br /> +<br /> +Father and mother, now united, stand<br /> +Waiting for you to bind the household chain;<br /> +The tent is struck, the home is gone before,<br /> +And tarries for you on the heavenly plain.<br /> +<br /> +By every wish repressed and hope resigned,<br /> +Each cross accepted and each sorrow borne,<br /> +She dead yet speaketh, she doth beckon you<br /> +To tread the path her patient feet have worn.<br /> +<br /> +Each year that world grows richer and more dear<br /> +With the bright freight washed from life's stormy shore;<br /> +O goodly clime, how lovely is thy strand,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>With those dear faces seen on earth no more!<br /> +<br /> +The veil between this world and that to come<br /> +Grows tremulous and quivers with their breath;<br /> +Dimly we hear their voices, see their hands,<br /> +Inviting us to the release of death.<br /> +<br /> +O Thou, in whom thy saints above, below,<br /> +Are one and undivided, grant us grace<br /> +In patience yet to bear our daily cross,—<br /> +In patience run our hourly shortening race!<br /> +<br /> +And while on earth we wear the servant's form,<br /> +And while life's labors ever toilful be,<br /> +Breathe in our souls the joyful confidence<br /> +We are already kings and priests with thee.<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>SUMMER STUDIES.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +WHY shouldst thou study in the month of June<br /> +In dusky books of Greek and Hebrew lore,<br /> +When the Great Teacher of all glorious things<br /> +Passes in hourly light before thy door?<br /> +<br /> +There is a brighter book unrolling now;<br /> +Fair are its leaves as is the tree of heaven,<br /> +All veined and dewed and gemmed with wondrous signs,<br /> +To which a healing mystic power is given.<br /> +<br /> +A thousand voices to its study call,<br /> +From the fair hill-top, from the waterfall,<br /> +Where the bird singeth, and the yellow bee,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>And the breeze talketh from the airy tree.<br /> +<br /> +Now is that glorious resurrection time<br /> +When all earth's buried beauties have new birth:<br /> +Behold the yearly miracle complete,—<br /> +God hath created a new heaven and earth!<br /> +<br /> +No tree that wants its joyful garments now,<br /> +No flower but hastes his bravery to don;<br /> +God bids thee to this marriage feast of joy,<br /> +Let thy soul put the wedding garment on.<br /> +<br /> +All fringed with festal gold the barberry stands;<br /> +The ferns, exultant, clap their new-made wings;<br /> +The hemlock rustles broideries of fresh green,<br /> +And thousand bells of pearl the blueberry rings.<br /> +<br /> +The long, weird fingers of the old white-pines<br /> +Do beckon thee into the flickering wood,<br /> +Where moving spots of light show mystic flowers,<br /> +And wavering music fills the dreamy hours.<br /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<div> +<img src="images/i059a.jpg" alt="top of landscape" width="537" height="378" class="split" /> +<img src="images/i059b.jpg" alt="side of landscape" width="205" height="456" class="split" /> +</div> +<div class='poem1'> +Hast thou no <i>time</i> for all this wondrous show,—<br /> +No thought to spare? Wilt thou forever be<br /> +With thy last year's dry flower-stalk and dead leaves,<br /> +And no new shoot or blossom on thy tree?<br /> +<br /> +See how the pines push off their last year's leaves.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>And stretch beyond them with exultant bound:<br /> +The grass and flowers, with living power, o'ergrow<br /> +Their last year's remnants on the greening ground.<br /> +<br /> +Wilt thou, then, all thy wintry feelings keep,<br /> +The old dead routine of thy book-writ lore,<br /> +Nor deem that God can teach, by one bright hour,<br /> +What life hath never taught to thee before?<br /> +<br /> +See what vast leisure, what unbounded rest,<br /> +Lie in the bending dome of the blue sky:<br /> +Ah! breathe that life-born languor from thy breast,<br /> +And know once more a child's unreasoning joy.<br /> +<br /> +Cease, cease to <i>think</i>, and be content <i>to be</i>;<br /> +Swing safe at anchor in fair Nature's bay;<br /> +Reason no more, but o'er thy quiet soul<br /> +Let God's sweet teachings ripple their soft way.<br /> +<br /> +Soar with the birds, and flutter with the leaf;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>Dance with the seeded grass in fringy play;<br /> +Sail with the cloud, wave with the dreaming pine,<br /> +And float with Nature all the livelong day.<br /> +<br /> +Call not such hours an idle waste of time,—<br /> +Land that lies fallow gains a quiet power;<br /> +It treasures, from the brooding of God's wings,<br /> +Strength to unfold the future tree and flower.<br /> +<br /> +And when the summer's glorious show is past,<br /> +Its miracles no longer charm thy sight,<br /> +The treasured riches of those thoughtful hours<br /> +Shall make thy wintry musings warm and bright.<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a><br /><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>HOURS OF THE NIGHT;<br /> + +<small>OR,</small><br /> +<small>WATCHES OF SORROW.</small></h2> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a><br /><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 295px;"> +<img src="images/i065.jpg" width="295" height="324" alt="another flying angel" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>I.<br /> + +MIDNIGHT.</h2> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have +been long dead."</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +ALL dark!—no light, no ray!<br /> +Sun, moon, and stars, all gone!<br /> +Dimness of anguish!—utter void!—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Crushed, and alone!</span><br /> +<br /> +One waste of weary pain,<br /> +One dull, unmeaning ache,<br /> +A heart too weary even to throb,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Too bruised to break.</span><br /> +<br /> +No longer anxious thoughts,<br /> +No longer hopes and fears,<br /> +No strife, no effort, no desire,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">No tears.</span><br /> +<br /> +Daylight and leaves and flowers,<br /> +Summer and song of bird!—<br /> +All vanished!—dreams forever gone,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Unseen, unheard!</span><br /> +<br /> +Love, beauty, youth,—all gone!<br /> +The high, heroic vow,<br /> +The buoyant hope, the fond desire,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">All ashes now!</span><br /> +<br /> +The words they speak to me<br /> +Far off and distant seem,<br /> +As voices we have known and loved<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 5em;">Speak in a dream.</span><br /> +<br /> +They bid me to submit;<br /> +I do,—I cannot strive;<br /> +I do not question,—I endure,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Endure and live.</span><br /> +<br /> +I do not struggle more,<br /> +Nor pray, for prayer is vain;<br /> +I but lie still the weary hour,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And bear my pain.</span><br /> +<br /> +A guiding God, a Friend,<br /> +A Father's gracious cheer,<br /> +Once seemed my own; but now even faith<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Lies buried here.</span><br /> +<br /> +This darkened, deathly life<br /> +Is all remains of me,<br /> +And but one conscious wish,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">To cease to be!</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>II.<br /> + +<small>FIRST HOUR.</small></h2> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"There was darkness over all the land from the sixth hour +unto the ninth hour.</p> + +<p>"And Jesus cried and said, My God, my God, why hast +thou forsaken me?"</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +THAT cry hath stirred the deadness of my soul;<br /> +I feel a heart-string throb, as throbs a chord<br /> +When breaks the master chord of some great harp;<br /> +My heart responsive answers, "Why?" O Lord.<br /> +<br /> +O cross of pain! O crown of cruel thorns!<br /> +O piercing nails! O spotless Sufferer there!<br /> +Wert <i>thou</i> forsaken in thy deadly strife?<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>Then canst thou pity me in my despair.<br /> +<br /> +Take my dead heart, O Jesus, down with thee<br /> +To that still sepulchre where thou didst rest;<br /> +Lay it in the fair linen's spicy folds,<br /> +As a dear mother lays her babe to rest.<br /> +<br /> +I am so worn, so weary, so o'erspent,<br /> +To lie with thee in that calm trance were sweet;<br /> +The bitter myrrh of long-remembered pain<br /> +May work in me new strength to rise again.<br /> +<br /> +This dark and weary mystery of woe,<br /> +This hopeless struggle, this most useless strife,—<br /> +Ah, let it end! I die with thee, my Lord,<br /> +To all I ever hoped or wished from life.<br /> +<br /> +I die with thee: thy fellowship of grief,<br /> +Thy partnership with mortal misery,<br /> +The weary watching and the nameless dread,—<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>Let them be mine to make me one with thee.<br /> +<br /> +Thou hast asked, "Why?" and God will answer thee,<br /> +Therefore I ask not, but in peace lie down,<br /> +For the three days of mystery and rest,<br /> +Till comes the resurrection and the crown.<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>III.<br /> + +<small>SECOND HOUR.</small></h2> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"They laid hold upon one Simon a Cyrenian, and on him +they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."</p></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +ALONG the dusty thoroughfare of life,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upon his daily errands walking free,</span><br /> +Came a brave, honest man, untouched by pain,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unchilled by sight or thought of misery.</span><br /> +<br /> +But lo! a crowd:—he stops,—with curious eye<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A fainting form all pressed to earth he sees;</span><br /> +The hard, rough burden of the bitter cross<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hath bowed the drooping head and feeble knees.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ho! lay the cross upon yon stranger there,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For he hath breadth of chest and strength of limb.</span><br /> +Straight it is done; and heavy laden thus,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">With Jesus' cross, he turns and follows him.</span><br /> +<br /> +Unmurmuring, patient, cheerful, pitiful,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prompt with the holy sufferer to endure,</span><br /> +Forsaking all to follow the dear Lord,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus did he make his glorious calling sure.</span><br /> +<br /> +O soul, whoe'er thou art, walking life's way,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As yet from touch of deadly sorrow free,</span><br /> +Learn from this story to forecast the day<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When Jesus and his cross shall come to thee.</span><br /> +<br /> +O, in that fearful, that decisive hour,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rebel not, shrink not, seek not thence to flee,</span><br /> +But, humbly bending, take thy heavy load,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And bear it after Jesus patiently.</span><br /> +<br /> +His cross is thine. If thou and he be one,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some portion of his pain must still be thine;</span><br /> +Thus only mayst thou share his glorious crown,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And reign with him in majesty divine.</span><br /> +<br /> +Master in sorrow! I accept my share<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the great anguish of life's mystery.</span><br /> +No more, alone, I sink beneath my load,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But bear my cross, O Jesus, after thee.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>IV.<br /> + +<small>THIRD HOUR.</small></h2> + +<div class='verse'>THE MYSTERY OF LIFE.</div> + +<div class='blockquot'> + +<p>"Let my heart calm itself in thee. Let the great sea of +my heart, that swelleth with waves, calm itself in thee."</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span class="smcap">St. Augustine's Manual.</span><br /> +</div></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +LIFE'S mystery—deep, restless as the ocean—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hath surged and wailed for ages to and fro;</span><br /> +Earth's generations watch its ceaseless motion,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As in and out its hollow moanings flow.</span><br /> +Shivering and yearning by that unknown sea,<br /> +Let my soul calm itself, O Christ, in thee!<br /> +<br /> +Life's sorrows, with inexorable power,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweep desolation o'er this mortal plain;</span><br /> +And human loves and hopes fly as the chaff<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Borne by the whirlwind from the ripened grain.</span><br /> +Ah! when before that blast my hopes all flee,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>Let my soul calm itself, O Christ, in thee!<br /> +<br /> +Between the mysteries of death and life<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou standest, loving, guiding, not explaining;</span><br /> +We ask, and thou art silent; yet we gaze,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And our charmed hearts forget their drear complaining.</span><br /> +No crushing fate, no stony destiny,<br /> +O Lamb that hast been slain, we find in thee!<br /> +<br /> +The many waves of thought, the mighty tides,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The ground-swell that rolls up from other lands,</span><br /> +From far-off worlds, from dim, eternal shores,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose echo dashes on life's wave-worn strands,</span><br /> +This vague, dark tumult of the inner sea<br /> +Grows calm, grows bright, O risen Lord, in thee!<br /> +<br /> +Thy piercéd hand guides the mysterious wheels;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy thorn-crowned brow now wears the crown of power;</span><br /> +<br /> +And when the dread enigma presseth sore,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy patient voice saith, "Watch with me one hour."</span><br /> +As sinks the moaning river in the sea<br /> +In silver peace, so sinks my soul in thee!<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;"> +<img src="images/i077.jpg" width="387" height="507" alt="couple" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>V.<br /> + +FOURTH HOUR.</h2> + +<div class='verse'>THE SORROWS OF MARY.</div> + +<div class='verse'><small>DEDICATED TO THE MOTHERS WHO HAVE LOST SONS IN +THE LATE WAR.</small></div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +I SLEPT, but my heart was waking,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And out in my dreams I sped,</span><br /> +Through the streets of an ancient city,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where Jesus, the Lord, lay dead.</span><br /> +<br /> +He was lying all cold and lowly,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the sepulchre was sealed,</span><br /> +And the women that bore the spices<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Had come from the holy field.</span><br /> +<br /> +There is feasting in Pilate's palace,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There is revel in Herod's hall,</span><br /> +Where the lute and the sounding instrument<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To mirth and merriment call.</span><br /> +<br /> +"I have washed my hands," said Pilate,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And what is the Jew to me?"</span><br /> +"I have missed my chance," said Herod,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"One of his wonders to see.</span><br /> +<br /> +"But why should our courtly circle<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the thought give further place?</span><br /> +All dreams, save of pleasure and beauty,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bid the dancers' feet efface."</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></div> + +<div class='poem1'> +<br /> + * * * * * * *<br /> +<br /> +I saw a light from a casement,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And entered a lowly door,</span><br /> +Where a woman, stricken and mournful,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sat in sackcloth on the floor.</span><br /> +<br /> +There Mary, the mother of Jesus,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And John, the belovéd one,</span><br /> +With a few poor friends beside them,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were mourning for Him that was gone.</span><br /> +<br /> +And before the mother was lying<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That crown of cruel thorn,</span><br /> +Wherewith they crowned that gentle brow<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In mockery that morn.</span><br /> +<br /> +And her ears yet ring with the anguish<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of that last dying cry,—</span><br /> +That mighty appeal of agony<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">That shook both earth and sky.</span><br /> +<br /> +O God, what a shaft of anguish<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was that dying voice from the tree!—</span><br /> +From Him the only spotless,—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Why hast Thou forsaken me?"</span><br /> +<br /> +And was he of God forsaken?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They ask, appalled with dread;</span><br /> +Is evil crowned and triumphant,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And goodness vanquished and dead?</span><br /> +<br /> +Is there, then, no God in Jacob?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is the star of Judah dim?</span><br /> +For who would our God deliver,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If he would not deliver him?</span><br /> +<br /> +If God <i>could</i> not deliver,—what hope then?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If he <i>would</i> not,—who ever shall dare</span><br /> +To be firm in his service hereafter?<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">To trust in his wisdom or care?</span><br /> +<br /> +So darkly the Tempter was saying,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To hearts that with sorrow were dumb;</span><br /> +And the poor souls were clinging in darkness to God,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With hands that with anguish were numb.</span><br /><br /> + * * * * * * *<br /> +<br /> +In my dreams came the third day morning,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And fairly the day-star shone;</span><br /> +But fairer, the solemn angel,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As he rolled away the stone.</span><br /> +<br /> +In the lowly dwelling of Mary,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the dusky twilight chill,</span><br /> +There was heard the sound of coming feet,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And her very heart grew still.</span><br /> +<br /> +And in the glimmer of dawning,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She saw him enter the door,</span><br /> +Her Son, all living and real,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Risen, to die no more!</span><br /> +<br /> +Her Son, all living and real,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Risen no more to die,—</span><br /> +With the power of an endless life in his face,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With the light of heaven in his eye.</span><br /> +<br /> +O mourning mothers, so many,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weeping o'er sons that are dead,</span><br /> +Have ye thought of the sorrows of Mary's heart,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of the tears that Mary shed?</span><br /> +<br /> +Is the crown of thorns before you?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are there memories of cruel scorn?</span><br /> +Of hunger and thirst and bitter cold<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That your beloved have borne?</span><br /> +<br /> +Had ye ever a son like Jesus<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To give to a death of pain?</span><br /> +Did ever a son so cruelly die,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">But did he die in vain?</span><br /> +<br /> +Have ye ever thought that all the hopes<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That make our earth-life fair</span><br /> +Were born in those three bitter days<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of Mary's deep despair?</span><br /> +<br /> +O mourning mothers, so many,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weeping in woe and pain,</span><br /> +Think on the joy of Mary's heart<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a Son that is risen again.</span><br /> +<br /> +Have faith in a third-day morning,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a resurrection-hour;</span><br /> +For what ye sow in weakness,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He can raise again in power.</span><br /> +<br /> +Have faith in the Lord of that thorny crown,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the Lord of the piercéd hand;</span><br /> +For he reigneth now o'er earth and heaven,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And his power who may withstand?</span><br /> +<br /> +And the hopes that never on earth shall bloom,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sorrows forever new,</span><br /> +Lay silently down at the feet of Him<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who died and is risen for you.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>VI.<br /> + +<small>DAY DAWN.</small></h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +THE dim gray dawn, upon the eastern hills,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brings back to light once more the cheerless scene;</span><br /> +But oh! no morning in my Father's house<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is dawning now, for there no night hath been.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ten thousand thousand now, on Zion's hills,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All robed in white, with palmy crowns, do stray,</span><br /> +While I, an exile, far from fatherland,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still wandering, faint along the desert way.</span><br /> +<br /> +O home! dear home! my own, my native home!<br /> +O Father, friends! when shall I look on you?<br /> +When shall these weary wanderings be o'er,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>And I be gathered back to stray no more?<br /> +<br /> +O Thou, the brightness of whose gracious face<br /> +These weary, longing eyes have never seen,—<br /> +By whose dear thought, for whose belovéd sake,<br /> +My course, through toil and tears, I daily take,—<br /> +<br /> +I think of thee when the myrrh-dropping morn<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Steps forth upon the purple eastern steep;</span><br /> +I think of thee in the fair eventide,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the bright-sandalled stars their watches keep.</span><br /> +<br /> +And trembling hope, and fainting, sorrowing love,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On thy dear word for comfort doth rely;</span><br /> +And clear-eyed Faith, with strong forereaching gaze,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beholds thee here, unseen, but ever nigh.</span><br /> +<br /> +Walking in white with thee, she dimly sees,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All beautiful, these lovely ones withdrawn,</span><br /> +With whom my heart went upward, as they rose,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like morning stars, to light a coming dawn.</span><br /> +<br /> +All sinless now, and crowned and glorified,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where'er thou movest move they still with thee,</span><br /> +As erst, in sweet communion by thy side,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Walked John and Mary in old Galilee.</span><br /> +<br /> +But hush, my heart! 'T is but a day or two<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Divides thee from that bright, immortal shore.</span><br /> +Rise up! rise up! and gird thee for the race!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fast fly the hours, and all will soon be o'er.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thou hast the new name written in thy soul;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou hast the mystic stone He gives his own.</span><br /> +Thy soul, made one with him, shall feel no more<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That she is walking on her path alone.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>VII.<br /> + +<small>WHEN I AWAKE I AM STILL WITH THEE.</small></h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +STILL, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the bird waketh and the shadows flee;</span><br /> +Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dawns the sweet consciousness, <i>I am with Thee</i>!</span><br /> +<br /> +Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The solemn hush of nature newly born;</span><br /> +Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.</span><br /> +<br /> +As in the dawning o'er the waveless ocean<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The image of the morning star doth rest,</span><br /> +So in this stillness Thou beholdest only<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thine image in the waters of my breast.</span><br /> +<br /> +Still, still with Thee! as to each new-born morning<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A fresh and solemn splendor still is given,</span><br /> +So doth this blessed consciousness, awaking,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Breathe, each day, nearness unto Thee and heaven.</span><br /> +<br /> +When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its closing eye looks up to Thee in prayer;</span><br /> +Sweet the repose beneath the wings o'ershading,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But sweeter still to wake and find Thee there.</span><br /> +<br /> +So shall it be at last, in that bright morning<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the soul waketh and life's shadows flee;</span><br /> +O, in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall rise the glorious thought, <i>I am with Thee</i>!</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a><br /><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a><br /><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> +<h2>PRESSED FLOWERS FROM ITALY.</h2> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a><br /><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i094.jpg" width="500" height="731" alt="A DAY IN THE PAMFILI DORIA." /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>A DAY IN THE PAMFILI DORIA.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +THOUGH the hills are cold and snowy,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the wind drives chill to-day,</span><br /> +My heart goes back to a spring-time,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Far, far in the past away.</span><br /> +<br /> +And I see a quaint old city,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weary and worn and brown,</span><br /> +Where the spring and the birds are so early,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the sun in such light goes down.</span><br /> +<br /> +I remember that old-times villa,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where our afternoons went by,</span><br /> +Where the suns of March flushed warmly,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And spring was in earth and sky.</span><br /> +<br /> +Out of the mouldering city,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mouldering, old, and gray,</span><br /> +We sped, with a lightsome heart-thrill,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For a sunny, gladsome day,—</span><br /> +<br /> +For a revel of fresh spring verdure,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For a race 'mid springing flowers,</span><br /> +For a vision of plashing fountains,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of birds and blossoming bowers.</span><br /> +<br /> +There were violet banks in the shadows,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Violets white and blue;</span><br /> +And a world of bright anemones,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That over the terrace grew,—</span><br /> +<br /> +Blue and orange and purple,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rosy and yellow and white,</span><br /> +Rising in rainbow bubbles,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Streaking the lawns with light.</span><br /> +<br /> +And down from the old stone pine-trees,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those far off islands of air,</span><br /> +The birds are flinging the tidings<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of a joyful revel up there.</span><br /> +<br /> +And now for the grand old fountains,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tossing their silvery spray,</span><br /> +Those fountains so quaint and so many,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That are leaping and singing all day.</span><br /> +<br /> +Those fountains of strange weird sculpture,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With lichens and moss o'ergrown,</span><br /> +Are they marble greening in moss-wreaths?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or moss-wreaths whitening to stone?</span><br /> +<br /> +Down many a wild, dim pathway<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We ramble from morning till noon;</span><br /> +We linger, unheeding the hours,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till evening comes all too soon.</span><br /> +<br /> +And from out the ilex alleys,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where lengthening shadows play,</span><br /> +We look on the dreamy Campagna,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All glowing with setting day,—</span><br /> +<br /> +All melting in bands of purple,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In swathings and foldings of gold,</span><br /> +In ribands of azure and lilac,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like a princely banner unrolled.</span><br /> +<br /> +And the smoke of each distant cottage,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the flash of each villa white,</span><br /> +Shines out with an opal glimmer,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like gems in a casket of light.</span><br /> +<br /> +And the dome of old St. Peter's<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a strange translucence glows,</span><br /> +Like a mighty bubble of amethyst<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Floating in waves of rose.</span><br /> +<br /> +In a trance of dreamy vagueness<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We, gazing and yearning, behold</span><br /> +That city beheld by the prophet,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose walls were transparent gold.</span><br /> +<br /> +And, dropping all solemn and slowly,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To hallow the softening spell,</span><br /> +There falls on the dying twilight<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Ave Maria bell.</span><br /> +<br /> +With a mournful motherly softness,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a weird and weary care,</span><br /> +That strange and ancient city<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seems calling the nations to prayer.</span><br /> +<br /> +And the words that of old the angel<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the mother of Jesus brought,</span><br /> +Rise like a new evangel,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">To hallow the trance of our thought.</span><br /> +<br /> +With the smoke of the evening incense,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our thoughts are ascending then</span><br /> +To Mary, the mother of Jesus,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To Jesus, the Master of men.</span><br /> +<br /> +O city of prophets and martyrs,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O shrines of the sainted dead,</span><br /> +When, when shall the living day-spring<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Once more on your towers be spread?</span><br /> +<br /> +When He who is meek and lowly<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall rule in those lordly halls,</span><br /> +And shall stand and feed as a shepherd<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The flock which his mercy calls,—</span><br /> +<br /> +O, then to those noble churches,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To picture and statue and gem,</span><br /> +To the pageant of solemn worship,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall the <i>meaning</i> come back again.</span><br /> +<br /> +And this strange and ancient city,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In that reign of His truth and love,</span><br /> +Shall <i>be</i> what it <i>seems</i> in the twilight,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The type of that City above.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE GARDENS OF THE VATICAN.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +SWEET fountains, plashing with a dreamy fall,<br /> +And mosses green, and tremulous veils of fern,<br /> +And banks of blowing cyclamen, and stars,<br /> +Blue as the skies, of myrtle blossoming,<br /> +The twilight shade of ilex overhead<br /> +O'erbubbling with sweet song of nightingale,<br /> +With walks of strange, weird stillness, leading on<br /> +'Mid sculptured fragments half to green moss gone,<br /> +Or breaking forth amid the violet leaves<br /> +With some white gleam of an old world gone by.<br /> +Ah! strange, sweet quiet! wilderness of calm,<br /> +Gardens of dreamy rest, I long to lay<br /> +Beneath your shade the last long sigh, and say,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>Here is my home, my Lord, thy home and mine;<br /> +And I, having searched the world with many a tear,<br /> +At last have found thee and will stray no more.<br /> +But vainly here I seek the Gardener<br /> +That Mary saw. These lovely halls beyond,<br /> +That airy, sky-like dome, that lofty fane,<br /> +Is as a palace whence the king is gone<br /> +And taken all the sweetness with himself.<br /> +Turn again, Jesus, and possess thine own!<br /> +Come to thy temple once more as of old!<br /> +Drive forth the money-changers, let it be<br /> +A house of prayer for nations. Even so,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Amen! Amen!</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>ST. PETER'S CHURCH.</h2> + +<div class='verse'>HOLY WEEK, APRIL, 1860.</div> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +O FAIREST mansion of a Father's love,<br /> +Harmonious! hospitable! with thine arms<br /> +Outspread to all, thy fountains ever full,<br /> +And, fair as heaven, thy misty, sky-like dome<br /> +Hung like the firmament with circling sweep<br /> +Above the constellated golden lamps<br /> +That burn forever round the holy tomb.<br /> +Most meet art thou to be the Father's house,<br /> +The house of prayer for nations. Come the time<br /> +When thou shalt be so! when a liberty,<br /> +Wide as thine arms, high as thy lofty dome,<br /> +Shall be proclaimed, by thy loud singing choirs,<br /> +Like voice of many waters! Then the Lord<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>Shall come into his temple, and make pure<br /> +The sons of Levi; then, as once of old,<br /> +The blind shall see, the lame leap as an hart,<br /> +And to the poor the Gospel shall be preached,<br /> +And Easter's silver-sounding trumpets tell,<br /> +"The Lord is risen indeed," to die no more.<br /> +Hasten it in its time. Amen! Amen!<br /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE MISERERE.</h2> + + +<div class='drop-cap'> +NOT of the earth that music! all things fade;<br /> +Vanish the pictured walls! and, one by one,<br /> +The starry candles silently expire!<br /> +<br /> +And now, O Jesus! round that silent cross<br /> +A moment's pause, a hush as of the grave.<br /> +Now rises slow a silver mist of sound,<br /> +And all the heavens break out in drops of grief;<br /> +A rain of sobbing sweetness, swelling, dying,<br /> +Voice into voice inweaving with sweet throbs,<br /> +And fluttering pulses of impassioned moan,—<br /> +Veiled voices, in whose wailing there is awe,<br /> +And mysteries of love and agony,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>A yearning anguish of celestial souls,<br /> +A shiver as of wings trembling the air,<br /> +As if God's shining doves, his spotless birds,<br /> +Wailed with a nightingale's heart-break of grief,<br /> +In this their starless night, when for our sins<br /> +Their sun, their life, their love, hangs darkly there,<br /> +Like a slain lamb, bleeding his life away!<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 224px;"> +<img src="images/i107.jpg" width="224" height="262" alt="cross and palm leaves" /> +</div> + + +<div class='center'>————————<br /> +Cambridge: Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.<br /> +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44778 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/44778-h/images/cover.jpg b/44778-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1a1a9d --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i001.jpg b/44778-h/images/i001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fe4ddf --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i001.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i011.jpg b/44778-h/images/i011.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..949e0f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i011.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i023.jpg b/44778-h/images/i023.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4bb3b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i023.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i047.jpg b/44778-h/images/i047.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..56b0b54 --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i047.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i059a.jpg b/44778-h/images/i059a.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..785f58b --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i059a.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i059b.jpg b/44778-h/images/i059b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..006d650 --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i059b.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i065.jpg b/44778-h/images/i065.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..14116ed --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i065.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i077.jpg b/44778-h/images/i077.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03e27ce --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i077.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i094.jpg b/44778-h/images/i094.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a66f77f --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i094.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/i107.jpg b/44778-h/images/i107.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..81d75b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/i107.jpg diff --git a/44778-h/images/titlepage.jpg b/44778-h/images/titlepage.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..71017e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/44778-h/images/titlepage.jpg |
