Part 2

And never guess the secret sweet device Which lures us on and upward to the skies, And makes each toil its own reward and prize.

To give our little selves to thee, to blend Our weakness with thy strength, O Lord our Friend, This is life’s truest privilege and end.

COMFORTED.

THE last sweet flowers are dying, The last green leaves are red; The wild geese southward flying, By law mysterious led, Scream noisily o’erhead; The honey-bees have hived them, The butterflies have shrived them; All hushed the song and twitter And flutter of glad wing;— How could we bear the autumn If t’were not for the spring?

To see the summer banished, Nor dare to bid her stay; To mourn o’er beauty vanished And joyance driven away; To mark the shortening day; To note the sad winds plaining, The storm cloud and the raining; To see the frost lance stabbing Each faint and wounded thing;— Oh, we should hate the autumn Excepting for the spring!

To know that life is failing And pulses beating slow; To catch the unavailing Sad monotones of woe All the earth over go; To know that snows must cover The grave of friend and lover, To hide them from the eyes and hands That still caress and cling;— The heart would break in autumn If there were not a spring!

For every sleep a waking, For every shade a sun, A balm for each heart breaking, A rest for labor done, A life by death begun; And so in wintry weather, With smile and sigh together, We look beyond the present pain, The daily loss and sting, And welcome in the autumn For the sure hope of spring.

WORDS.

A LITTLE, tender word, Wrapped in a little rhyme, Sent out upon the passing air, As seeds are scattered everywhere In the sweet summer-time.

A little, idle word, Breathed in an idle hour; Between two laughs that word was said, Forgotten as soon as uttered, And yet the word had power.

Away they sped, the words: One, like a wingèd seed, Lit on a soul which gave it room, And straight began to bud and bloom In lovely word and deed.

The other careless word, Borne on an evil air, Found a rich soil, and ripened fast Its rank and poisonous growths, and cast Fresh seeds to work elsewhere.

The speakers of the words Passed by and marked, one day, The fragrant blossoms dewy wet, The baneful flowers thickly set In clustering array.

And neither knew his word; One smiled, and one did sigh. “How strange and sad,” one said, “it is People should do such things as this! I’m glad it was not I.”

And, “What a wondrous word To reach so far, so high!” The other said, “What joy ’twould be To send out words so helpfully! I wish that it were I.”

INFLUENCE.

COUCHED in the rocky lap of hills, The lake’s blue waters gleam, And thence in linked and measured rills Down to the valley stream, To rise again, led higher and higher, And slake the city’s hot desire.

High as the lake’s bright ripples shine, So high the water goes, But not a drop that air-drawn line Passes or overflows; Though man may strive and man may woo, The stream to its own law is true.

Vainly the lonely tarn its cup Holds to the feeding skies; Unless the source be lifted up, The streamlet cannot rise: By law inexorably blent, Each is the other’s measurement.

Ah, lonely tarn! ah, striving rill! So yearn these souls of ours, And beat with sad and urgent will Against the unheeding powers. In vain is longing, vain is force; No stream goes higher than its source.

AN EASTER SONG.

A SONG of sunshine through the rain, Of spring across the snow, A balm to heal the hurts of pain, A peace surpassing woe. Lift up your heads, ye sorrowing ones, And be ye glad of heart, For Calvary and Easter Day, Earth’s saddest day and gladdest day, Were just one day apart!

With shudder of despair and loss The world’s deep heart was wrung, As lifted high upon his cross The Lord of Glory hung, When rocks were rent, and ghostly forms Stole forth in street and mart; But Calvary and Easter Day, Earth’s blackest day and whitest day, Were just one day apart!

No hint or whisper stirred the air To tell what joy should be; The sad disciples, grieving there, Nor help nor hope could see. Yet all the while the glad, near sun Made ready its swift dart. And Calvary and Easter Day, The darkest day and brightest day, Were just one day apart!

Oh, when the strife of tongues is loud, And the heart of hope beats low, When the prophets prophesy of ill, And the mourners come and go, In this sure thought let us abide, And keep and stay our heart,— That Calvary and Easter Day, Earth’s heaviest day and happiest day, Were but one day apart!

SO LONG AGO.

THEY stood upon the vessel’s deck To catch our farewell look and beck. Two girlish figures, fair and frail, Hovering against a great white sail Like spirit shapes in dazzling air,— I seem to see them standing there, Always together, always so,— ’Twas long ago, oh, long ago!

The east was bright with yellow noon, The flying vessel vanished soon. Flashes of jubilant white spray Beckoned and pointed her the way. A lessening speck she outward sped; Sadly we turned, but still we said, “They will come back again, we know,”— ’Twas long ago, so long ago!

Those faces sweet, those happy eyes, Looked nevermore on Western skies; Where the hot sunbeams weave their net O’er cedar-crowned, sad Olivet, They who had shared their lives shared death, Tasting at once the first strange breath Of those quick airs for souls that flow So long ago, so long ago!

In vain we picture to our eyes The convent gray, the still, blue skies, The mountain with its bordering wood;— Still do they stand as then they stood, Hovering like spirits fair and frail Against the dazzle of the sail; The red lips part, the faces glow, As long ago, so long ago!

A BIRTHDAY.

WHAT shall I do to keep your day, My darling, dead for many a year? I could not, if I would, forget It is your day; and yet, and yet— It is so hard to find a way To keep it, now you are not here.

I cannot add the lightest thing To the full sum of happiness Which now is yours; nor dare I try To frame a wish for you, since I Am blind to know, as weak to bring, All impotent to aid or bless.

And yet it is your day, and so, Unlike all other days, one bead Of gold in the long rosary Of dull beads little worth to me. And I must keep it bright, and show That what is yours is dear indeed.

How shall I keep it here alone?— With prayers in which your name is set; With smiles, not tears; and sun, not rain; With memories sweeter far than pain, With tender backward glances thrown, And far on-lookings, clearer yet.

The gift I would have given to you, And which you cannot need or take, Shall still be given; and it shall be A secret between you and me,— A sweet thought, every birthday new, That it is given for your sake.

And so your day, yours safely still, Shall come and go with ebbing time,— The day of all the year most sweet,— Until the years so slow, so fleet, Shall bring me, as in time they will, To where all days are yours and mine.

DERELICT.

ABANDONED wrecks they plunge and drift, The sport of sea and wind, The tempest drives, the billows lift, The aimless sails they flap and shift With impulse vague and blind, As tossing on from wave to wave They seek—and shun—the yawning grave.

The decks once trodden by busy feet Man nevermore shall tread; The cargoes brave of wine or wheat, Now soaked with salt and drenched with sleet, And mixed and scatterèd, No merchant shall appraise or buy Or store in vat or granary.

The wet ropes pull the creaking sails, As though by hands drawn tight. Echoes the hold with ghostly wails, While daylight wanes, and twilight pales, And drops the heavy night, And vast and silent fish swim by, And scan the wreck with cruel eye.

Ha! lights ahead! A ship is near! The dumb wreck makes no sign; No lantern shows, returns no cheer, But straight and full, without a veer, Sped by the urging brine She goes—a crash! her errand done, The deadly, lonely thing drives on.

Oh, hopeless lives, distorted, crushed, Which, like the lonely wreck, Lashed by the waves and tempest-tossed, With rudder gone and cargo lost, Torn ribs and leaking deck, Plunge on through sunshine and eclipse, A menace to the happier ships.

All oceans know them, and all lands. Speechless they drift us by; To questioning voices, friendly hands, Warnings or counsels or commands, Still making no reply. God send them help if help may be, Or sink them harmless in his sea.

H. H.

WHAT was she most like? Was she like the wind, Fresh always, and untired; intent to find New fields to penetrate, new heights to gain; Scattering all mists with sudden, radiant wing; Stirring the languid pulses; quickening The apathetic mood, the weary brain?

Or was she like the sun, whose gift of cheer Endureth for all seasons of the year, Alike in winter’s cold or summer’s heat? Or like the sea, which brings its gifts from far, And still, wherever want and straitness are, Lays down a sudden largess at their feet?

Or was she like a wood, where light and shade, And sound and silence, mingle unafraid; Where mosses cluster, and, in coverts dark, Shy blossoms court the brief and wandering air, Mysteriously sweet; and here and there A firefly flashes like a sudden spark?

Or like a wilful brook, which laughs and leaps All unexpectedly, and never keeps The course predicted, as it seaward flows? Or like a stream-fed river, brimming high? Or like a fruit, where those who love descry A pungent charm no other flavor knows?

I cannot find her type. In her were blent Each varied and each fortunate element Which souls combine, with something all her own, Sadness and mirthfulness, a chorded strain, The tender heart, the keen and searching brain, The social zest, the power to live alone.

Comrade of comrades, giving man the slip To seek in Nature truest comradeship; Tenacity and impulse ruled her fate, This grasping firmly what that flashed to feel,— The velvet scabbard and the sword of steel, The gift to strongly love, to frankly hate!

Patience as strong as was her hopefulness; A joy in living which grew never less As years went on and age drew gravely nigh; Vision which pierced the veiling mists of pain, And saw beyond the mortal shadows plain The eternal day-dawn broadening in the sky.

The love of Doing, and the scorn of Done; The playful fancy, which, like glinting sun, No chill could daunt, no loneliness could smother. Upon her ardent pulse Death’s chillness lies; Closed the brave lips, the merry, questioning eyes. She was herself!—there is not such another.

FREEDOM.

I WOULD be free! For freedom is all fair, And her strong smile is like the smile of God. Her voice rings out like trumpet on the air, And men rise up and follow; though the road Be all unknown and hard to understand, They tread it gladly, holding Freedom’s hand.

I would be free! The little spark of Heaven Let in my soul when life was breathed in me Is like a flame, this way and that way driven By ever wavering winds, which ceaselessly Kindle and blow till all my soul is hot. And would consume if liberty were not.

I would be free! But what is freedom, then? For widely various are the shapes she wears In different ages and to different men; And many titles, many forms she bears,— Riot and revolution, sword and flame, All called in turn by Freedom’s honored name.

I would be free! Not free to burn and spoil, To trample down the weak and smite the strong, To seize the larger share of wine and oil, And rob the sun my daylight to prolong, And rob the night of sleep while others wake,— Feast on their famine, basely free to take.

I would be free! Free in a dearer way, Free to become all that I may or can; To be my best and utmost self each day, Not held or bound by any chain of man, By dull convention, or by foolish sneer, Or love’s mistaken clasp of feeble fear.

Free to be kind and true and faithful; free To do the happy thing that makes life good, To grow as grows the goodly forest-tree; By none gainsaid, by none misunderstood, To taste life’s freshness with a child’s delight, And find new joy in every day and night.

I would be free! Ah! so may all be free. Then shall the world grow sweet at core and sound. And, moved in blest and ordered circuit, see The bright millennial sun rise fair and round, Heaven’s day begin, and Christ, whose service is Freedom all perfect, rule the world as his.

THE VISION AND THE SUMMONS.

THE trance of golden afternoon Lay on the Judæan skies; The trance of vision, like a swoon, Sealed the Apostle’s eyes. Upon the roof he sat and saw Angelic hands let down and draw Again the mighty vessel full Of beasts and birds innumerable.

Three times the heavenly vision fell, Three times the Lord’s voice spoke; When Peter, loath to break the spell, Roused from his trance, and woke, To hear a common sound and rude, Which jarred and shook his solitude,— A knocking at the doorway near, Where stood the two from Cæsarea.

And should he heed, or should he stay? Scarce had the vision fled,— Perchance it might return that day, Perchance more words be said By the Lord’s voice?—he rises slow; Again the knocking; he must go; Nor guessed, while going down the stair, That ’twas the Lord who called him there.

Had he sat still upon the roof, Wooing the vision long, The Gentile world had missed the truth, And Heaven one “sweet new song.” Souls might have perished in blind pain, And the Lord Christ have died in vain For them. He knew not what it meant, But Peter rose and Peter went.

Oh, souls which sit in upper air, Longing for heavenly sight, Glimpses of truth all fleeting-fair, Set in unearthly light,— Is there no knocking heard below, For which you should arise and go, Leaving the vision, and again Bearing its message unto men?

Sordid the world were vision not, But fruitless were your stay; So, having seen the sight, and got The message, haste away. Though pure and bright thy higher air, And hot the street and dull the stair, Still get thee down, for who shall know But ’tis the Lord who knocks below?

FORECAST.

ALWAYS when the roses bloom most brightly, Some sad heart is sure to presage blight; Always when the breeze is kindliest blowing There are eyes that look out for a gale; Always when the bosom’s lord sits lightly Comes some croaking proverb to affright, And in sweetest music grieving blindly Sits the shadow of a sorrow pale.

Though to-day says not a word to sadden, Still to-morrow’s menace fills my ear. Less intent on this than that I hie me, Fearful, eager, all the worst to know, Missing that which might the moment gladden, For the prescience of a far-off fear, Which again and yet again flits by me, Clouding all the sunshine as I go.

There is manna for the day’s supplying, There are daily dews and daily balms, Yet I shrink and shudder to remember All the desert drought I yet may see. Past the green oasis fare I, sighing, Caring not to rest beneath the palms. All my May is darkened by December, All my laughter by the tears to be.

Must my life go on thus to its closing? Lord, hold fast this restless heart of mine; Put thy arm about me when I shiver, Make me feel thy presence all the way. Hope and fear, and travail and reposing, All by thee are cared for, all are thine, Quick to help, sufficient to deliver, Near in sun and shade, in night and day.

EARLY TAKEN.

SHE seemed so young, so young to die! Life, like a dawning, rosy day, Stretched from her fair young feet away, And beams from the just-risen sun Beckoned and wooed and urged her on. She met the light with happy eyes, Fresh with the dews of Paradise, And held her sweet hands out to grasp The joys that crowded to her clasp, Each a surprise, and all so dear: How could we guess that night was near?

She seemed so young, so young to die! When the old go, we sadly say, ’Tis Nature’s own appointed way; The ripe grain gathered in must be, The ripe fruit from the laden tree, The sear leaf quit the bare, brown bough; Summer is done, ’tis autumn now, God’s harvest-time; the sheaves among, His angels raise the reaping-song, And though we grieve, we would not stay The shining sickles on their way.

She seemed so young, so young to die! We question wearily and vain What never answer shall make plain: “Can it be this the good Lord meant Which frustrates his benign intent? Why was she planted like a flower In mortal sun and mortal shower, And left to grow, and taught to bloom, To gather beauty and perfume; Why were we set to train and tend If only for this bootless end?”

She seemed so young, so young to die! But age and youth,—what do they mean Measured by the eternal scheme Of God, and sifted out and laid In his unerring scales and weighed? How may we test their sense or worth,— These poor glib phrases, born of earth, False accents of a long exile,— Or know the angels do not smile, Holding out truth’s immortal gauge, To hear us prate of youth and age?

She seemed so young, so young to die! So needed here by every one, Nor there; for heaven has need of none. And yet, how can we tell or say? Heaven is so far, so far away! How do we know its blissful store Is full and needeth nothing more? It may be that some tiny space Lacked just that little angel face, Or the full sunshine missed one ray Until our darling found the way.

SOME LOVER’S DEAR THOUGHT.

I OUGHT to be kinder always, For the light of his kindly eyes; I ought to be wiser always, Because he is so just and wise; And gentler in all my bearing, And braver in all my daring, For the patience that in him lies.

I must be as true as the Heaven While he is as true as the day, Nor balance the gift with the given, For he giveth to me alway. And I must be firm and steady; For my Love, he is that already, And I follow him as I may.

O dear little golden fetter, You bind me to difficult things; But my soul while it strives grows better, And I feel the stirring of wings As I stumble, doubting and dreading, Up the path of his stronger treading, Intent on his beckonings.

ASHES.

I SAW the gardener bring and strew Gray ashes where blush roses grew. The fair, still roses bent them low, Their pink cheeks dimpled all with dew, And seemed to view with pitying air The dim gray atoms lying there. Ah, bonny rose, all fragrances, And life and hope and quick desires, What can you need or gain from these Poor ghosts of long-forgotten fires? The rose-tree leans, the rose-tree sighs, And wafts this answer subtly wise: “All death, all life are mixed and blent, Out of dead lives fresh life is sent, Sorrow to these is growth for me, And who shall question God’s decree?”

Ah, dreary life, whose gladsome spark No longer leaps in song and fire, But lies in ashes gray and stark, Defeated hopes and dead desire, Useless and dull and all bereft,— Take courage, this one thing is left: Some happier life may use thee so, Some flower bloom fairer on its tree, Some sweet or tender thing may grow To stronger life because of thee; Content to play a humble part, Give of the ashes of thy heart, And haply God, whose dear decrees Taketh from those to give to these, Who draws the snow-drop from the snows May from those ashes feed a rose.

ONE LESSER JOY.

WHAT is the dearest happiness of heaven? Ah, who shall say! So many wonders, and so wondrous fair, Await the soul who, just arrivèd there In trance of safety, sheltered and forgiven, Opens glad eyes to front the eternal day:

Relief from earth’s corroding discontent, Relief from pain, The satisfaction of perplexing fears, Full compensation for the long, hard years, Full understanding of the Lord’s intent, The things that were so puzzling made quite plain;

And all astonished joy as, to the spot, From further skies, Crowd our belovèd with white wingèd feet, And voices than the chiming harps more sweet, Faces whose fairness we had half forgot, And outstretched hands, and welcome in their eyes;—

Heart cannot image forth the endless store We may but guess; But this one lesser joy I hold my own: All shall be known in heaven; at last be known The best and worst of me; the less, the more, My own shall know—and shall not love me less.

Oh, haunting shadowy dread which underlies All loving here! We inly shiver as we whisper low, “Oh, if they knew—if they could only know, Could see our naked souls without disguise— How they would shrink from us and pale with fear!”

The bitter thoughts we hold in leash within But do not kill; The petty anger and the mean desire, The jealousy which burns,—a smouldering fire,— The slimy trail of half-unnoted sin, The sordid wish which daunts the nobler will.

We fight each day with foes we dare not name. We fight, we fail! Noiseless the conflict and unseen of men; We rise, are beaten down, and rise again, And all the time we smile, we move, the same, And even to dearest eyes draw close the veil.

But in the blessed heaven these wars are past; Disguise is o’er! With new anointed vision, face to face, We shall see all, and clasped in close embrace Shall watch the haunting shadow flee at last, And know as we are known, and fear no more.

CLOSE AT HAND.