A LEGEND OF PROVENCE.

THE lights extinguished, by the hearth I leant,
Half weary with a listless discontent.
The flickering giant-shadows, gathering near,
Closed round me with a dim and silent fear.
All dull, all dark; save when the leaping flame,
Glancing, lit up a Picture's ancient frame.
Above the hearth it hung. Perhaps the night,
My foolish tremors, or the gleaming light,
Lent power to that Portrait dark and quaint—
A Portrait such as Rembrandt loved to
        paint—
The likeness of a Nun. I seemed to trace
A world of sorrow in the patient face,
In the thin hands folded across her breast—
Its own and the room's shadow hid the rest.
I gazed and dreamed, and the dull embers
        stirred,
Till an old legend that I once had heard
Came back to me; linked to the mystic gloom
Of that dark Picture in the ghostly room.
In the far south, where clustering vines are
        hung;
Where first the old chivalric lays were sung,
Where earliest smiled that gracious child of
        France,
Angel and knight and fairy, called Romance,
I stood one day. The warm blue June was
        spread
Upon the earth; blue summer overhead,
Without a cloud to fleck its radiant glare,
Without a breath to stir its sultry air.
All still, all silent, save the sobbing rush
Of rippling waves, that lapsed in silver hush
Upon the beach; where, glittering towards
        the strand,
The purple Mediterranean kissed the land.

All still, all peaceful; when a convent chime
Broke on the mid-day silence for a time,
Then trembling into quiet, seemed to cease,
In deeper silence and more utter peace.
So as I turned to gaze, where gleaming white,
Half hid by shadowy trees from passers' sight,
The Convent lay, one who had dwelt for long
In that fair home of ancient tale and song,
Who knew the story of each cave and hill,
And every haunting fancy lingering still
Within the land, spake thus to me, and told
The Convent's treasured Legend, quaint and
        old:

    Long years ago, a dense and flowering wood,
Still more concealed where the white convent
        stood,
Borne on its perfumed wings the title came:
"Our Lady of the Hawthorns" is its name.
Then did that bell, which still rings out to-day,
Bid all the country rise, or eat, or pray.
Before that convent shrine, the haughty knight
Passed the lone vigil of his perilous fight;
For humbler cottage strife or village brawl,
The Abbess listened, prayed, and settled all.
Young hearts that came, weighed down by
        love or wrong,
Left her kind presence comforted and strong.
Each passing pilgrim, and each beggar's right
Was food, and rest, and shelter for the night.
But, more than this, the Nuns could well
        impart
The deepest mysteries of the healing art;
Their store of herbs and simples was renowned,
And held in wondering faith for miles around.
Thus strife, love, sorrow, good and evil fate,
Found help and blessing at the convent gate.

Of all the nuns, no heart was half so light,
No eyelids veiling glances half as bright,
No step that glided with such noiseless feet,
No face that looked so tender or so sweet,
No voice that rose in choir so pure, so clear,
No heart to all the others half so dear,
So surely touched by others' pain or woe,
(Guessing the grief her young life could not
        know,)
No soul in childlike faith so undefiled,
As Sister Angela's, the "Convent Child."
For thus they loved to call her. She had
        known
No home, no love, no kindred, save their own.
An orphan, to their tender nursing given,
Child, plaything, pupil, now the Bride of
        Heaven.
And she it was who trimmed the lamp's red
        light
That swung before the altar, day and night;
Her hands it was whose patient skill could
        trace
The finest broidery, weave the costliest lace;
But most of all, her first and dearest care,
The office she would never miss or share,
Was every day to weave fresh garlands sweet,
To place before the shrine at Mary's feet.
Nature is bounteous in that region fair,
For even winter has her blossoms there.
Thus Angela loved to count each feast the best,
By telling with what flowers the shrine was
        dressed.
In pomp supreme the countless Roses passed,
Battalion on battalion thronging fast,
Each with a different banner, flaming bright,
Damask, or striped, or crimson, pink, or white,
Until they bowed before a newborn queen,
And the pure virgin Lily rose serene.
Though Angela always thought the Mother
        blest
Must love the time of her own hawthorn best,
Each evening through the year, with equal,
        care,
She placed her flowers; then kneeling down
        in prayer,
As their faint perfume rose before the shrine,
So rose her thoughts, as pure and as divine.
She knelt until the shades grew dim without,
Till one by one the altar lights shone out,
Till one by one the Nuns, like shadows dim,
Gathered around to chant their vesper hymn;
Her voice then led the music's winged flight,
And "Ave, Maris Stella" filled the night.
But wherefore linger on those days of peace?
When storms draw near, then quiet hours
        must cease.
War, cruel war, defaced the land, and came
So near the convent with its breath of flame,
That, seeking shelter, frightened peasants
        fled,
Sobbing out tales of coming fear and dread,
Till after a fierce skirmish, down the road,
One night came straggling soldiers, with their
        load
Of wounded, dying comrades; and the band,
Half pleading yet as if they could command,
Summoned the trembling Sisters, craved their
        care,
Then rode away, and left the wounded there.
But soon compassion bade all fear depart.
And bidding every Sister do her part,
Some prepare simples, healing salves, or
        bands,
The Abbess chose the more experienced
        hands,
To dress the wounds needing most skilful
        care;
Yet even the youngest Novice took her share.
To Angela, who had but ready will
And tender pity, yet no special skill,
Was given the charge of a young foreign
        knight,
Whose wounds were painful, but whose
        danger slight.
Day after day she watched beside his bed,
And first in hushed repose the hours fled:
His feverish moans alone the silence stirred,
Or her soft voice, uttering some pious word.
At last the fever left him; day by day
The hours, no longer silent, passed away.
What could she speak of?   First, to still his
        plaints,
She told him legends of the martyred Saints;
Described the pangs, which, through God's
plenteous grace,
Had gained their souls so high and bright a
        place.
This pious artifice soon found success—
Or so she fancied—for he murmured less.
So she described the glorious pomp sublime,
In which the chapel shone at Easter time,
The Banners, Vestments, gold, and colours
        bright,
Counted how many tapers gave their light;
Then, in minute detail went on to say,
How the High Altar looked on Christmas-
        day:
The kings and shepherds, all in green and
        red,
And a bright star of jewels overhead.
Then told the sign by which they all had seen,
How even nature loved to greet her Queen,
For, when Our Lady's last procession went
Down the long garden, every head was bent,
And, rosary in hand, each Sister prayed;
As the long floating banners were displayed,
They struck the hawthorn boughs, and showers
        and showers
Of buds and blossoms strewed her way with
        flowers.
The Knight unwearied listened; till at last,
He too described the glories of his past;
Tourney, and joust, and pageant bright and
        fair,
And all the lovely ladies who were there.
But half incredulous she heard.   Could this—
This be the world? this place of love and
        bliss!
Where then was hid the strange and hideous
        charm,
That never failed to bring the gazer harm?
She crossed herself, yet asked, and listened
        still,
And still the knight described with all his skill
The glorious world of joy, all joys above,
Transfigured in the golden mist of love.
Spread, spread your wings, ye angel guardians
        bright,
And shield these dazzling phantoms from her
        sight!
But no; days passed, matins and vespers
        rang,
And still the quiet Nuns toiled, prayed, and
        sang,
And never guessed the fatal, coiling net
Which every day drew near, and nearer yet,
Around their darling; for she went and came
About her duties, outwardly the same.
The same? ah, no! even when she knelt to
        pray,
Some charmed dream kept all her heart
        away.
So days went on, until the convent gate
Opened one night.   Who durst go forth so
        late?
Across the moonlit grass, with stealthy tread,
Two silent, shrouded figures passed and fled.
And all was silent, save the moaning seas,
That sobbed and pleaded, and a wailing
        breeze
That sighed among the perfumed hawthorn
        trees.

What need to tell that dream so bright and
        brief,
Of joy unchequered by a dread of grief?
What need to tell how all such dreams must
        fade,
Before the slow, foreboding, dreaded shade,
That floated nearer, until pomp and pride,
Pleasure and wealth, were summoned to her
        side.
To bid, at least, the noisy hours forget,
And clamour down the whispers of regret.
Still Angela strove to dream, and strove in
        vain;
Awakened once, she could not sleep again.
She saw, each day and hour, more worthless
        grown
The heart for which she cast away her
        own;
And her soul learnt, through bitterest inward
        strife,
The slight, frail love for which she wrecked
        her life,
The phantom for which all her hope was
        given,
The cold bleak earth for which she bartered
        heaven!
But all in vain; would even the tenderest
        heart
Now stoop to take so poor an outcast's part?

Years fled, and she grew reckless more and
        more,
Until the humblest peasant closed his door,
And where she passed, fair dames, in scorn
        and pride,
Shuddered, and drew their rustling robes
        aside.
At last a yearning seemed to fill her soul,
A longing that was stronger than control:
Once more, just once again, to see the place
That knew her young and innocent; to re-
        trace
The long and weary southern path; to gaze
Upon the haven of her childish days;
Once more beneath the convent roof to lie;
Once more to look upon her home—and die!
Weary and worn—her comrades, chill re-
        morse
And black despair, yet a strange silent force
Within her heart, that drew her more and
        more—
Onward she crawled, and begged from door
        to door.
Weighed down with weary days, her failing
        strength
Grew less each hour, till one day's dawn at
        length,
As first its rays flooded the world with light,
Showed the broad waters, glittering blue and
        bright,
And where, amid the leafy hawthorn wood,
Just as of old the quiet cloister stood.
Would any know her?   Nay, no fear.   Her
        face
Had lost all trace of youth, of joy, of grace,
Of the pure happy soul they used to know—
The novice Angela—so long ago.
She rang the convent bell.   The well-known
        sound
Smote on her heart, and bowed her to the
        ground,
And she, who had not wept for long dry
        years,
Felt the strange rush of unaccustomed tears;
Terror and anguish seemed to check her
        breath,
And stop her heart.   Oh God! could this be
        death?
Crouching against the iron gate, she laid
Her weary head against the bars, and prayed:
But nearer footsteps drew, then seemed to
        wait:
And then she heard the opening of the grate,
And saw the withered face, on which awoke
Pity and sorrow, as the portress spoke,
And asked the stranger's bidding: "Take
        me in,"
She faltered, "Sister Monica, from sin,
And sorrow, and despair, that will not cease;
Oh, take me in, and let me die in peace!"
With soothing words the Sister bade her wait,
Until she brought the key to unbar the gate.
The beggar tried to thank her as she lay,
And heard the echoing footsteps die away.
But what soft voice was that which sounded
        near,
And stirred strange trouble in her heart to
        hear?
She raised her head; she saw—she seemed
        to know—
A face that came from long, long years ago:
Herself; yet not as when she fled away,
The young and blooming novice, fair and
        gay,
But a grave woman, gentle and serene:
The outcast knew it—what she might have
        been.
But, as she gazed and gazed, a radiance
        bright
Filled all the place with strange and sudden
        light;
The Nun was there no longer, but instead,
A figure with a circle round its head,
A ring of glory; and a face, so meek,
So soft, so tender . . . . Angela strove to
        speak,
And stretched her hands out, crying "Mary
        mild,
Mother of mercy, help me!—help your child!"
And Mary answered, "From thy bitter past,
Welcome, my child! oh, welcome home at
        last!
I filled thy place.   Thy flight is known to
        none,
For all thy daily duties I have done;
Gathered thy flowers, and prayed, and sung,
        and slept;
Didst thou not know, poor child, thy place
        was kept?
Kind hearts are here; yet would the tenderest
        one
Have limits to its mercy: God has none.
And man's forgiveness may be true and sweet,
But yet he stoops to give it.   More complete
Is Love that lays forgiveness at thy feet,
And pleads with thee to raise it.   Only
        Heaven
Means crowned, not vanquished, when it says
        'Forgiven!'"
Back hurried Sister Monica; but where
Was the poor beggar she left lying there?
Gone; and she searched in vain, and sought
        the place
For that wan woman with the piteous face:
But only Angela at the gateway stood,
Laden with hawthorn blossoms from the
        wood.
And never did a day pass by again,
But the old portress, with a sigh of pain,
Would sorrow for her loitering: with a prayer
That the poor beggar, in her wild despair,
Might not have come to any ill; and when
She ended, "God forgive her!" humbly then
Did Angela bow her head, and say "Amen!"
How pitiful her heart was! all could trace
Something that dimmed the brightness of her
        face
After that day, which none had seen before;
Not trouble—but a shadow—nothing more.

Years passed away.   Then, one dark day of
        dread
Saw all the sisters kneeling round a bed,
Where Angela lay dying; every breath
Struggling beneath the heavy hand of death.
But suddenly a flush lit up her cheek,
She raised her wan right hand, and strove to
        speak.
In sorrowing love they listened; not a sound
Or sigh disturbed the utter silence round.
The very tapers' flames were scarcely stirred,
In such hushed awe the sisters knelt and
        heard.
And through that silence Angela told her
        life:
Her sin, her flight; the sorrow and the strife,
And the return; and then clear, low and
        calm,
"Praise God for me, my sisters;" and the
        psalm
Rang up to heaven, far and clear and wide,
Again and yet again, then sank and died;
While her white face had such a smile of
        peace,
They saw she never heard the music cease;
And weeping sisters laid her in her tomb,
Crowned with a wreath of perfumed hawthorn
        bloom.

    And thus the Legend ended. It may be
Something is hidden in the mystery,
Besides the lesson of God's pardon shown,
Never enough believed, or asked, or known.
Have we not all, amid life's petty strife,
Some pure ideal of a noble life
That once seemed possible?   Did we not
hear
The flutter of its wings, and feel it near,
And just within our reach?   It was.   And yet
We lost it in this daily jar and fret,
And now live idle in a vague regret.
But still our place is kept, and it will wait,
Ready for us to fill it, soon or late:
No star is ever lost we once have seen,
We always may be what we might have been.
Since Good, though only thought, has life
and breath,
God's life—can always be redeemed from
death;
And evil, in its nature, is decay,
And any hour can blot it all away;
The hopes that lost in some far distance seem,
May be the truer life, and this the dream.

___________________

 
ENVY.

HE was the first always: Fortune
    Shone bright in his face.
I fought for years; with no effort
    He conquered the place:
We ran; my feet were all bleeding,
    But he won the race.

Spite of his many successes
    Men loved him the same;
My one pale ray of good fortune
    Met scoffing and blame.
When we erred, they gave him pity,
    But me—only shame.

My home was still in the shadow,
    His lay in the sun:
I longed in vain: what he asked for
    It straightway was done.
Once I staked all my heart's treasure,
    We played—and he won.

Yes; and just now I have seen him,
    Cold, smiling, and blest,
Laid in his coffin.   God help me!
    While he is at rest,
I am cursed still to live:- even
    Death loved him the best.

___________________
 

OVER THE MOUNTAIN.

LIKE dreary prison walls
    The stern grey mountains rise,
Until their topmost crags
    Touch the far gloomy skies:
One steep and narrow path
    Winds up the mountain's crest,
And from our valley leads
    Out to the golden West.

I dwell here in content,
    Thankful for tranquil days;
And yet, my eyes grow dim,
    As still I gaze and gaze
Upon that mountain pass,
    That leads—or so it seems—
To some far happy land,
    Known in a world of dreams.

And as I watch that path
    Over the distant hill,
A foolish longing comes
    My heart and soul to fill,
A painful, strange desire
    To break some weary bond,
A vague unuttered wish
    For what might lie beyond!

In that far world unknown,
    Over that distant hill,
May dwell the loved and lost,
    Lost—yet beloved still;
I have a yearning hope,
    Half longing, and half pain,
That by that mountain pass
    They may return again.

Space may keep friends apart,
    Death has a mighty thrall;
There is another gulf
    Harder to cross than all;
Yet watching that far road,
    My heart beats full and fast—
If they should come once more,
    If they should come at last!

See, down the mountain side
    The silver vapours creep;
They hide the rocky cliffs.
    They hide the craggy steep,
They hide the narrow path
    That comes across the hill—
Oh, foolish longing, cease,
    Oh, beating Heart, be still!

___________________

 
BEYOND.

WE must not doubt, or fear, or dread, that
        love for life is only given,
And that the calm and sainted dead will meet
        estranged and cold in heaven:—
Oh, Love were poor and vain indeed, based
        on so harsh and stern a creed.

True that this earth must pass away, with
        all the starry worlds of light,
With all the glory of the day, and calmer
        tenderness of night;
For, in that radiant home can shine alone the
        immortal and divine.

Earth's lower things—her pride, her fame, her
        science, learning, wealth and power—
Slow growths that through long ages came,
        or fruits of some convulsive hour,
Whose very memory must decay—Heaven is
        too pure for such as they.

They are complete: their work is done. So
        let them sleep in endless rest.
Love's life is only here begun, nor is, nor
        can be, fully blest;
It has no room to spread its wings, amid this
        crowd of meaner things.

Just for the very shadow thrown upon its
        sweetness here below,
The cross that it must bear alone, and bloody
        baptism of woe,
Crowned and completed through its pain, we
        know that it shall rise again.

So if its flame burn pure and bright, here,
        where our air is dark and dense,
And nothing in this world of night lives with
        a living so intense;
When it shall reach its home at length—how
        bright its light! how strong its strength!

And while the vain weak loves of earth (for
        such base counterfeits abound)
Shall perish with what gave them birth—their
        graves are green and fresh around,
No funeral song shall need to rise, for the
        true Love that never dies.

If in my heart I now could fear that, risen
        again, we should not know
What was our Life of Life when here—the
        hearts we loved so much below;
I would arise this very day, and cast so poor
        a thing away.

But Love is no such soulless clod: living,
        perfected it shall rise
Transfigured in the light of God, and giving
        glory to the skies:
And that which makes this life so sweet, shall
        render Heaven's joy complete.

___________________

 
A WARNING.

PLACE your hands in mine, dear,
    With their rose-leaf touch:
If you heed my warning,
    It will spare you much.

Ah! with just such smiling
    Unbelieving eyes,
Years ago I heard it:—
    You shall be more wise.

You have one great treasure
    Joy for all your life;
Do not let it perish
    In one reckless strife.

Do not venture all, child,
    In one frail, weak heart;
So, through any shipwreck,
    You may save a part.

Where your soul is tempted
Most to trust your fate,
There, with double caution,
Linger, fear, and wait.

Measure all you give—still
    Counting what you take;
Love for love: so placing
    Each an equal stake.

Treasure love; though ready
    Still to live without.
In your fondest trust, keep
    Just one thread of doubt.

Build on no to-morrow;
    Love has but to-day:
If the links seem slackening,
    Cut the bond away.

Trust no prayer nor promise;
    Words are grains of sand;
To keep your heart unbroken,
    Hold it in your hand.

That your love may finish
    Calm as it begun,
Learn this lesson better,
    Dear, than I have done.

Years hence, perhaps, this warning
    You shall give again,
In just the self-same words, dear,
    And—just as much—in vain.

___________________

 
MAXIMUS.

MANY, if God should make them kings,
    Might not disgrace the throne He gave;
How few who could as well fulfil
    The holier office of a slave.

I hold him great who, for Love's sake
    Can give, with generous, earnest will,—
Yet he who takes for Love's sweet sake,
    I think I hold more generous still.

I prize the instinct that can turn
    From vain pretence with proud disdain;
Yet more I prize a simple heart;
    Paying credulity with pain.

I bow before the noble mind
    That freely some great wrong forgives;
Yet nobler is the one forgiven,
    Who bears that burden well, and lives.

It may be hard to gain, and still
    To keep a lowly steadfast heart
Yet he who loses has to fill
    A harder and a truer part.

Glorious it is to wear the crown
    Of a deserved and pure success;—
He who knows how to fail has won
    A Crown whose lustre is not less.

Great may he be who can command
    And rule with just and tender sway;
Yet is diviner wisdom taught
    Better by him who can obey.

Blessed are those who die for God,
    And earn the Martyr's crown of light—
Yet he who lives for God may be
    A greater Conqueror in His sight.

___________________

 
OPTIMUS.

THERE is a deep and subtle snare
Whose sure temptation hardly fails,
Which, just because it looks so fair,
Only a noble heart assails.

So all the more we need be strong
Against this false and seeming Right;
Which none the less is deadly wrong,
Because it glitters clothed in light.

When duties unfulfilled remain,
Or noble works are left unplanned,
Or when great deeds cry out in vain
On coward heart and trembling hand, -

Then will a seeming Angel speak:—
"The hours are fleeting—great the need—
If thou art strong and others weak,
Thine be the effort and the deed.

"Deaf are their ears who ought to hear;
Idle their hands, and dull their soul;
While sloth, or ignorance, or fear,
Fetters them with a blind control.

"Sort thou the tangled web aright;
Take thou the toil—take thou the pain:
For fear the hour begin its flight,
While Right and Duty plead in vain."

And now it is I bid thee pause,
Nor let this Tempter bend thy will:
There are diviner, truer laws
That teach a nobler lesson still.

Learn that each duty makes its claim
Upon one soul: not each on all.
How, if God speaks thy Brother's name,
Dare thou make answer to the call?

The greater peril in the strife,
The less this evil should be done;
For as in battle, so in life,
Danger and honour still are one.

Arouse him then:—this is thy part:
Show him the claim; point out the need;
And nerve his arm, and cheer his heart;
Then stand aside, and say "God speed!"

Smooth thou his path ere it is trod;
Burnish the arms that he must wield;
And pray, with all thy strength, that God
May crown him Victor of the field.

And then, I think, thy soul shall feel
A nobler thrill of true content,
Than if presumptuous, eager zeal
Had seized a crown for others meant.

And even that very deed shall shine
In mystic sense, divine and true,
More wholly and more purely thine—
Because it is another's too.

___________________

 
A LOST CHORD.

SEATED one day at the Organ,
    I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
    Over the noisy keys.

I do not know what I was playing,
    Or what I was dreaming then;
But I struck one chord of music,
    Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight
    Like the close of an Angel's Psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit
    With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,
    Like love overcoming strife;
It seemed the harmonious echo
    From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexed meanings
    Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence
    As if it were loth to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
    That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the Organ,
    And entered into mine.

It may be that Death's bright angel
    Will speak in that chord again,—
It may be that only in Heaven
    I shall hear that grand Amen.

___________________

 
TOO LATE.

HUSH! speak low; tread softly;
    Draw the sheet aside;—
Yes, she does look peaceful;
    With that smile she died.

Yet stern want and sorrow
    Even now you trace
On the wan, worn features
    Of the still white face.

Restless, helpless, hopeless,
    Was her bitter part;—
Now—how still the Violets
    Lie upon her Heart!

She who toiled and laboured
    For her daily bread;
See the velvet hangings
    Of this stately bed.

Yes, they did forgive her;
    Brought her home at last;
Strove to cover over
    Their relentless past.

Ah, they would have given
    Wealth, and home, and pride,
To see her just look happy
    Once before she died!

They strove hard to please her,
    But, when death is near
All you know is deadened,
    Hope, and joy, and fear.

And besides, one sorrow
    Deeper still—one pain
Was beyond them: healing
    Came to-day—in vain!

If she had but lingered
    Just a few hours more;
Or had this letter reached her
    Just one day before!

I can almost pity
    Even him to-day;
Though he let this anguish
    Eat her heart away.

Yet she never blamed him:—
    One day you shall know
How this sorrow happened;
    It was long ago.

I have read the letter:
    Many a weary year,
For one word she hungered—
    There are thousands here.

If she could but hear it,
    Could but understand;
See—I put the letter
    In her cold white hand.

Even these words, so longed for,
    Do not stir her rest;
Well—I should not murmur,
    For God judges best.

She needs no more pity,—
    But I mourn his fate,
When he hears his letter
    Came a day too late.

___________________

 
THE REQUITAL.

LOUD roared the Tempest,
    Fast fell the sleet;
A little Child Angel
    Passed down the street,
With trailing pinions,
    And weary feet.

The moon was hidden;
    No stars were bright;
So she could not shelter
    In heaven that night,
For the Angels' ladders
    Are rays of light.

She beat her wings
    At each window pane,
And pleaded for shelter,
    But all in vain:—
"Listen," they said,
    "To the pelting rain!"

She sobbed, as the laughter
    And mirth grew higher,
"Give me rest and shelter
    Beside your fire,
And I will give you
    Your heart's desire."

The dreamer sat watching
    His embers gleam,
While his heart was floating
    Down hope's bright stream;
. . . So he wove her wailing
    Into his dream.

The worker toiled on,
    For his time was brief;
The mourner was nursing
    Her own pale grief:
They heard not the promise
    That brought relief.

But fiercer the Tempest
    Rose than before,
When the Angel paused
    At a humble door,
And asked for shelter
    And help once more.

A weary woman,
    Pale, worn, and thin,
With the brand upon her
    Of want and sin,
Heard the Child Angel
    And took her in.

Took her in gently,
    And did her best
To dry her pinions;
    And made her rest
With tender pity
    Upon her breast.

When the eastern morning
    Grew bright and red,
Up the first sunbeam
    The Angel fled;
Having kissed the woman
    And left her—dead.

___________________

 
RETURNED—"MISSING."
(FIVE YEARS AFTER.)

YES, I was sad and anxious,
    But now, dear, I am gay;
I know that it is wisest
    To put all hope away:—
Thank God that I have done so
    And can be calm to-day.

For hope deferred—you know it,
    Once made my heart so sick:
Now, I expect no longer;
    It is but the old trick
Of hope, that makes me tremble,
    And makes my heart beat quick.

All day I sit here calmly;
    Not as I did before,
Watching for one whose footstep
    Comes never, never more . . .
Hush! was that someone passing,
    Who paused beside the door?

For years I hung on chances,
    Longing for just one word;
At last I feel it:—silence
    Will never more be stirred . . .
Tell me once more that rumour,
    You fancied you had heard.

Life has more things to dwell on
    Than just one useless pain,
Useless and past for ever;
    But noble things remain,
And wait us all: . . . you too, dear,
    Do you think hope quite vain?

All others have forgotten,
    'Tis right I should forget,
Nor live on a keen longing
    Which shadows forth regret:
. . . Are not the letters coming?
    The sun is almost set.

Now that my restless legion
    Of hopes and fears is fled,
Reading is joy and comfort . . .
    . . .This very day I read,
Oh, such a strange returning
    Of one whom all thought dead!

Not that I dream or fancy,
    You know all that is past;
Earth has no hope to give me,
    And yet:—Time flies so fast
That all but the impossible
    Might be brought back at last.

___________________

 
IN THE WOOD.

IN the wood where shadows are deepest
    From the branches overhead,
Where the wild wood-strawberries cluster
    And the softest moss is spread,
I met to-day with a fairy,
    And I followed her where she led.

Some magical words she uttered,
    I alone could understand,
For the sky grew bluer and brighter;
    While there rose on either hand
The cloudy walls of a palace
    That was built in Fairy-land.

And I stood in a strange enchantment;
    I had known it all before:
In my heart of hearts was the magic
    Of days that will come no more,
The manic of joy departed,
    That Time can never restore.

That never, ah, never, never,
    Never again can be:—
Shall I tell you what powerful fairy
    Built up this palace for me?
It was only a little white Violet
    I found at the root of a tree.

___________________

 
TWO WORLDS.

GOD'S world is bathed in beauty,
    God's world is steeped in light;
It is the self-same glory
    That makes the day so bright,
Which thrills the earth with music,
    Or hangs the stars in night.

Hid in earth's mines of silver,
    Floating on clouds above,—
Ringing in Autumn's tempest,
    Murmured by every dove;
One thought fills God's creation—
    His own great name of Love!

In God's world Strength is lovely,
    And so is Beauty strong,
And Light—God's glorious shadow—
    To both great gifts belong;
And they all melt into sweetness,
    And fill the earth with Song.

Above God's world bends Heaven,
    With day's kiss pure and bright,
Or folds her still more fondly
    In the tender shade of night;
And she casts back Heaven's sweetness,
    In fragrant love and light.

God's world has one great echo;
    Whether calm blue mists are curled,
Or lingering dew-drops quiver,
    Or red storms are unfurled;
The same deep love is throbbing
    Through the great heart of God's world.

Man's world is black and blighted,
    Steeped through with self and sin;
And should his feeble purpose
    Some feeble good begin,
The work is marred and tainted
    By Leprosy within.

Man's world is bleak and bitter;
    Wherever he has trod
He spoils the tender beauty
    That blossoms on the sod,
And blasts the loving Heaven
    Of the great, good world of God.

There Strength on coward weakness
    In cruel might will roll;
Beauty and Joy are cankers
    That eat away the soul;
And Love—Oh God, avenge it—
    The plague-spot of the whole.

Man's world is Pain and Terror;
    He found it pure and fair,
And wove in nets of sorrow
    The golden summer air.
Black, hideous, cold, and dreary,
    Man's curse, not God's, is there.

And yet God's world is speaking:
    Man will not hear it call;
But listens where the echoes
    Of his own discords fall,
Then clamours back to Heaven
    That God has done it all.

Oh God, man's heart is darkened,
    He will not understand!
Show him Thy cloud and fire;
    And, with Thine own right hand
Then lead him through his desert,
    Back to Thy Holy Land!

___________________

 
A NEW MOTHER.

I WAS with my lady when she died:
I it was who guided her weak hand
    For a blessing on each little head,
    Laid her baby by her on the bed,
Heard the words they could not understand.

And I drew them round my knee that night,
Hushed their childish glee, and made them say
    They would keep her words with loving
         tears,
    They would not forget her dying fears
Lest the thought of her should fade away.

I, who guessed what her last dread had been,
Made a promise to that still, cold face,
    That her children's hearts, at any cost,
    Should be with the mother they had lost,
When a stranger came to take her place.

And I knew so much! for I had lived
With my lady since her childhood: known
    What her young and happy days had been,
    And the grief no other eyes had seen
I had watched and sorrowed for alone.

Ah! she once had such a happy smile!
I had known how sorely she was tried:
    Six short years before, her eyes were bright
    As her little blue-eyed May's that night,
When she stood by her dead mother's side.

No—I will not say he was unkind;
But she had been used to love and praise.
    He was somewhat grave—perhaps, in truth,
    Could not weave her joyous, smiling youth,
Into all his stern and serious ways.

She, who should have reigned a blooming
        flower,
First in pride and honour, as in grace,—
    She, whose will had once ruled all around,
    Queen and darling of us all—she found
Change indeed in that cold, stately place.

Yet she would not blame him, even to me,
Though she often sat and wept alone;
    But she could not hide it near her death,
    When she said with her last struggling
        breath,
"Let my babies still remain my own!"

I it was who drew the sheet aside,
When he saw his dead wife's face.   That test
    Seemed to strike right to his heart.   He said,
    In a strange, low whisper, to the dead,
"God knows, love, I did it for the best!"

And he wept—Oh yes, I will be just—
When I brought the children to him there—
    Wondering sorrow in their baby eyes;
    And he soothed them with his fond replies,
Bidding me give double love and care.

Ah, I loved them well for her dear sake:
Little Arthur, with his serious air;
    May, with all her mother's pretty ways,
    Blushing, and at any word of praise
Shaking out her sunny golden hair.

And the little one of all—poor child!
She had cost that dear and precious life.
    Once Sir Arthur spoke my lady's name,
    When the baby's gloomy christening came,
And he called her "Olga—like my wife!"

Save that time, he never spoke of her;
He grew graver, sterner, every day;
    And the children felt it, for they dropped
    Low their voices, and their laughter stopped
While he stood and watched them at their play.

No, he never named their mother's name.
But I told them of her: told them all
    She had been; so gentle, good, and bright;
    And I always took them every night
Where her picture hung in the great hall.

There she stood: white daisies in her hand,
And her red lips parted as to speak
    With a smile; the blue and sunny air
    Seemed to stir her floating golden hair,
And to bring a faint blush on her cheek.

Well, so time passed on; a year was gone,
And Sir Arthur had been much away.
    Then the news came!   I shed many tears
    When I saw the truth of all my fears
Rise before me on that bitter day.

Any one but her I could have borne!
But my lady loved her as her friend.
    Through their childhood and their early
        youth,
    How she used to count upon the truth
Of this friendship that would never end!

Older, graver than my lady was,
Whose young, gentle heart on her relied,
    She would give advice, and praise, and
        blame,
    And my lady leant on Margaret's name,
As her dearest comfort, help, and guide.

I had never liked her, and I think
That my lady grew to doubt her too,
    Since her marriage; for she named her
        less,
    Never saw her, and I used to guess
At some secret wrong I never knew.

That might be or not.   But now, to hear
She would come and reign here in her stead,
    With the pomp and splendour of a bride:
    Would no thought reproach her in her pride
With the silent memory of the dead?

So, the day came, and the bells rang out,
And I laid the children's black aside;
    And I held each little trembling hand,
    As I strove to make them understand
They must greet their father's new-made
        bride.

Ah, Sir Arthur might look grave and stern,
And his lady's eyes might well grow dim,
    When the children shrank in fear away,—
    Little Arthur hid his face, and May
Would not raise her eyes, or speak to him.

When Sir Arthur bade them greet their
        "mother,"
I was forced to chide, yet proud to hear
    How my little loving May replied,
    With her mother's pretty air of pride,—
"Our dear mother has been dead a year!"

Ah, the lady's tears might well fall fast,
As she kissed them, and then turned away.
    She might strive to smile or to forget,
    But I think some shadow of regret
Must have risen to blight her wedding-day.

She had some strange touch of self-reproach;
For she used to linger day by day,
    By the nursery door, or garden gate,
    With a sad, calm, wistful look, and wait
Watching the three children at their play.

But they always shrank away from her
When she strove to comfort their alarms,
    And their grave, cold silence to beguile:
    Even little Olga's baby-smile
Quivered into tears when in her arms.

I could never chide them: for I saw
How their mother's memory grew more deep
    In their hearts.   Each night I had to tell
    Stories of her whom I loved so well
When a child, to send them off to sleep.

But Sir Arthur—Oh, this was too hard!—
He, who had been always stern and sad
    In my lady's time, seemed to rejoice
    Each day more; and I could hear his voice
Even, sounding younger and more glad.

He might perhaps have blamed them, but his
        wife
Never failed to take the children's part:
    She would stay him with her pleading tone,
    Saying she would strive, and strive alone,
Till she gained each little wayward heart.

And she strove indeed, and seemed to be
Always waiting for their love, in vain;
    Yet, when May had most her mother's look,
    Then the lady's calm, cold accents shook
With some memory of reproachful pain.

Little May would never call her Mother:
So, one day, the lady, bending low,
    Kissed her golden curls, and softly said,
    "Sweet one, call me Margaret, instead,—
Your dear mother used to call me so."

She was gentle, kind, and patient too,
Yet in vain: the children held apart.
    Ah, their mother's gentle memory dwelt
    Near them, and her little orphans felt
She had the first claim upon their heart.

So three years passed; then the war broke
        out;
And a rumour seemed to spread and rise;
    First we guessed what sorrow must befall,
    Then all doubt fled, for we read it all
In the depths of her despairing eyes.

Yes; Sir Arthur had been called away
To that scene of slaughter, fear, and strife,—
    Now he seemed to know with double pain,
    The cold, bitter gulf that must remain
To divide his children from his wife.

Nearer came the day he was to sail,
Deeper grew the coming woe and fear,
    When, one night, the children at my knee
    Knelt to say their evening prayer to me,
I looked up and saw Sir Arthur near.

There they knelt with folded hands, and said
Low, soft words in stammering accents sweet;
    In the firelight shone their golden hair
    And white robes: my darlings looked so fair,
With their little bare and rosy feet!

There he waited till their low "Amen;"
Stopped the rosy lips raised for "Good
        night!"—
    Drew them with a fond clasp, close and
        near,
    As he bade them stay with him, and hear
Something that would make his heart more
        light.

Little Olga crept into his arms;
Arthur leant upon his shoulder;
    May Knelt beside him, with her earnest eyes
    Lifted up in patient, calm surprise—
I can almost hear his words to-day.

"Years ago, my children, years ago,
When your mother was a child, she came
    From her northern home, and here she met
    Love for love, and comfort for regret,
In one early friend,—you know her name.

"And this friend—a few years older—gave
Such fond care, such love, that day by day
    The new home grew happy, joy complete,
    Studies easier, and play more sweet,
While all childish sorrows passed away.

"And your mother—fragile, like my May—
Leant on this deep love,—nor leant in vain.
    For this friend (strong, generous, noble
        heart!)
    Gave the sweet, and took the bitter part,—
Brought her all the joy, and kept the pain.

"Years passed on, and then I saw them first:
It was hard to say which was most fair,
    Your sweet mother's bright and blushing
        face,
    Or the graver Margaret's stately grace;
Golden locks, or braided raven hair.

"Then it happened, by a strange, sad fate,
One thought entered into each young soul:
    Joy for one—if for the other pain;
    Loss for one—if for the other gain:
One must lose, and one possess the whole.

"And so this—this—what they cared for—
        came
And belonged to Margaret: was her own.
    But she laid the gift aside, to take
    Pain and sorrow for your mother's sake,
And none knew it but herself alone.

"Then she travelled far away, and none
The strange mystery of her absence knew.
    Margaret's secret thought was never told:
    Even your mother thought her changed
        and cold,
And for many years I thought so too.

"She was gone; and then your mother took
That poor gift which Margaret laid aside:
    Flower, or toy, or trinket, matters not:
    What it was had better be forgot . . .
It was just then she became my bride.

"Now, I think May knows the hope I have.
Arthur, darling, can you guess the rest?
    Even my little Olga understands
    Great gifts can be given by little hands,
Since of all gifts Love is still the best.

"Margaret is my dear and honoured wife,
And I hold her so.   But she can claim
    From your hearts, dear ones, a loving debt
    I can neither pay, nor yet forget:
You can give it in your mother's name.

"Earth spoils even Love, and here a shade
On the purest, noblest heart may fall:
    Now your mother dwells in perfect light,
    She will bless us, I believe, to-night,—
She is happy now, and she knows all."

Next day was farewell—a day of tears;
Yet Sir Arthur, as he rode away,
    And turned back to see his lady stand
    With the children clinging to her hand,
Looked as if it were a happy day.

Ah, they loved her soon!   The little one
Crept into her arms as to a nest;
    Arthur always with her now; and May
    Growing nearer to her every day:—
—Well, I loved my own dear lady best.

___________________

 
GIVE PLACE.

 
STARRY Crowns of Heaven
    Set in azure night!
Linger yet a little
    Ere you hide your light:—
        —Nay; let Starlight fade away
        Heralding the day!

Snowflakes pure and spotless,
    Still, oh, still remain,
Binding dreary winter,
    In your silver chain:—
        —Nay; but melt at once and bring
        Radiant sunny Spring!

Blossoms, gentle blossoms,
    Do not wither yet;
Still for you the sun shines,
    Still the dews are wet:—
        —Nay; but fade and wither last,
        Fruit must come at last!

Joy, so true and tender,
    Dare you not abide?
Will you spread your pinions,
    Must you leave our side?—
        —Nay; an Angel's shining grace
        Waits to fill your place!

___________________

 
MY WILL.

SINCE I have no lands or houses,
    And no hoarded golden store,
What can I leave those who love me
    When they see my face no more?
Do not smile; I am not jesting,
    Though my words sound gay and light,
Listen to me, dearest Alice,
    I will make my Will to-night.

First for Mabel—who will never
    Let the dust of future years
Dim the thought of me, but keep it
    Brighter still: perhaps with tears.
In whose eyes, whate'er I glance at,
    Touch, or praise, will always shine,
Through a strange and sacred radiance,
    By Love's Charter, wholly mine;
She will never lend to others
    Slenderest link of thought I claim,
I will, therefore, to her keeping
    Leave my memory and my name.

Bertha will do truer service
    To her kind than I have done,
So I leave to her young spirit
    The long Work I have begun.
Well! the threads are tangled, broken,
    And the colours do not blend,
She will bend her earnest striving
    Both to finish and amend:
And, when it is all completed,
    Strong with care and rich with skill,
Just because my hands began it,
    She will love it better still.

Ruth shall have my dearest token,
    The one link I dread to break,
The one duty that I live for,
    She, when I am gone, will take.
Sacred is the trust I leave her,
    Needing patience, prayer, and tears;
I have striven to fulfil it,
    As she knows—these many years.
Sometimes hopeless, faint, and weary
    Yet a blessing shall remain
With the task, and Ruth will prize it
    For my many hours of pain.

What must I leave you, my Alice?
    Nothing, Love, to do or bear,
Nothing that can dim your blue eyes
    With the slightest cloud of care.
I will leave my heart to love you,
    With the tender faith of old;
Still to comfort, warm, and light you,
    Should your life grow dark or cold.
No one else, my child, can claim it;
    Though you find old scars of pain,
They were only wounds, my darling,
    There is not, I trust, one stain.

Are my gifts indeed so worthless
    Now the slender sum is told?
Well, I know not: years may bless them
    With a nobler price than gold.
Am I poor? ah no, most wealthy,
    Not in these poor gifts you take,
But in the true hearts that tell me
    You will keep them for my sake.

___________________

 
KING AND SLAVE.

IF in my soul, dear,
    An omen should dwell,
Bidding me pause, ere
    I love thee too well;
If the whole circle,
    Of noble and wise,
With stern forebodings,
    Between us should rise.

I will tell then, dear,
    That Love reigns—a King,
Where storms cannot reach him,
    And words cannot sting;
He counts it dishonour
    His faith to recall;
He trusts;—and for ever
    He gives—and gives all!

I will tell thee, dear,
    That Love is—a Slave,
Who dreads thought of freedom,
    As life dreads the grave;
And if doubt or peril
    Of change there may be,
Such fear would but drive him
    Still nearer to thee!

___________________

 
A CHANT.
"Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini."

I.

Who is the Angel that cometh?
                      Life!
Let us not question what he brings,
                      Peace or Strife,
Under the shade of his mighty wings,
                      One by one,
              Are his secrets told;
                      One by one,
Lit by the rays of each morning sun,
    Shall a new flower its petals unfold,
    With the mystery hid in its heart of gold.
We will arise and go forth to greet him,
    Singly, gladly, with one accord;—
"Blessed is he that cometh
        In the name of the Lord!"

II.

Who is the Angel that cometh?
                      Joy!
Look at his glittering rainbow wings—
                      No alloy
Lies in the radiant gifts he brings;
                      Tender and sweet,
              He is come to-day,
                      Tender and sweet:
While chains of love on his silver feet
    Will hold him in lingering fond delay.
    But greet him quickly, he will not stay,
Soon he will leave us; but though for others
    All his brightest treasures are stored;—
"Blessed is he that cometh
        In the name of the Lord!"

III.

Who is the Angel that cometh?
                      Pain!
Let us arise and go forth to greet him;
                      Not in vain
Is the summons come for us to meet him;
                      He will stay,
              And darken our sun;
                      He will stay
A desolate night, a weary day.
    Since in that shadow our work is done,
    And in that shadow our crowns are won,
Let us say still, while his bitter chalice
    Slowly into our hearts is poured,—
"Blessed is he that cometh
        In the name of the Lord!"

IV.

Who is the Angel that cometh?
                      Death!
But do not shudder and do not fear;
                      Hold your breath,
For a kingly presence is drawing near.
                      Cold and bright
              Is his flashing steel,
                      Cold and bright
The smile that comes like a starry light
    To calm the terror and grief we feel;
    He comes to help and to save and heal:
Then let us, baring our hearts and kneeling,
    Sing, while we wait this Angel's sword,—
"Blessed is he that cometh
        In the name of the Lord!"

___________________

 
DREAM-LIFE.

LISTEN, friend, and I will tell you
    Why I sometimes seem so glad,
Then, without a reason changing,
    Soon become so grave and sad.

Half my life I live a beggar,
    Ragged, helpless, and alone;
But the other half a monarch,
    With my courtiers round my throne.

Half my life is full of sorrow,
    Half of joy, still fresh and new;
One of these lives is a fancy,
    But the other one is true.

While I live and feast on gladness,
    Still I feel the thought remain,
This must soon end,—nearer, nearer
    Comes the life of grief and pain.

While I live a wretched beggar,
    One bright hope my lot can cheer;
Soon, soon, thou shalt have thy kingdom,
    Brighter hours are drawing near.

So you see my life is twofold,
    Half a pleasure, half a grief;
Thus all joy is somewhat tempered,
    And all sorrow finds relief.

Which, you ask me, is the real life,
    Which the Dream—the joy, or woe?
Hush, friend! it is little matter,
    And, indeed—I never know.

___________________

 
REST.

SPREAD, spread thy silver wings, oh Dove!
And seek for rest by land and sea,
And bring the tidings back to me
For thee and me and those I love.
    Look how my Dove soars far away;
    Go with her, heart of mine, I pray;
    Go where her fluttering silver pinions
    Follow the track of the crimson day.

Is rest where cloudlets slowly creep,
And sobbing winds forget to grieve,
And quiet waters gently heave,
As if they rocked the ship to sleep?
    Ah no! that southern vapour white
    Will bring a tempest ere the night,
    And thunder through the quiet Heaven,
    Lashing the sea in its angry might.

The battle-field lies still and cold,
While stars that watch in silent light
Gleam here and there on weapons bright,
In weary sleepers' slackened hold;
    Nay, though they dream of no alarm,
    One bugle sound will stir that calm,
    And all the strength of two great nations,
    Eager for battle, will rise and arm.

Pause where the Pilgrim's day is done,
Where scrip and staff aside are laid,
And, resting in the silent shade,
They watch the slowly sinking sun.
    Ah no! that worn and weary band
    Must journey long before they stand,
    With bleeding feet, and hearts rejoicing,
    Kissing the dust of the Holy Land.

Then find a soul who meets at last
A noble prize but hard to gain,
Or joy long pleaded for in vain,
Now sweeter for a bitter past.
    Ah no! for Time can rob her yet,
    And even should cruel Time forget,
    Then Death will come, and, unrelenting,
    Brand her with sorrowful long regret.

Seek farther, farther yet, oh Dove!
Beyond the Land, beyond the Sea,
There shall be rest for thee and me,
For thee and me and those I love.
    I heard a promise gently fall,
    I heard a far-off Shepherd call
    The weary and the broken-hearted,
    Promising rest unto each and all.

It is not marred by outward strife,
It is not lost in calm repose,
It heedeth neither joys nor woes,
Is not disturbed by death or life;
    Through, and beyond them, lies our Rest:
    Then cease, oh Heart, thy longing quest!
    And thou, my Dove, with silver pinions
    Flutter again to thy quiet nest!

___________________

 
THE TYRANT AND THE CAPTIVE.

IT was midnight when I listened,
    And I heard two Voices speak;
One was harsh, and stern, and cruel,
    And the other soft and weak:
Yet I saw no Vision enter,
    And I heard no steps depart,
Of this Tyrant and his Captive, . . .
    Fate it might be and a Heart.

Thus the stern Voice spake in triumph:—
    "I have shut your life away
From the radiant world of nature,
    And the perfumed light of day.
You, who loved to steep your spirit
    In the charm of Earth's delight,
See no glory of the daytime,
    And no sweetness of the night."

But the soft Voice answered calmly:
    "Nay, for when the March winds bring
Just a whisper to my window,
    I can dream the rest of Spring;
And to-day I saw a Swallow
    Flitting past my prison bars,
And my cell has just one corner
    Whence at night I see the stars."

But its bitter taunt repeating,
    Cried the harsh Voice:—"Where are they—
All the friends of former hours,
    Who forget your name to-day?
All the links of love are shattered,
    Which you thought so strong before;
And your very heart is lonely,
    And alone since loved no more."

But the low Voice spoke still lower:—
    "Nay, I know the golden chain
Of my love is purer, stronger,
    For the cruel fire of pain:
They remember me no longer,
    But I, grieving here alone,
Bind their souls to me for ever
    By the love within their own."

But the Voice cried:—"Once remember
    You devoted soul and mind
To the welfare of your brethren,
    And the service of your kind.
Now, what sorrow can you comfort?
    You, who lie in helpless pain,
With an impotent compassion
    Fretting out your life in vain."

"Nay;" and then the gentle answer
    Rose more loud, and full, and clear:
"For the sake of all my brethren
    I thank God that I am here!
Poor had been my Life's best efforts,
    Now I waste no thought or breath—
For the prayer of those who suffer
    Has the strength of Love and Death."

___________________

 
THE CARVER'S LESSON.

TRUST me, no mere skill of subtle tracery,
No mere practice of a dexterous hand,
Will suffice, without a hidden spirit,
That we may, or may not, understand.

And those quaint old fragments that are
            left us
Have their power in this,—the Carver
            brought
Earnest care, and reverent patience, only
Worthily to clothe some noble thought.

Shut then in the petals of the flowers,
Round the stems of all the lilies twine,
Hide beneath each bird's or angel's pinion,
Some wise meaning or some thought di-
            vine.

Place in stony hands that pray for ever
Tender words of peace, and strive to wind
Round the leafy scrolls and fretted niches
Some true, loving message to your kind.

Some will praise, some blame, and, soon for-
            getting,
Come and go, nor even pause to gaze;
Only now and then a passing stranger
Just may loiter with a word of praise.

But I think, when years have floated onward,
And the stone is grey, and dim, and old,
And the hand forgotten that has carved it,
And the heart that dreamt it still and cold;

There may come some weary soul, o'erladen
With perplexed struggle in his brain,
Or, it may be, fretted with life's turmoil,
Or made sore with some perpetual pain.

Then, I think those stony hands will open,
And the gentle lilies overflow,
With the blessing and the loving token
That you hid there many years ago.

And the tendrils will unroll, and teach him
How to solve the problem of his pain;
And the birds' and angels' wings shake down-
            ward
On his heart a sweet and tender rain.

While he marvels at his fancy, reading
Meaning in that quaint and ancient scroll,
Little guessing that the loving Carver
Left a message for his weary soul.

___________________

 
THREE ROSES.

Just when the red June Roses blow
She gave me one,—a year ago.
A Rose whose crimson breath revealed
The secret that its heart concealed,
And whose half shy, half tender grace
Blushed back upon the giver's face.
    A year ago—a year ago—
    To hope was not to know.

Just when the red June Roses blow
I plucked her one,—a month ago:
Its half-blown crimson to eclipse,
I laid it on her smiling lips;
The balmy fragrance of the south
Drew sweetness from her sweeter mouth.
    Swiftly do golden hours creep,—
    To hold is not to keep.

The red June Roses now are past,
This very day I broke the last—
And now its perfumed breath is hid,
With her, beneath a coffin-lid;
There will its petals fall apart,
And wither on her icy heart:—
    At three red Roses' cost
    My world was gained and lost.

___________________

 
MY PICTURE GALLERY.

I.

You write and think of me, my friend, with
          pity;
While you are basking in the light of Rome,
Shut up within the heart of this great city,
Too busy and too poor to leave my home.

II.

You think my life debarred all rest or
          pleasure,
Chained all day to my ledger and my pen;
Too sickly even to use my little leisure
To bear me from the strife and din of men.

III.

Well, it is true; yet, now the days are longer,
At sunset I can lay my writing down,
And slowly crawl (summer has made me
          stronger)
Just to the nearest outskirt of the town.

IV.

There a wide Common, blackened though and
          dreary
With factory smoke, spreads outward to the
          West;
I lie down on the parched-up grass, if weary,
Or lean against a broken wall to rest.

V.

So might a King, turning to Art's rich
          treasure,
At evening, when the cares of state were done,
Enter his royal gallery, drinking pleasure
Slowly from each great picture, one by one.

VI.

Towards the West I turn my weary spirit,
And watch my pictures: one each night is
          mine.
Earth and my soul, sick of day's toil, inherit
A portion of that luminous peace divine.

VII.

There I have seen a sunset's crimson glory,
Burn as if earth were one great Altar's blaze;
Or, like the closing of a piteous story,
Light up the misty world with dying rays.

VIII.

There I have seen the Clouds, in pomp and
          splendour,
Their gold and purple banners all unfurl;
There I have watched colours, more faint
          and tender
Than pure and delicate tints upon a pearl.

IX.

Skies strewn with roses fading, fading slowly,
While one star trembling watched the day-
          light die;
Or deep in gloom a sunset, hidden wholly,
Save through gold rents torn in a violet sky.

X.

Or parted clouds, as if asunder riven
By some great angel—and beyond a space
Of far-off tranquil light; the gates of Heaven
Will lead us grandly to as calm a place.

XI.

Or stern dark walls of cloudy mountain
          ranges
Hid all the wonders that we knew must be;
While, far on high, some little white clouds
          changes'
Revealed the glory they alone could see.

XII.

Or in wild wrath the affrighted clouds lay
          shattered,
Like treasures of the lost Hesperides,
All in a wealth of ruined splendour scattered,
Save one strange light on distant silver seas.

XIII.

What land or time can claim the Master
          Painter,
Whose art could teach him half such
          gorgeous dyes?
Or skill so rare, but purer hues and fainter
Melt every evening in my western skies.

XIV.

So there I wait, until the shade has lengthened,
And night's blue misty curtain floated down;
Then, with my heart calmed, and my spirit
          strengthened,
I crawl once more back to the sultry town.

XV.

What Monarch, then, has nobler recreations
Than mine?   Or where the great and classic
          Land
Whose wealth of Art delights the gathered
          nations
That owns a Picture Gallery half as grand?

___________________

 
SENT TO HEAVEN.

I HAD a Message to send her,
    To her whom my soul loved best;
But I had my task to finish.
    And she was gone home to rest.

To rest in the far bright heaven:
    Oh, so far away from here,
It was vain to speak to my darling,
    For I knew she could not hear!

I had a message to send her.
    So tender, and true, and sweet,
I longed for an Angel to bear it,
    And lay it down at her feet.

I placed it, one summer evening,
    On a Cloudlet's fleecy breast;
But it faded in golden splendour,
    And died in the crimson west.

I gave it the Lark next morning,
    And I watched it soar and soar;
But its pinions grew faint and weary,
    And it fluttered to earth once more.

To the heart of a Rose I told it;
    And the perfume, sweet and rare,
Growing faint on the blue bright ether,
    Was lost in the balmy air.

I laid it upon a Censer,
    And I saw the incense rise;
But its clouds of rolling silver
    Could not reach the far blue skies.

I cried, in my passionate longing:—
    "Has the earth no Angel-friend
Who will carry my love the message
    That my heart desires to send?"

Then I heard a strain of music,
    So mighty, so pure, so clear,
That my very sorrow was silent,
    And my heart stood still to hear.

And I felt, in my soul's deep yearning,
    At last the sure answer stir:—
"The music will go up to Heaven,
    And carry my thought to her."

It rose in harmonious rushing
    Of mingled voices and strings.
And I tenderly laid my message
    On the Music's outspread wings.

I heard it float farther and farther,
    In sound more perfect than speech;
Farther than sight can follow.
    Farther than soul can reach.

And I know that at last my message
    Has passed through the golden gate:
So my heart is no longer restless,
    And I am content to wait.

___________________

 
NEVER AGAIN.

"NEVER again!" vow hearts when reunited,
    "Never again shall Love be cast aside;
For ever now the shadow has departed;
    Nor bitter sorrow, veiled in scornful pride,
Shall feign indifference, or affect disdain,—
Never, oh Love, again, never again!"

"Never again!" so sobs, in broken accents,
    A soul laid prostrate at a holy shrine,—
"Once more, once more forgive, oh Lord,
        and pardon,
    My wayward life shall bend to love divine;
And never more shall sin its whiteness
        stain,—
Never, oh God, again, never again!"

"Never again!' so speaketh one forsaken,
    In the blank desolate passion of despair,—
"Never again shall the bright dream I
        cherished
    Delude my heart, for bitter truth is there,—
The angel, Hope, shall still thy cruel pain
Never again, my heart, never again!"

"Never again!" so speaks the sudden silence,
    When round the hearth gathers each well-
        known face,—
But one is missing, and no future presence,
    However dear, can fill that vacant place;
For ever shall the burning thought remain,—
"Never, beloved, again! never again!"

"Never again!" so—but beyond our hearing—
    Ring out far voices fading up the sky;
Never again shall earthly care and sorrow
    Weigh down the wings that bear those
        souls on high;
Listen, oh earth, and hear that glorious
        strain,—
"Never, never again! never again!"

___________________

 
LISTENING ANGELS.

BLUE against the bluer Heavens
    Stood the mountain, calm and still,
Two white Angels, bending earthward,
    Leant upon the hill.

Listening leant those silent Angels,
    And I also longed to hear
What sweet strain of earthly music
    Thus could charm their ear.

I heard the sound of many trumpets
    In a warlike march draw nigh;
Solemnly a mighty army
    Passed in order by.

But the clang had ceased; the echoes
    Soon had faded from the hill;
While the Angels, calm and earnest,
    Leant and listened still.

Then I heard a fainter clamour,
    Forge and wheel were clashing near
And the Reapers in the meadow
    Singing loud and clear.

When the sunset came in glory,
    And the toil of day was o'er,
Still the Angels leant in silence,
    Listening as before.

Then, as daylight slowly vanished,
    And the evening mists grew dim,
Solemnly from distant voices
    Rose a vesper hymn.

When the chant was done, and lingering
    Died upon the evening air,
From the hill the radiant Angels
    Still were listening there.

Silent came the gathering darkness,
    Bringing with it sleep and rest;
Save a little bird was singing
    Near her leafy nest.

Through the sounds of war and labour
    She had warbled all day long,
While the Angels leant and listened
    Only to her song.

But the starry night was coming;
    When she ceased her little lay
From the mountain top the Angels
    Slowly passed away.

___________________

 
GOLDEN DAYS.

GOLDEN days—where are they?
    Pilgrims east and west
Cry; if we could find them
    We would pause and rest:
We would pause and rest a little
    From our long and weary ways:—
Where are they, then, where are they—
                Golden days?

Golden days—where are they?
    Ask of childhood's years,
Still untouched by sorrow,
    Still undimmed by tears:
Ah, they seek a phantom Future,
    Crowned with brighter, starry rays;—
Where are they, then, where are they—
                Golden days?

Golden days—where are they?
    Has Love learnt the spell
That will charm them hither,
    Near our hearth to dwell?
Insecure are all her treasures,
    Restless is her anxious gaze:—
Where are they, then, where are they—
                Golden days?

Golden days—where are they?
    Farther up the hill I can hear the echo
Faintly calling still:
    Faintly calling, faintly dying,
In a far-off misty haze:—
    Where are they, then, where are they—
                Golden days?

___________________

 
PHILIP AND MILDRED.

LINGERING fade the rays of daylight, and the listening air is chilly;
    Voice of bird and forest murmur, insect hum and quivering spray
Stir not in that quiet hour: through the valley, calm and stilly,
    All in hushed and loving silence watch the slow departing Day.

Till the last faint western cloudlet, faint and rosy, ceases blushing,
    And the blue grows deep and deeper where one trembling planet shines,
And the day has gone for ever—then, like some great ocean rushing,
    The sad night wind wails lamenting, sobbing through the moaning pines.

Such, of all day's changing hours, is the fittest and the meetest
    For a farewell hour—and parting looks less bitter and more blest;
Earth seems like a shrine for sorrow, Nature's mother voice is sweetest,
    And her hand seems laid in chiding on the unquiet throbbing breast.

Words are lower, for the twilight seems rebuking sad repining,
    And wild murmur and rebellion, as all childish and in vain;
Breaking through dark future hours clustering starry hopes seem shining,
    Then the calm and tender midnight folds her shadow round the pain.

So they paced the shady lime-walk in that twilight dim and holy,
    Still the last farewell deferring, she could hear or he should say;
Every word, weighed down by sorrow, fell more tenderly and slowly—
    This, which now beheld their parting, should have been their wedding-day.

Should have been: her dreams of childhood, never straying, never faltering,
    Still had needed Philip's image to make future life complete;
Philip's young hopes of ambition, ever changing, ever altering,
    Needed Mildred's gentle presence even to make successes sweet.

This day should have seen their marriage; the calm crowning and assurance
    Of two hearts, fulfilling rather, and not changing, either life:
Now they must be rent asunder, and her heart must learn endurance,
    For he leaves their home, and enters on a world of work and strife.

But her gentle spirit long had learnt, unquestioning, submitting,
    To revere his youthful longings, and to marvel at the fate
That gave such a humble office, all unworthy and unfitting,
    To the genius of the village, who was born for something great.

When the learnèd Traveller came there who had gained renown at college,
    Whose abstruse research had won him even European fame,
Questioned Philip, praised his genius, marvelled at his self-taught knowledge,
    Could she murmur if he called him up to London and to fame?

Could she waver when he bade her take the burden of decision,
    Since his troth to her was plighted, and his life was now her own?
Could she doom him to inaction? could she, when a newborn vision
    Rose in glory for his future, check it for her sake alone?

So her little trembling fingers, that had toiled with such fond pleasure,
    Paused, and laid aside, and folded the unfinished wedding gown;
Faltering earnestly assurance, that she too could, in her measure,
    Prize for him the present honour, and the future's sure renown.

Now they pace the shady lime-walk, now the last words must be spoken,
    Words of trust, for neither dreaded more than waiting and delay;
Was not love still called eternal—could a plighted vow be broken?—
    See the crimson light of sunset fades in purple mist away.

"Yes, my Mildred," Philip told her, "one calm thought of joy and blessing,
    Like a guardian spirit by me, through the world's tumultuous stir,
Still will spread its wings above me, and now urging, now repressing,
    With my Mildred's voice will murmur thoughts of home, and love, and her.

"It will charm my peaceful leisure, sanctify my daily toiling,
    With a right none else possesses, touching my heart's inmost string;
And to keep its pure wings spotless I shall fly the world's touch, soiling
    Even in thought this Angel Guardian of my Mildred's Wedding Ring.

"Take it, dear; this little circlet is the first link, strong and holy,
    Of a life-long chain, and holds me from all other love apart;
Till the day when you may wear it as my wife—my own—mine wholly—
    Let me know it rests for ever near the beating of your heart."

Dawn of day saw Philip speeding on his road to the Great City,
    Thinking how the stars gazed downward just with Mildred's patient eyes;
Dreams of work, and fame, and honour struggling with a tender pity,
    Till the loving Past receding saw the conquering Future rise.

Daybreak still found Mildred watching, with the wonder of first sorrow,
    How the outward world unaltered shone the same this very day;
How unpitying and relentless busy life met this new morrow,
    Earth, and sky, and man unheeding that her joy had passed away.

Then the round of weary duties, cold and formal, came to meet her,
    With the life within departed that had given them each a soul;
And her sick heart even slighted gentle words that came to greet her;
    For Grief spread its shadowy pinions, like a blight, upon the whole.

Jar one chord, the harp is silent; move one stone, the arch is shattered;
    One small clarion-cry of sorrow bids an armed host awake;
One dark cloud can hide the sunlight; loose one string, the pearls are scattered;
    Think one thought, a soul may perish; say one word, a heart may break!

Life went on, the two lives running side by side; the outward seeming,
    And the truer and diviner hidden in the heart and brain;
Dreams grow holy, put in action; work grows fair through starry dreaming;
    But where each flows on unmingling, both are fruitless and in vain.

Such was Mildred's life; her dreaming lay in some far-distant region,
    All the fairer, all the brighter, that its glories were but guessed;
And the daily round of duties seemed an unreal, airy legion—
    Nothing true save Philip's letters and the ring upon her breast.

Letters telling how he struggled, for some plan or vision aiming,
    And at last how he just grasped it as a fresh one spread its wings;
How the honour or the learning, once the climax, now were claiming,
    Only more and more, becoming merely steps to higher things.

Telling her of foreign countries: little store had she of learning,
    So her earnest, simple spirit answered as he touched the string;
Day by day, to these bright fancies all her silent thoughts were turning,
    Seeing every radiant picture framed within her golden Ring.

Oh, poor heart—love, if thou willest; but, thine own soul still possessing,
    Live thy life: not a reflection or a shadow of his own:
Lean as fondly, as completely, as thou willest—but confessing
    That thy strength is God's, and therefore can, if need be, stand alone.

Little means were there around her to make farther, wider ranges,
    Where her loving gentle spirit could try any stronger flight;
And she turned aside, half fearing that fresh thoughts were fickle changes—
    That she must stay as he left her on that farewell summer night.

Love should still be guide and leader, like a herald should have risen,
    Lighting up the long dark vistas, conquering all opposing fates;
But new claims, new thoughts, new duties found her heart a silent prison,
    And found Love, with folded pinions, like a jailer by the gates.

Yet why blame her? it had needed greater strength than she was given
    To have gone against the current that so calmly flowed along;
Nothing fresh came near the village save the rain and dew of heaven,
    And her nature was too passive, and her love perhaps too strong.

The great world of thought, that rushes down the years, and onward sweeping
    Bears upon its mighty billows in its progress each and all,
Flowed so far away, its murmur did not rouse them from their sleeping;
    Life and Time and Truth were speaking, but they did not hear their call.

Years flowed on; and every morning heard her prayer grow lower, deeper,
    As she called all blessings on him, and bade every ill depart,
And each night when the cold moonlight shone upon that quiet sleeper,
    It would show her ring that glittered with each throbbing of her heart.

Years passed on. Fame came for Philip in a full, o'erflowing measure;
    He was spoken of and honoured through the breadth of many lands,
And he wrote it all to Mildred, as if praise were only pleasure,
    As if fame were only honour, when he laid them in her hands.

Mildred heard it without wonder, as a sure result expected,
    For how could it fail, since merit and renown go side by side:
And the neighbours who first fancied genius ought to be suspected,
    Might at last give up their caution, and could own him now with pride.

Years flowed on. These empty honours led to others they called better,
    He had saved some slender fortune, and might claim his bride at last:
Mildred, grown so used to waiting, felt half startled by the letter
    That now made her future certain, and would consecrate her past.

And he came: grown sterner, older—changed indeed: a grave reliance
    Had replaced his eager manner, and the quick short speech of old:
He had gone forth with a spirit half of hope and half defiance;
    He returned with proud assurance half disdainful and half cold.

Yet his old self seemed returning while he stood sometimes, and listened
    To her calm soft voice, relating all the thoughts of these long years;
And if Mildred's heart was heavy, and at times her blue eyes glistened,
    Still in thought she would not whisper aught of sorrow or of fears.

Autumn with its golden corn-fields, autumn with its storms and showers,
    Had been there to greet his coming with its forests gold and brown;
And the last leaves still were falling, fading still the year's last flowers,
    When he left the quiet village, and took back his bride to town.

Home—the home that she had pictured many a time in twilight, dwelling
    On that tender gentle fancy, folded round with loving care;
Here was home—the end, the haven; and what spirit voice seemed telling,
    That she only held the casket, with the gem no longer there?

Sad it may be to be longing, with a patience faint and weary,
For a hope deferred—and sadder still to see it fade and fall;
Yet to grasp the thing we long for, and, with sorrow sick and dreary,
Then to find how it can fail us, is the saddest pain of all.

What was wanting? He was gentle, kind, and generous still, deferring
    To her wishes always; nothing seemed to mar their tranquil life:
There are skies so calm and leaden that we long for storm-winds stirring,
    There is peace so cold and bitter, that we almost welcome strife.

Darker grew the clouds above her, and the slow conviction clearer,
    That he gave her home and pity, but that heart, and soul, and mind
Were beyond her now; he loved her, and in youth he had been near her,
    But he now had gone far onward, and had left her there behind.

Yes, beyond her: yes, quick-hearted, her Love helped her in revealing
    It was worthless, while so mighty; was too weak, although so strong;
There were courts she could not enter; depths she could not sound; yet feeling
    It was vain to strive or struggle, vainer still to mourn or long.

He would give her words of kindness, he would talk of home, but seeming
    With an absent look, forgetting if he held or dropped her hand;
And then turn with eager pleasure to his writing, reading, dreaming,
    Or to speak of things with others that she could not understand.

He had paid, and paid most nobly, all he owed; no need of blaming;
    It had cost him something, may be, that no future could restore:
In her heart of hearts she knew it; Love and Sorrow, not complaining,
    Only suffered all the deeper, only loved him all the more.

Sometimes then a stronger anguish, and more cruel, weighed upon her,
    That through all those years of waiting, he had slowly learnt the truth;
He had known himself mistaken, but that, bound to her in honour,
    He renounced his life, to pay her for the patience of her youth.

But a star was slowly rising from that mist of grief, and brighter
    Grew her eyes, for each slow hour surer comfort seemed to bring;
And she watched with strange sad smiling, how her trembling hands grew slighter,
    And how thin her slender finger, and how large her wedding-ring.

And the tears dropped slowly on it, as she kissed that golden token
    With a deeper love, it may be, than was in the far-off past;
And remembering Philip's fancy, that so long ago was spoken,
    Thought her Ring's bright angel guardian had stayed near her to the last.

Grieving sorely, grieving truly, with a tender care and sorrow,
    Philip watched the slow, sure fading of his gentle, patient wife;
Could he guess with what a yearning she was longing for the morrow,
    Could he guess the bitter knowledge that had wearied her of life?

Now with violets strewn upon her, Mildred lies in peaceful sleeping;
    All unbound her long, bright tresses, and her throbbing heart at rest,
And the cold, blue rays of moonlight, through the open casement creeping,
    Show the ring upon her finger, and her hands crossed on her breast.

Peace at last. Of peace eternal is her calm sweet smile a token.
    Has some angel lingering near her let a radiant promise fall?
Has he told her Heaven unites again the links that Earth has broken?
    For on Earth so much is needed, but in Heaven Love is all!

___________________

 
BORROWED THOUGHTS.
 
I.  FROM "LAVATER."

TRUST him little who doth raise
    To one height both great and small,
And sets the sacred crown of praise,
    Smiling, on the head of all.

Trust him less who looks around
    To censure all with scornful eyes,
And in everything has found
    Something that he dare despise.

But for one who stands apart,
    Stirred by nought that can befall,
With a cold indifferent heart,—
    Trust him least and last of all.

 
II.  FROM "PHANTASTES."

I HAVE a bitter Thought, a Snake
    That used to sting my life to pain.
I strove to cast it far away,
But every night and every day
    It crawled back to my heart again.

It was in vain to live or strive,
    To think or sleep, to work or pray;
At last I bade this thine accursed
Gnaw at my heart, and do its worst,
    And so I let it have its way.

Thus said I, "I shall never fall
    Into a false and dreaming peace,
And then awake, with sudden start,
To feel it biting at my heart,
    For now the pain can never cease."

But I gained more; for I have found
    That such a snake's envenomed charm
Must always, always find a part,
Deep in the centre of my heart,
    Which it can never wound or harm.

It is coiled round my heart to-day.
    It sleeps at times, this cruel snake,
And while it sleeps it never stings:—
Hush! let us talk of other things,
    Lest it should hear me and awake.

 
III.  FROM "LOST ALICE."

        YES, dear, our Love is slain;
In the cold grave for evermore it lies,
        Never to wake again,
Or light our sorrow with its starry eyes;
        And so—regret is vain.

        One hour of pain and dread,
We killed our Love, we took its life away
        With the false words we said;
And so we watch it, since that cruel day,
        Silent, and cold, and dead.

        We should have seen it shine
Long years beside us.   Time and Death
          might try
        To touch that life divine,
Whose strength could every other stroke defy
        Save only thine and mine.

        No longing can restore
Our dead again.   Vain are the tears we weep,
        And vainly we deplore
Our buried Love: its grave lies dark and deep
        Between us evermore.

 
IV.  FROM * * *

Within the kingdom of my Soul
I bid you enter, Love, to-day;
Submit my life to your control,
And give my Heart up to your sway.

My Past, whose light and life is flown,
Shall live through memory for you still;
Take all my Present for your own,
And mould my Future to your will.

One only thought remains apart,
And will for ever so remain;
There is one Chamber in my heart
Where even you might knock in vain.

A haunted Chamber:—long ago
I closed it, and I cast the key
Where deep and bitter waters flow,
Into a vast and silent sea.

Dear, it is haunted.    All the rest
Is yours; but I have shut that door
For ever now. 'Tis even best
That I should enter it no more.

No more.    It is not well to stay
With ghosts; their very look would scare
Your joyous, loving smile away—
So never try to enter there.

Check, if you love me, all regret
That this one thought remains apart:—
Now let us smile, dear, and forget
The haunted Chamber in my Heart.

___________________

 
LIGHT AND SHADE.

THOU hast done well to kneel and say,
"Since He who gave can take away,
And bid me suffer, I obey."

And also well to tell thy heart
That good lies in the bitterest part,
And thou wilt profit by her smart.

But bitter hours come to all:
When even truths like these will pall,
Sick hearts for humbler comfort call.

Then I would have thee strive to see
That good and evil come to thee,
As one of a great family.

And as material life is planned,
That even the loneliest one must stand
Dependent on his brother's hand;

So links more subtle and more fine
Bind every other soul to thine
In one great brotherhood divine.

Nor with thy share of work be vexed;
Though incomplete, and even perplex,
It fits exactly to the next.

What seems so dark to thy dim sight
May be a shadow, seen aright,
Making some brightness doubly bright.

The flash that struck thy tree,—no more
To shelter thee,—lets Heaven's blue floor
Shine where it never shone before.

Thy life that has been dropped aside
Into Time's stream, may stir the tide,
In rippled circles spreading wide.

The cry wrung from thy spirit's pain
May echo on some far-off plain,
And guide a wanderer home again.

Fail—yet rejoice; because no less
The failure that makes thy distress
May teach another full success.

It may be that in some great need
Thy life's poor fragments are decreed
To help build up a lofty deed.

Thy heart should throb in vast content,
Thus knowing that it was but meant
As chord in one great instrument;

That even the discord in thy soul
May make completer music roll
From out the great harmonious whole.

It may be, that when all is light,
Deep set within that deep delight
Will be to know why all was right;

To hear life's perfect music rise,
And while it floods the happy skies,
Thy feeble voice to recognise.

Then strive more gladly to fulfil
Thy little part.   This darkness still
Is light to every loving will.

And trust,—as if already plain,
How just thy share of loss and pain
Is for another fuller gain.

I dare not limit time or place
Touched by thy life: nor dare I trace
Its far vibrations into space.

One only knows.   Yet if the fret
Of thy weak heart, in weak regret
Needs a more tender comfort yet:

Then thou mayst take thy loneliest fears,
The bitterest drops of all thy tears,
The dreariest hours of all thy years;

And through thy anguish there outspread,
May ask that God's great love would shed
Blessings on one beloved head.

And thus thy soul shall learn to draw
Sweetness from out that loving law
That sees no failure and no flaw,

Where all is good.   And life is good,
Were the one lesson understood
Of its most sacred brotherhood.

___________________

 
A CHANGELING.

A LITTLE changeling spirit
    Crept to my arms one day:
I had no heart or courage
    To drive the child away.

So all day long I soothed her,
    And hushed her on my breast;
And all night long her wailing
    Would never let me rest.

I dug a grave to hold her,
    A grave both dark and deep;
I covered her with violets,
    And laid her there to sleep.

I used to go and watch there,
    Both night and morning too:—
It was my tears, I fancy,
    That kept the violets blue.

I took her up: and once more
    I felt the clinging hold,
And heard the ceaseless wailing
    That wearied me of old.

I wandered, and I wandered,
    With my burden on my breast,
Till I saw a church-door open,
    And entered in to rest.

In the dim, dying daylight,
    Set in a flowery shrine,
I saw the Virgin Mother
    Holding her Child divine.

I knelt down there in silence,
    And on the Altar-stone
I laid my wailing burden,
    And came away—alone.

And now that little spirit,
    That sobbed so all day long,
Is grown a shining Angel,
    With wines both wide and strong.

She watches me from Heaven,
    With loving, tender care,
And one day she has promised
    That I shall find her there.

___________________

 
DISCOURAGED.

WHERE the little babbling streamlet
    First springs forth to light,
Trickling through soft velvet mosses,
    Almost hid from sight;
    Vowed I with delight,—
"River, I will follow thee,
Through thy wanderings to the Sea!"

Gleaming 'mid the purple heather,
    Downward then it sped,
Glancing through the mountain gorges,
    Like a silver thread,
    As it quicker fled,
Louder music in its flow,
Dashing to the Vale below.

Then its voice grew lower, gentler,
    And its pace less fleet,
Just as though it loved to linger
    Round the rushes' feet,
    As they stooped to meet
Their clear images below,
Broken by the ripples' flow.

Purple Willow-herb bent over
    To her shadow fair;
Meadow-sweet, in feathery clusters,
    Perfumed all the air;
    Silver-weed was there,
And in one calm, grassy spot,
Starry, blue Forget-me-not.

Tangled weeds, below the waters,
    Still seemed drawn away;
Yet the current, floating onward,
    Was less strong than they;—
    Sunbeams watched their play,
With a flickering light and shade,
Through the screen the Alders made.

Broader grew the flowing River;
    To its grassy brink
Slowly, in the slanting sun-rays,
    Cattle trooped to drink:
    The blue sky, I think,
Was no bluer than that stream,
Slipping onward, like a dream.

Quicker, deeper then it hurried,
    Rushing fierce and free;
But I said, "It should grow calmer
    Ere it meets the Sea,
    The wide purple Sea,
Which I weary for in vain,
Wasting all my toil and pain."

But it rushed still quicker, fiercer,
    In its rocky bed,
Hard and stony was the pathway
    To my tired tread;
    "I despair," I said,
"Of that wide and glorious Sea
That was promised unto me."

So I turned aside, and wandered
    Through green meadows near,
Far away, among the daisies,
    Far away, for fear
    Lest I still should hear
The loud murmur of its song,
As the River flowed along.

Now I hear it not:—I loiter
    Gaily as before;
Yet I sometimes think,—and thinking
    Makes my heart so sore,—
    Just a few steps more,
And there might have shone for me,
Blue and infinite, the Sea.

___________________


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