It gave new strength, and fearless mood; Then in Life's goblet freely press New light and strength they give. And he who has not learned to know The prayer of Ajax was for light; Let our unceasing, earnest prayer O suffering, sad humanity! Patient, though sorely tried! I pledge you in this cup of grief, The alarm, the struggle,—the relief,— BLIND BARTIMEUS. BLIND Bartimeus at the gates He hears the crowd;-he hears a breath And calls in tones of agony, The thronging multitudes increase; Then saith the Christ, as silent stands The crowd, "What wilt thou at my hands?" And he replies, "O give me light! Rabbi, restore the blind man's sight!" And Jesus answers, "Taye ‡ Η πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε ! Ye that have eyes, and cannot see, Recall those mighty Voices Three, Θάρσει, έγειραι, ὕπαγε! Η πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε! MAIDENHOOD. MAIDEN! with the meek brown eyes, In whose orb a shadow lies, Like the dusk in evening skies! Iesou eleeson me-Jesus, have mercy on me. †Tharsei egeirai phonei se-Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. Hupage Go thy way. He pistis sou sesöke se-Thy faith hath made thee whole. Thou whose locks outshine the sun, Standing with reluctant feet, Gazing, with a timid glance, Deep and still that gliding stream Then, why pause with indecision, Seest thou shadows sailing by, Hearest thou voices on the shore, O, thou child of many prayers! Like the swell of some sweet tune, Morning rises into noon, May glides onward into June. Childhood is the bough, where slumbered Birds and blossoms many-numbered;Age, that bough with snows encumbered. Gather, then, each flower that grows, Bear a lily in thy hand; Gates of brass cannot withstand Bear through sorrow, wrong, and ruth, O that dew, like balm, shall steal And that smile, like sunshine, dart THE BELFRY OF BRUGES. IN the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old and brown ; Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town. As the summer morn was breaking, on that lofty tower I stood, And the world threw off the darkness, like the weeds of widowhood. Thick with towns and hamlets studded, and with streams and vapours gray, Like a shield embossed with silver, round and vast the landscape lay. At my feet the city slumbered. From its chimneys, here and there, Wreaths of snow-white smoke, ascending, vanished, ghost-like, into air. Not a sound rose from the city at that early morning hour, From their nests beneath the rafters sang the swallows wild and high; And the world, beneath me sleeping, seemed more distant than the sky. Then, most musical and solemn, bringing back the olden times, With their strange unearthly changes, rang the melancholy chimes. Like the psalms from some old cloister, when the nuns sing in the choir; And the great bell tolled among them, like the chanting of a friar. Visions of the day departed, shadowy phantoms filled my brain : They who lived in history only seemed to walk the earth again; All the Foresters of Flanders,-mighty Baldwin Bras de Fer, Lyderick du Bucq and Cressy, Philip, Guy de Dampierre. I beheld the pageants splendid that adorned those days of old; Stately dames, like queens attended, knights who bore the Fleece of Gold; Lombard and Venetian merchants, with deep-laden argosies; Ministers from twenty nations; more than royal pomp and ease. I beheld proud Maximilian, kneeling humbly on the ground; I beheld the gentle Mary, hunting with her hawk and hound; And her lighted bridal-chamber, where a duke slept with the queen, And the armed guard around them, and the sword unsheathed between. I beheld the Flemish weavers, with Namur and Juliers bold, Marching homeward from the bloody battle of the Spurs of Gold; Saw the fight at Minnewater, saw the White Hoods moving west, Saw great Artevelde victorious scale the Golden Dragon's nest. And again the whiskered Spaniard all the land with terror smote; And again the loud alarum sounded from the tocsin's throat; Ee |