THE
HE shattered water plashes down the ledge;
The long ledge slants and bends between its walls,
And shoots the current over many an edge
Of shelvy rock, in thin and foamy falls,—
With the same streaming light and numerous sound,
As when his musing way he duly hither wound.
Up by this path along the streamlet's brink,
Into the cool ravine his footsteps wore;
That was in other days-I bow and think
In sadness of the wealthy days of yore,
The fair far days, so wholly gone away,
When love, and hope, and youth before us boundless lay.
He was a kind of genius of the glen,
The soul of sunshine in its heart of gloom; Nature's great mansion, wide to other men,
Here for the gentlest guest reserved a room, Where she, in secret from the general throng, Welcomed him fleeing oft, and cheered him lingering long.
But hospitable Nature seeks him now,
Through her wide halls or cloistered cells in vain ; The wistful face, the early-wrinkled brow,
The peace that touched and purified the pain, The slender form, dilate with noble thought,
The woman's welcoming smile for all fair things he brought;
The light, quick step, elastic but not strong,
Alert with springing spirit and tempered nerveType of the heart direct that sped along
Swiftly where duty led, and did not swerve For count of odds, or dread of earthly loss,
Buoyed with the costliest strength to bear the heaviest cross;
These tokens of that gracious presence here,
O Nature, you and I together mourn;
But you and I, O Nature, have our cheer
Concerning him that helps our loss be borne-
You mould his dust to keepsake grass and flower,
What warmed his dust moulds me to forms of finer power.
WILLIAM C. WILKINSON.
Our Baby.
WH
HEN the morning, half in shadow,
Ran along the hill and meadow,
And with milk-white fingers parted
Crimson roses, golden-hearted;
Opening over ruins hoary
Every purple morning-glory,
And outshaking from the bushes
Singing larks and pleasant thrushes;
That's the time our little baby,
Strayed from Paradise, it may be,
Came with eyes like heaven above her,
O, we could not choose but love her!
Not enough of earth for sinning,
Always gentle, always winning,
Never needing our reproving,
Ever lively, ever loving;
Starry eyes and sunset tresses,
White arms, made for light caresses,
Lips, that knew no word of doubting,
Often kissing, never pouting;
Beauty even in completeness,
Overfull of childish sweetness;
That's the way our little baby,
Far too pure for earth, it may be,
Seemed to us, who while about her
Deemed we could not do without her.
When the morning, half in shadow,
Ran along the hill and meadow,
And with milk-white fingers parted
Crimson roses, golden hearted;
Opening over ruins hoary
Every purple morning-glory,
And outshaking from the bushes
Singing larks and pleasant thrushes;
That's the time our little baby,
Pining here for heaven, it may be,
Turning from our bitter weeping,
Closed her eyes as when in sleeping,
And her white hands on her bosom
Folded like a summer blossom.
Now the litter she doth lie on,
Strewed with roses, bear to Zion;
Go, as past a pleasant meadow,
Through the valley of the shadow;
Take her softly, holy angels,
Past the ranks of God's evangels;
Past the saints and martyrs holy
To the Earth-born, meek and lowly,
We would have our pleasant blossom
Softly laid in Jesus' bosom.
The River Path.
Ν
NO bird-song floated down the hill,
The tangled bank below was still;
No rustle from the birchen stem,
No ripple from the water's hem.
The dusk of twilight round us dread,
We felt the falling of the dead:
For, from us ere the day was done,
The wooded hills shut out the sun.
But on the river's farther side,
We saw the hill-tops glorified,—
A tender glow, exceeding fair,
A dream of day without its glare,
With us the damp, the chill, the gloom;
With them the sunset's rosy bloom;
While dark, through willowy vistas seen,
The river rolled in shade between.
From out the darkness where we trod,
We gazed upon those hills of God,
Whose light seemed not of morn or sun;
We spake not, but our thought was one.
We paused, as if from that bright shore
Reckoned our dear ones gone before;
And stilled our beating hearts to hear
The voices lost to mortal ear!
Sudden our pathway turned from right;
The hills swung open to the light;
Through their green gates the sunshine showed,
A long slant splendor downward flowed.
Down glade and glen and bank it rolled:
It bridged the shaded stream with gold:
And, borne on piers of mist, allied
The shadowy with the sunlit side!
"So,"
prayed we, when our feet draw near
The river dark with mortal fear,
"And the night cometh, chill with dew,
O Father, let thy light break through!
"So let the hills of doubt divide,
To bridge with faith the sunless tide!
"So let the eyes that fail on earth
O'er thy eternal hills look forth:
"And in thy beckoning angels know
The dear ones whom we loved below!"
The Golden Street.
THE
HE toil is very long and I am tired: Oh, Father, I am weary of the way ! Give me that rest I have so long desired; Bring me that Sabbath's cool refreshing day, And let the fever of my world-worn feet Press the cool smoothness of the golden street.
Tired, very tired!
And I at times have seen,
When the far pearly gates were open thrown
For those who walked no more with me, the green
Sweet foliage of the trees that there alone
At last wave over those whose world-worn feet
Press the cool smoothness of the golden street.
When the gates open, and before they close-
Sad hours but holy-I have watched the tide
Whose living crystal there forever flows
Before the throne, and sadly have I sighed
To think how long until my world-worn feet
Press the cool smoothness of the golden street.
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