O'er the blank world of waters, than to seek, In the one sacred ark, a duteous home, Yes, we do differ when we most agree, Inseparable communion, If the true life be in our hearts the faith, Which not to want is death; To want is penance; to desire To hope, is paradise; and to believe Is all of Heaven that earth can e'er receive. ON A FRIEND'S DEATH. SAD doth it seem, but nought is really sad, We should, in very gulfs of grief, be glad, The great intents of God could we but see. Think of the souls that he in heaven will meet, And whose perfection at their Saviour's feet, Without a stain of earth, will shine so clearly. Think, too, of souls on earth unknown to him, Whom he will know as well as kin or neighbors — Laborious saints, that now with seraphim Expect the blessed fruit of all their labors. Think that he is what oft he wished to be THE WORD OF GOD. In holy books we read how God hath spoken But hath the present worked no sign or token? And hath our heavenly Sire departed quite, Some quaint old riddles in a tongue unknown? Oh! think it not, sweet maid! God comes to us In every moment dwells the Righteous, And starts upon the soul in sweet surprises. The Word were but a blank, a hollow sound, Were aught but issues of Almighty will. Sweet girl, believe that every bird that sings, SONNETS. I. LET me not deem that I was made in vain, For which the violet cared not while it stayed Proved that the sun was shining by its shade: II. THINK upon Death, 'tis good to think of Death, But the dear Dead are those for whom we weep, Dead is my father, dead is my good mother, I fain would see the same, and not another; The mother that has nursed me on her knee. LONE in the wilderness, her child and she, To such as she, a hanging babe must be. A slave without a master wild, nor free, With anger in her heart! and in her face Shame for foul wrong and undeserved disgrace, Poor Hagar mourns her lost virginity! Poor woman, fear not God is everywhere; Thy silent tears, thy thirsty infant's moan, Are known to Him, whose never-absent care Still wakes to make all hearts and souls his own; He sends an angel from beneath his throne To cheer the outcast in the desert bare. IV. ISAIAH XLVI. V. 9. WHEN I consider all the things that were, V. ALL Nature ministers to Hope. The snow - |