Across the Sea and Other Poems | Page 5

to the faith more dear
than life.
"The living God who made the earth and sky,
And dwells
in Temples never made by hands,
Hath set within the Heaven of
Heavens His Throne;
He holdeth in His hands a thousand spheres,

And hath created all that is create;
Jehovah infinite, eternal, good,

And wise, we humbly worship, serve, adore,
We cannot bow, O
monarch, to thy gods."
Behind a smile the Emperor hid his rage,
And bade the youths
consider well, and count
The gain or loss which might to them befall.

The Emperor's favor was a life of gain,
His anger roused was like a
scorching fire.
And thus he sent them from his presence out,
To
think upon his words, till he again,
And soon, should come in power
to Ephesus.
So passed they from his presence, but the world
Loves not the men
who are unloved of kings.
The silversmiths that made the idol shrines,

Raised, as of old, a tumult, and the youths
Fled secretly, and
sought a refuge safe
Among the mountain heights near Ephesus;

And there within a hidden cave they dwelt,
While Malchus (one of
them, but lately come
To Ephesus) brought food to them by night.
Ye deem their lives were sad? Oh they were blest,
On wings of prayer
the hours went lightly by;
And oft, when day was spent, toward
eventide
Came one into their midst, who brake to them

Celestial

bread for their deep hungering.
Till, lo! again with martial pomp and
pride,
The haughty Decius came to Ephesus,
And by the whisper of
a faithless spy,
He learnt the guarded secret of the cave,
'Gainst
which a massive wall the tyrant built,
And so the hiding-place
became a tomb.
"They are not dead but sleeping," for the Lord
Hath sent His angel
who hath touched their eyes,
And sweetly as a child at evening,
dreams
Upon his mother's bosom, lulled to rest
By the soft pulsings
of her gentle heart,
So rested well the brave Ephesian youths,--

Guarded by angels, while celestial light
Filled the lone cave and
made its rocky bounds
Invisible; and thus they might have seen,

(But that their eyes were closed in heavenly sleep)
The bright stars
drifting on the ethereal tide,--
The moon at quarter, like a golden boat

Rock onward to its changing destiny--
The great sun, rising from
the under-world,
Blanch all the planets with his fiery rays.
Beneath
them were the blue Aegean sea,
Miletus, and the proud Ephesus,
where
Rose the world's miracle of marble white,
The Temple of the
goddess worshiped there.
Day follows night and night the busy day;

The generations come and go apace,
The child hath left his toys,
and in the whirl
Of years is now a grandsire by the hearth,
And now
hath passed away and is forgot.
Two hundred years are fled, when, lo!
one day
A mason finds the moss-grown wall of stone
Built by the
cruel Decius, strong and high,
And knowing not it is a sepulchre,

He quarries it to build a palace wall.
And so the light of day beams in
again
Upon the youths, who wake to grateful prayer
That blessed
day has come so soon again,
(For all their sleep seemed but an hour's
delight)
And Malchus, cautiously descends the mount,

To buy their
bread in pagan Ephesus.
Yet much he fears the tyrant Decius
And
the rough buffets of the Roman Guard.
When, lo! descending to the
city's gate,
He sees a golden cross thereon upreared;
And passing
through the portals in a daze,
He wanders on in wonder through the
ways.
Where are the images of all the gods--
The silver semblance

of Diana fair?
He sees them not, but everywhere he views
The
sacred symbol of the Savior's death,
And hears the name of Christ on
every tongue.
At last he enters in where bread is sold,
And gives in
payment there a silver coin.
"It is an ancient coin," the baker said,

"And bears the image of old Decius."
"Nay you but jest," said
Malchus, "where is he?"
"Dead these two hundred years," the man
replied,
And, deeming that the youth had lost his mind,
He sent him
to the Bishop of the town.
The Bishop heard the marvelous story
through,
And being deeply learned in history,
Recalled the memory
of the noble seven
And their sad fate in days of Decius.
Then
coming to the rocky mountain cave,
(Led up by Malchus all the
winding way,)
He witnessed all the truth of what was told.
Nor
lacked he faith in God, for he believed
All wondrous things with Him
were possible.
But ere by letter he could tell the tale
Unto the
Christian Emperor, the youths
Sank into blessed dreams again, and
waked
Within a crystal city where was peace.

I think we all are dreamers like the seven;
The morning rises from her
silver throne
And smiles upon the hours we call our own.
The
minutes brim like drops of golden wine
O'er Life's o'erflowing cup;
we see the shine
Of perfect day on every path we scan;
And Fame's
fair vaulted Temple on the span
Of rainbow arches is upheld--and
gleams
In every future of our boyhood dreams.
But while we follow
every promise sweet,
With buoyant hearts and lightly springing feet,

To where some joy untasted yet awaits,--
We hear the solemn
sound of closing gates;
And driven by Care, we