Custer | Page 9

may smile, or thrice, thy soul to fire,?In passing by, but when she turns her face,?Thou must persist and seek her with desire,?If thou wouldst win the favor of her grace.
And if, like some winged bird she cleaves the air,?And leaves thee spent and stricken on the earth,?Still must thou strive to follow even there,?That she may know thy valor and thy worth.
Then shall she come unveiling all her charms,?Giving thee joy for pain, and smiles for tears;?Then shalt thou clasp her with possessing arms,?The while she murmurs music in thine ears.
But ere her kiss has faded from thy cheek,?She shall flee from thee over hill and glade,?So must thou seek and ever seek and seek?For each new conquest of this phantom maid.
=The Wish=
Should some great angel say to me to-morrow,?"Thou must re-tread thy pathway from the start,?But God will grant, in pity, for thy sorrow,?Some one dear wish, the nearest to thy heart."
This were my wish! from my life's dim beginning?_Let be what has been!_ wisdom planned the whole;?My want, my woe, my errors, and my sinning,?All, all were needed lessons for my soul.
=Three Friends=
Of all the blessings which my life has known,?I value most, and most praise God for three:?Want, Loneliness and Pain, those comrades true,
Who, masqueraded in the garb of foes?For many a year, and filled my heart with dread.?Yet fickle joys, like false, pretentious friends,?Have proved less worthy than this trio. First,
Want taught me labor, led me up the steep?And toilsome paths to hills of pure delight,?Trod only by the feet that know fatigue,?And yet press on until the heights appear.
Then loneliness and hunger of the heart?Sent me upreaching to the realms of space,?Till all the silences grew eloquent,?And all their loving forces hailed me friend.
Last, pain taught prayer! placed in my hand the staff?Of close communion with the over-soul,?That I might lean upon it till the end,?And find myself made strong for any strife.
And then these three who had pursued my steps?Like stern, relentless foes, year after year,?Unmasked, and turned their faces full on me,?And lo! they were divinely beautiful,?For through them shone the lustrous eyes of Love.
=You Never Can Tell=
You never can tell when you send a word,?Like an arrow shot from a bow?By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,?Just where it may chance to go.?It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend.?Tipped with its poison or balm,?To a stranger's heart in life's great mart,?It may carry its pain or its calm.
You never can tell when you do an act?Just what the result will be;?But with every deed you are sowing a seed,?Though the harvest you may not see.?Each kindly act is an acorn dropped?In God's productive soil?You may not know, but the tree shall grow,?With shelter for those who toil.
You never can tell what your thoughts will do,?In bringing you hate or love;?For thoughts are things, and their airy wings?Are swifter than carrier doves.?They follow the law of the universe--?Each thing must create its kind,?And they speed o'er the track to bring you back?_Whatever went out from your mind_.
=Here And Now=
Here, in the heart of the world,?Here, in the noise and the din,?Here, where our spirits were hurled?To battle with sorrow and sin,?This is the place and the spot?For knowledge of infinite things;?This is the kingdom where Thought?Can conquer the prowess of kings.
Wait for no heavenly life,?Seek for no temple alone;?Here, in the midst of the strife,?Know what the sages have known.?See what the Perfect Ones saw--?God in the depth of each soul,?God as the light and the law,?God as beginning and goal.
Earth is one chamber of Heaven,?Death is no grander than birth.?Joy in the life that was given,?Strive for perfection on earth.?Here, in the turmoil and roar,?Show what it is to be calm;?Show how the spirit can soar?And bring back its healing and balm.
Stand not aloof nor apart,?Plunge in the thick of the fight.?There in the street and the mart,?That is the place to do right.?Not in some cloister or cave,?Not in some kingdom above,?Here, on this side of the grave,?Here, should we labor and love.
=Unconquered=
However skilled and strong art thou, my foe,?However fierce is thy relentless hate?Though firm thy hand, and strong thy aim, and straight?Thy poisoned arrow leaves the bended bow,?To pierce the target of my heart, ah! know?I am the master yet of my own fate.?Thou canst not rob me of my best estate,?Though fortune, fame and friends, yea love shall go.
Not to the dust shall my true self be hurled;?Nor shall I meet thy worst assaults dismayed.?When all things in the balance are well weighed,?There is but one great danger in the world--?_Thou canst not force my soul to wish thee ill_,?That is the only evil that can kill.
=All That Love Asks=
"All that I ask," says Love, "is just to stand?And gaze, unchided, deep in