Legends and Lyrics, Pt 1 | Page 9

vain,?That bright friendly smile has sent me?Boldly to my task again.
Sometimes when hard need has pressed me?To bow down where I despise,?I have read stern words of counsel?In those sad reproachful eyes.
Nothing that my brain imagined,?Or my weary hand has wrought,?But it watched the dim Idea?Spring forth into armed Thought.
It has smiled on my successes,?Raised me when my hopes were low,?And by turns has looked upon me?With all the loving eyes I know.
Do you wonder that my picture?Has become so like a friend? -?It has seen my life's beginnings,?It shall stay and cheer the end!
VERSE: JUDGE NOT
Judge not; the workings of his brain?And of his heart thou canst not see;?What looks to thy dim eyes a stain,?In God's pure light may only be?A scar, brought from some well-won field,?Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.
The look, the air, that frets thy sight,?May be a token, that below?The soul has closed in deadly fight?With some infernal fiery foe,?Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace,?And cast thee shuddering on thy face!
The fall thou darest to despise -?May be the angel's slackened hand?Has suffered it, that he may rise?And take a firmer, surer stand;?Or, trusting less to earthly things,?May henceforth learn to use his wings.
And judge none lost; but wait, and see,?With hopeful pity, not disdain;?The depth of the abyss may be?The measure of the height of pain?And love and glory that may raise?This soul to God in after days!
VERSE: FRIEND SORROW
Do not cheat thy Heart and tell her,?"Grief will pass away,?Hope for fairer times in future,?And forget to-day." -?Tell her, if you will, that sorrow?Need not come in vain;?Tell her that the lesson taught her?Far outweighs the pain.
Cheat her not with the old comfort,?"Soon she will forget" -?Bitter truth, alas--but matter?Rather for regret;?Bid her not "Seek other pleasures,?Turn to other things:" -?Rather nurse her caged sorrow?'Till the captive sings.
Rather bid her go forth bravely.?And the stranger greet;?Not as foe, with spear and buckler,?But as dear friends meet;?Bid her with a strong clasp hold her,?By her dusky wings -?Listening for the murmured blessing?Sorrow always brings.
VERSE: ONE BY ONE
One by one the sands are flowing,?One by one the moments fall;?Some are coming, some are going;?Do not strive to grasp them all.
One by one thy duties wait thee,?Let thy whole strength go to each,?Let no future dreams elate thee,?Learn thou first what these can teach.
One by one (bright gifts from Heaven)?Joys are sent thee here below;?Take them readily when given,?Ready too to let them go.
One by one thy griefs shall meet thee,?Do not fear an armed band;?One will fade as others greet thee;?Shadows passing through the land.
Do not look at life's long sorrow;?See how small each moment's pain;?God will help thee for to-morrow,?So each day begin again.
Every hour that fleets so slowly?Has its task to do or bear;?Luminous the crown, and holy,?When each gem is set with care.
Do not linger with regretting,?Or for passing hours despond;?Nor, the daily toil forgetting,?Look too eagerly beyond.
Hours are golden links, God's token,?Reaching Heaven; but one by one?Take them, lest the chain be broken?Ere the pilgrimage be done.
VERSE: TRUE HONOURS
Is my darling tired already,?Tired of her day of play??Draw your little stool beside me,?Smooth this tangled hair away.?Can she put the logs together,?Till they make a cheerful blaze??Shall her blind old Uncle tell her?Something of his youthful days?
Hark! The wind among the cedars?Waves their white arms to and fro;?I remember how I watched them?Sixty Christmas Days ago:?Then I dreamt a glorious vision?Of great deeds to crown each year -?Sixty Christmas Days have found me?Useless, helpless, blind--and here!
Yes, I feel my darling stealing?Warm soft fingers into mine -?Shall I tell her what I fancied?In that strange old dream of mine??I was kneeling by the window,?Reading how a noble band,?With the red cross on their breast-plates,?Went to gain the Holy Land.
While with eager eyes of wonder?Over the dark page I bent,?Slowly twilight shadows gathered?Till the letters came and went;?Slowly, till the night was round me;?Then my heart beat loud and fast,?For I felt before I saw it?That a spirit near me passed.
Then I raised my eyes, and shining?Where the moon's first ray was bright?Stood a winged Angel-warrior?Clothed and panoplied in light:?So, with Heaven's love upon him,?Stern in calm and resolute will,?Looked St. Michael--does the picture?Hang in the old cloister still?
Threefold were the dreams of honour?That absorbed my heart and brain;?Threefold crowns the Angel promised,?Each one to be bought by pain:?While he spoke, a threefold blessing?Fell upon my soul like rain.?HELPER OF THE POOR AND SUFFERING;?VICTOR IN A GLORIOUS STRIFE;?SINGER OF A NOBLE POEM:?Such the honours of my life.
Ah, that dream! Long years that gave me?Joy and grief as real things?Never touched the tender memory?Sweet and solemn that it brings -?Never quite effaced the feeling?Of those white and shadowing wings.
Do those blue eyes open wider??Does my faith too foolish seem??Yes, my darling, years