Legends and Lyrics, Pt 2 | Page 6

sigh of pain,
Would sorrow for her loitering: with a
prayer
That the poor beggar, in her wild despair,
Might not have
come to any ill; and when
She ended, "God forgive her!" humbly
then
Did Angela bow her head, and say "Amen!"
How pitiful her
heart was! all could trace
Something that dimmed the brightness of
her face
After that day, which none had seen before;
Not
trouble--but a shadow--nothing more.
Years passed away. Then, one dark day of dread

Saw all the sisters
kneeling round a bed,
Where Angela lay dying; every breath

Struggling beneath the heavy hand of death.
But suddenly a flush lit
up her cheek,
She raised her wan right hand, and strove to speak.
In
sorrowing love they listened; not a sound
Or sigh disturbed the utter

silence round.
The very tapers' flames were scarcely stirred,
In such
hushed awe the sisters knelt and heard.
And through that silence
Angela told her life:
Her sin, her flight; the sorrow and the strife,

And the return; and then clear, low and calm,
"Praise God for me, my
sisters;" and the psalm
Rang up to heaven, far and clear and wide,

Again and yet again, then sank and died;
While her white face had
such a smile of peace,
They saw she never heard the music cease;

And weeping sisters laid her in her tomb,
Crowned with a wreath of
perfumed hawthorn bloom.
And thus the Legend ended. It may be
Something is hidden in the
mystery,
Besides the lesson of God's pardon shown,
Never enough
believed, or asked, or known.
Have we not all, amid life's petty strife,

Some pure ideal of a noble life
That once seemed possible? Did we
not hear
The flutter of its wings, and feel it near,
And just within
our reach? It was. And yet
We lost it in this daily jar and fret,
And
now live idle in a vague regret.
But still OUR PLACE IS KEPT, and
it will wait,
Ready for us to fill it, soon or late:
No star is ever lost
we once have seen,
We always may be what we might have been.

Since Good, though only thought, has life and breath,
God's life--can
always be redeemed from death;
And evil, in its nature, is decay,

And any hour can blot it all away;
The hopes that lost in some far
distance seem,
May be the truer life, and this the dream.
VERSE: ENVY
He was the first always: Fortune
Shone bright in his face.
I fought
for years; with no effort
He conquered the place:
We ran; my feet
were all bleeding,
But he won the race.
Spite of his many successes
Men loved him the same;
My one pale
ray of good fortune
Met scoffing and blame.
When we erred, they
gave him pity,
But me--only shame.

My home was still in the shadow,
His lay in the sun:
I longed in
vain: what he asked for
It straightway was done.
Once I staked all
my heart's treasure,
We played--and he won.
Yes; and just now I have seen him,
Cold, smiling, and blest,
Laid in
his coffin. God help me!
While he is at rest,
I am cursed still to
live:- even
Death loved him the best.
VERSE: OVER THE MOUNTAIN
Like dreary prison walls
The stern grey mountains rise,
Until their
topmost crags
Touch the far gloomy skies:
One steep and narrow
path
Winds up the mountain's crest,
And from our valley leads

Out to the golden West.
I dwell here in content,
Thankful for tranquil days;
And yet, my
eyes grow dim,
As still I gaze and gaze
Upon that mountain pass,

That leads--or so it seems -
To some far happy land,
Known in a
world of dreams.
And as I watch that path
Over the distant hill,
A foolish longing
comes
My heart and soul to fill,
A painful, strange desire
To
break some weary bond,
A vague unuttered wish
For what might lie
beyond!
In that far world unknown,
Over that distant hill,
May dwell the
loved and lost,
Lost--yet beloved still;
I have a yearning hope,

Half longing, and half pain,
That by that mountain pass
They may
return again.
Space may keep friends apart,
Death has a mighty thrall;

There is
another gulf
Harder to cross than all;
Yet watching that far road,

My heart beats full and fast -
If they should come once more,
If
they should come at last!

See, down the mountain side
The silver vapours creep;
They hide
the rocky cliffs.
They hide the craggy steep,
They hide the narrow
path
That comes across the hill -
Oh, foolish longing, cease,
Oh,
beating Heart, be still!
VERSE: BEYOND
We must not doubt, or fear, or dread, that love for life is only given,

And that the calm and sainted dead will meet estranged and cold in
heaven:-
Oh, Love were poor and vain indeed, based on so harsh and
stern a creed.
True that this earth must pass away, with all the starry worlds of light,

With all the glory of the day, and calmer tenderness of night; For, in
that radiant home can shine alone the immortal and divine.
Earth's lower things--her pride, her fame, her science, learning, wealth
and power -
Slow growths that through long ages came, or fruits of
some convulsive hour,
Whose very memory must decay--Heaven is
too pure for such as they.
They are complete: their work is done. So