Legends and Lyrics, Pt 2 | Page 7

let them sleep in endless rest.

Love's life is only here begun, nor is, nor can be, fully blest; It has no
room to spread its wings, amid this crowd of meaner things.
Just for the very shadow thrown upon its sweetness here below, The
cross that it must bear alone, and bloody baptism of woe, Crowned and
completed through its pain, we know that it shall rise again.
So if its flame burn pure and bright, here, where our air is dark and
dense,
And nothing in this world of night lives with a living so
intense; When it shall reach its home at length--how bright its light!
how strong its strength!
And while the vain weak loves of earth (for such base counterfeits
abound)
Shall perish with what gave them birth--their graves are
green and fresh around,
No funeral song shall need to rise, for the

true Love that never dies.
If in my heart I now could fear that, risen again, we should not know

What was our Life of Life when here--the hearts we loved so much
below;
I would arise this very day, and cast so poor a thing away.
But Love is no such soulless clod: living, perfected it shall rise
Transfigured in the light of God, and giving glory to the skies: And that
which makes this life so sweet, shall render Heaven's joy complete.
VERSE: A WARNING
Place your hands in mine, dear,
With their rose-leaf touch:
If you
heed my warning,
It will spare you much.
Ah! with just such smiling
Unbelieving eyes,
Years ago I heard it:-

You shall be more wise.
You have one great treasure
Joy for all your life;
Do not let it perish

In one reckless strife.
Do not venture all, child,
In one frail, weak heart;
So, through any
shipwreck,
You may save a part.
Where your soul is tempted
Most to trust your fate,
There, with
double caution,
Linger, fear, and wait.
Measure all you give--still
Counting what you take;
Love for love:
so placing
Each an equal stake.
Treasure love; though ready
Still to live without.
In your fondest
trust, keep
Just one thread of doubt.
Build on no to-morrow;
Love has but to-day:
If the links seem
slackening,
Cut the bond away.

Trust no prayer nor promise;
Words are grains of sand;
To keep
your heart unbroken,
Hold it in your hand.
That your love may finish
Calm as it begun,
Learn this lesson better,

Dear, than I have done.
Years hence, perhaps, this warning
You shall give again,
In just the
self-same words, dear,
And--just as much--in vain.
VERSE: MAXIMUS
Many, if God should make them kings,
Might not disgrace the throne
He gave;
How few who could as well fulfil
The holier office of a
slave.
I hold him great who, for Love's sake
Can give, with generous,
earnest will, -
Yet he who takes for Love's sweet sake,
I think I hold
more generous still.
I prize the instinct that can turn
From vain pretence with proud
disdain;
Yet more I prize a simple heart;
Paying credulity with pain.
I bow before the noble mind
That freely some great wrong forgives;

Yet nobler is the one forgiven,
Who bears that burden well, and
lives.
It may be hard to gain, and still
To keep a lowly steadfast heart
Yet
he who loses has to fill
A harder and a truer part.
Glorious it is to wear the crown
Of a deserved and pure success; -

He who knows how to fail has won
A Crown whose lustre is not less.
Great may he be who can command
And rule with just and tender
sway;
Yet is diviner wisdom taught
Better by him who can obey.
Blessed are those who die for God,
And earn the Martyr's crown of

light -
Yet he who lives for God may be
A greater Conqueror in His
sight.
VERSE: OPTIMUS
There is a deep and subtle snare
Whose sure temptation hardly fails,

Which, just because it looks so fair,
Only a noble heart assails.
So all the more we need be strong
Against this false and seeming
Right;
Which none the less is deadly wrong,
Because it glitters
clothed in light.
When duties unfulfilled remain,
Or noble works are left unplanned,

Or when great deeds cry out in vain
On coward heart and trembling
hand, -
Then will a seeming Angel speak: -
"The hours are fleeting--great the
need -
If thou art strong and others weak,
Thine be the effort and
the deed.
"Deaf are their ears who ought to hear;
Idle their hands, and dull their
soul;
While sloth, or ignorance, or fear,
Fetters them with a blind
control.
"Sort thou the tangled web aright;
Take thou the toil--take thou the
pain:
For fear the hour begin its flight,
While Right and Duty plead
in vain."
And now it is I bid thee pause,
Nor let this Tempter bend thy will:

There are diviner, truer laws
That teach a nobler lesson still.
Learn that each duty makes its claim
Upon one soul: not each on all.

How, if God speaks thy Brother's name,
Dare thou make answer to
the call?
The greater peril in the strife,
The less this evil should be done;
For

as in battle, so in life,
Danger and honour still are