Legends and Lyrics, Pt 2 | Page 7

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 one.
Arouse him then:- this is thy part:?Show him the claim; point out the need;?And nerve his arm, and cheer his heart;?Then stand aside, and say "God speed!"
Smooth thou his path ere it is trod;?Burnish the arms that he must wield;?And pray, with all thy strength, that God?May crown him Victor of the field.
And then, I think, thy soul shall feel?A nobler thrill of true content,?Than if presumptuous, eager zeal?Had seized a crown for others meant.
And even that very deed shall shine?In mystic sense, divine and true,?More wholly and more purely thine -?Because it is another's too.
VERSE: A LOST CHORD
Seated