Poems of Nature, part 6, Religious Poems 2 | Page 8

of fatherhood, forsake?And curse His children? Not for earth and heaven?Can separate tables of the law be given.?No rule can bind which He himself denies;?The truths of time are not eternal lies."
So heard I; and the chaos round me spread?To light and order grew; and, "Lord," I said,?"Our sins are our tormentors, worst of all?Felt in distrustful shame that dares not call?Upon Thee as our Father. We have set?A strange god up, but Thou remainest yet.?All that I feel of pity Thou hast known?Before I was; my best is all Thy own.?From Thy great heart of goodness mine but drew?Wishes and prayers; but Thou, O Lord, wilt do,?In Thy own time, by ways I cannot see,?All that I feel when I am nearest Thee!"?1873.
THE FRIEND'S BURIAL.
My thoughts are all in yonder town,?Where, wept by many tears,?To-day my mother's friend lays down?The burden of her years.
True as in life, no poor disguise?Of death with her is seen,?And on her simple casket lies?No wreath of bloom and green.
Oh, not for her the florist's art,?The mocking weeds of woe;?Dear memories in each mourner's heart?Like heaven's white lilies blow.
And all about the softening air?Of new-born sweetness tells,?And the ungathered May-flowers wear?The tints of ocean shells.
The old, assuring miracle?Is fresh as heretofore;?And earth takes up its parable?Of life from death once more.
Here organ-swell and church-bell toll?Methinks but discord were;?The prayerful silence of the soul?Is best befitting her.
No sound should break the quietude?Alike of earth and sky?O wandering wind in Seabrook wood,?Breathe but a half-heard sigh!
Sing softly, spring-bird, for her sake;?And thou not distant sea,?Lapse lightly as if Jesus spake,?And thou wert Galilee!
For all her quiet life flowed on?As meadow streamlets flow,?Where fresher green reveals alone?The noiseless ways they go.
From her loved place of prayer I see?The plain-robed mourners pass,?With slow feet treading reverently?The graveyard's springing grass.
Make room, O mourning ones, for me,?Where, like the friends of Paul,?That you no more her face shall see?You sorrow most of all.
Her path shall brighten more and more?Unto the perfect day;?She cannot fail of peace who bore?Such peace with her away.
O sweet, calm face that seemed to wear?The look of sins forgiven!?O voice of prayer that seemed to bear?Our own needs up to heaven!
How reverent in our midst she stood,?Or knelt in grateful praise!?What grace of Christian womanhood?Was in her household ways!
For still her holy living meant?No duty left undone;?The heavenly and the human blent?Their kindred loves in one.
And if her life small leisure found?For feasting ear and eye,?And Pleasure, on her daily round,?She passed unpausing by,
Yet with her went a secret sense?Of all things sweet and fair,?And Beauty's gracious providence?Refreshed her unaware.
She kept her line of rectitude?With love's unconscious ease;?Her kindly instincts understood?All gentle courtesies.
An inborn charm of graciousness?Made sweet her smile and tone,?And glorified her farm-wife dress?With beauty not its own.
The dear Lord's best interpreters?Are humble human souls;?The Gospel of a life like hers?Is more than books or scrolls.
From scheme and creed the light goes out,?The saintly fact survives;?The blessed Master none can doubt?Revealed in holy lives.?1873.
A CHRISTMAS CARMEN.
I.?Sound over all waters, reach out from all lands,?The chorus of voices, the clasping of hands;?Sing hymns that were sung by the stars of the morn,?Sing songs of the angels when Jesus was born!?With glad jubilations?Bring hope to the nations?The dark night is ending and dawn has begun?Rise, hope of the ages, arise like the sun,?All speech flow to music, all hearts beat as one!
II.?Sing the bridal of nations! with chorals of love?Sing out the war-vulture and sing in the dove,?Till the hearts of the peoples keep time in accord,?And the voice of the world is the voice of the Lord!?Clasp hands of the nations?In strong gratulations:?The dark night is ending and dawn has begun;?Rise, hope of the ages, arise like the sun,?All speech flow to music, all hearts beat as one!
III.?Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace;?East, west, north, and south let the long quarrel cease?Sing the song of great joy that the angels began,?Sing of glory to God and of good-will to man!?Hark! joining in chorus?The heavens bend o'er us'?The dark night is ending and dawn has begun;?Rise, hope of the ages, arise like the sun,?All speech flow to music, all hearts beat as one!?1873.
VESTA.
O Christ of God! whose life and death?Our own have reconciled,?Most quietly, most tenderly?Take home Thy star-named child!
Thy grace is in her patient eyes,?Thy words are on her tongue;?The very silence round her seems?As if the angels sung.
Her smile is as a listening child's?Who hears its mother call;?The lilies of Thy perfect peace?About her pillow fall.
She leans from out our clinging arms?To rest herself in Thine;?Alone to Thee, dear Lord, can we?Our well-beloved resign!
Oh, less for her than for ourselves?We bow our heads and pray;?Her setting star, like Bethlehem's,?To Thee shall point the way!?1874.
CHILD-SONGS.
Still linger in our noon of time?And on our