Now thou hast come, a King in state,
Know me, the beggar at the gate,
Who followed once thy star.
Know me, the beggar at the gate,
Who followed once thy star.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v28 - Songs, Hymns, Lyrics
”
If I ask him to receive me,
Will he say me nay?
“Not till earth, and not till heaven,
Pass away. ”
Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is he sure to bless ?
«Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, Yes. ”
ST. STEPHEN THE SABAITE.
Translation of John Mason Neale.
THE GUEST
[Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him; and he with me. ]
PEECHLESS Sorrow sat with me;
I was sighing wearily.
Lamp and fire were out; the rain
Wildly beat the window-pane.
S"
## p. 16893 (#593) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16893
In the dark we heard a knock,
And a hand was on the lock:
One in waiting spake to me,
Saying sweetly,
"I am come to sup with thee ! »
All my room was dark and damp:
“Sorrow,” said I, “trim the lamp;
Light the fire, and cheer thy face;
Set the guest-chair in its place. ”
And again I heard the knock;
In the dark I found the lock:-
“Enter! I have turned the key!
Enter, Stranger,
Who art come to sup with me! ”
Opening wide the door He came,
But I could not speak his name;
In the guest-chair took his place,
But I could not see his face!
When my cheerful fire was beaming,
When my little lamp was gleaming,
And the feast was spread for three,
Lo! my Master
Was the Guest that supped with me!
HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL.
I HOLD STILL
PR
Ain's furnace heat within me quivers,
God's breath upon the flame doth blow,
And all my heart in anguish shivers,
And trembles at the fiery glow:
And yet I whisper, As God will!
And in his hottest fire hold still.
He comes and lays my heart, all heated,
On the hard anvil, minded so
Into his own fair shape to beat it
With his great hammer, blow on blow:
And yet I whisper, As God will!
And at his heaviest blows hold still.
## p. 16894 (#594) ##########################################
16894
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
He takes my softened heart and beats it, -
The sparks fly off at every blow;
He turns it o'er and o'er, and heats it,
And lets it cool, and makes it glow:
And yet I whisper, As God will!
And, in his mighty hand, hold still.
Why should I murmur? for the sorrow
Thus only longer-lived would be;
Its end may come, and will, to-morrow,
When God has done his work in me:
So I say, trusting, As God will!
And, trusting to the end, hold still.
He kindles for my profit purely
Affliction's glowing fiery brand,
And all his heaviest blows are surely
Inflicted by a Master-hand:
So I say, praying, As God will!
And hope in him, and suffer still.
Julius STURM (German).
WISHES AND PRAYERS
0
UR wishes and our prayers are not
Always the same;
Alas! we often wish for what
We dare not name.
We strive to pray with bitter tears
For what we should,
But sadder than all else appears
The prayed-for good.
Lord! pardon me if I deplore
My granted prayer:
Lord, what thou taught'st me to pray for,
Teach me to bear.
MARGARET DELAND.
## p. 16895 (#595) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16895
MILTON'S PRAYER OF PATIENCE
I
AM old and blind!
Men point at me as smitten by God's frown,
Afflicted and deserted of my kind;
Yet am I not cast down.
I am weak, yet strong;
I murmur not that I no longer see:
Poor, old, and helpless, I the more belong,
Father Supreme! to thee.
All-merciful One!
When men are furthest, then art thou most near;
When friends pass by, my weaknesses to shun,
Thy chariot I hear.
Thy glorious face
Is leaning toward me; and its holy light
Shines in upon my lonely dwelling-place, -
And there is no more night.
On my bended knee
I recognize thy purpose clearly shown:
My vision thou hast dimmed, that I may see
Thyself - thyself alone.
I have naught to fear:
This darkness is the shadow of thy wing;
Beneath it I am almost sacred; here
Can come no evil thing.
Oh, I seem to stand
Trembling, where foot of mortal ne'er hath been,
Wrapped in that radiance from the sinless land
Which eye hath never seen!
Visions come and go:
Shapes of resplendent beauty round me throng;
From angel lips I seem to hear the flow
Of soft and holy song.
It is nothing now,
When heaven is opening on my sightless eyes,
When airs from Paradise refresh my brow,
That earth in darkness lies.
## p. 16896 (#596) ##########################################
16896
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
In a purer clime
My being fills with rapture,- waves of thought
Roll in upon my spirit,- strains sublime
Break over me unsought.
Give me now a lyre!
I feel the stirrings of a gift divine:
Within my bosom glows unearthly fire,
Lit by no skill of mine.
ELIZABETH LLOYD HOWELL.
THE VOYAGE
HICHEVER way the wind doth blow,
Some heart is glad to have it so;
Then blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows, that wind is best.
W*
My little craft sails not alone:
A thousand feets from every zone
Are out upon a thousand seas;
And what for me were favoring breeze
Might dash another, with the shock
Of doom, upon some hidden rock.
And so I do not dare to pray
For winds to waft me on my way,
But leave it to a Higher Will
To stay or speed me; trusting still
That all is well, and sure that He
Who launched my bark will sail with me
Through storm and calm, and will not fail,
Whatever breezes may prevail,
To land me, every peril past,
Within his sheltering heaven at last.
Then, whatsoever wind doth blow,
My heart is glad to have it so;
And blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows, that wind is best.
CAROLINE ATHERTON MASON.
## p. 16897 (#597) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16897
THE WILL OF GOD
1
WORSHIP thee, sweet will of God!
And all thy ways adore;
And every day I live, I seem
To love thee more and more.
Thou wert the end, the blessed rule,
Of our Savior's toils and tears;
Thou wert the passion of his heart
Those three-and-thirty years.
And he hath breathed into my soul
A special love of thee -
A love to lose my will in his,
And by that loss be free.
He always wins who sides with God;
To him no chance is lost:
God's will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.
When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison-walls to be,
I do the little I can do,
And leave the rest to thee.
FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER.
NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE
TAK
AKE thou the heart I cannot give;
Take that which is thine own.
To give, to take, to will, to do,
Is thine, and thine alone.
Yet, leaning on th' upholding arm,
I trust, but cannot see;
Help me, as of myself, to stretch
My helpless hands to thee.
And when thon hast received thine own,
Oh, keep it, Lord, I pray;
And save me from the wayward will
That seeks a wider way.
XXVIII-1057
## p. 16898 (#598) ##########################################
16898
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
If ever, before adverse winds,
Between the cloud and sea,
I- at the mercy of my heart -
Am drifting far from thee;
Light of all tempted souls, be mine,
Till, sea and desert passed,
Safe in thy circling love I find
My anchorage at last!
M. A. L.
THE THINGS I MISS
A
N EASY thing, O Power Divine,
To thank thee for these gifts of thine!
For summer's sunshine, winter's snow,
For hearts that kindle, thoughts that glow.
But when shall I attain to this, -
To thank thee for the things I miss ?
For all young Fancy's early gleams,
The dreamed-of joys that still are dreams,
Hopes unfulfilled, and pleasures known
Through others' fortunes, not my own,
And blessings seen that are not given,
And never will be, this side heaven.
Had I too shared the joys I see,
Would there have been a heaven for me?
Could I have felt thy presence near,
Had I possessed what I held dear?
My deepest fortune, highest bliss,
Have grown perchance from things I miss.
Sometimes there comes an hour of calm ;
Grief turns to blessing, pain to balm;
A Power that works above my will
Still leads me onward, upward still:
And then my heart attains to this, -
To thank thee for the things I miss.
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.
## p. 16899 (#599) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16899
«THOUGH NAUGHT THEY MAY TO OTHERS BE »
I
F in these thoughts of mine that now assuage
The tedium of the toilsome life I live,
The few who chance to notice should perceive
Nothing their lasting interest to engage,
And quickly cease to turn the farther page, -
It were a shameful thing if I should grieve.
For if kind Destiny has chosen to give
To other minds, in many a clime and age,
Days brighter than my hours, should I repine ?
And what if by an over-hasty glance
Some import be not heeded, or, perchance,
Too dim a light upon the pages shine ?
Would I be wronged, even though the wealth I own,
And not the less enjoy, were all unknown?
GEORGE MCKNIGHT.
THE ABBÉ'S DREAM
T"
HE Abbé Michael dreamed one night
That heaven was open to his sight;
And first among the radiant throng
Which filled the streets with praise and song,
He saw a man whose reckless. might
Had seamed his earthly life with wrong.
The Abbé saw not streets of gold,
Or splendid mansions manifold,
Or sea of glass, or jewels rare,
Or pearly gates beyond compare,
Or hosts of angels richly stoled;
He only saw this sinner there!
The hymns of triumph reached his ears,
But brought no solace for his tears;
Peace from his jealous soul had flown:
“My life is spent for God alone,”
He cried; and yet this man appears
Among the nearest to the throne. ”
((
»
(
But ere he woke he heard a voice,
Which said unto his heart, “Rejoice!
The diamond which is full of light
Was once a coal as black as night!
## p. 16900 (#600) ##########################################
16900
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Judge not the means which God employs
To make the wrong bloom into right. ”
NATHAN HASKELL DOLE.
TAKE MY LIFE
TA
WAKE my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord to thee.
Take my moments and my days:
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift, and beautiful for thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold:
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it thine:
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart: it is thine own;
It shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love: my Lord, I pour
At thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee.
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL
## p. 16901 (#601) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16901
JUSTICE
A
HUNDRED noble wishes fill my heart:
I long to help each soul in need of aid;
In all good works my zeal would have its part,
Before no weight of toil it stands afraid.
But noble wishes are not noble deeds,
And he does least who seeks to do the whole:
Who works the best, his simplest duties heeds;
Who moves the world, first moves a single soul.
Then go, my heart, thy plainest work begin;
Do first not what thou canst, but what thou must;
Build not upon a corner-stone of sin,
Nor seek great works until thou first be just.
CHARLES FRANCIS RICHARDSON.
LOVE AND HUMILITY
F
AR have I clambered in my mind,
But naught so great as love I find:
Deep-searching wit, mount-moving might,
Are naught compared to that good sprite.
Life of delight, and soul of bliss!
Sure source of asting happiness!
Higher than heaven! lower than hell!
What is thy tent? Where mayst thou dwell ?
My mansion hight humility,
Heaven's vastest capability.
The further it doth downward bend,
The higher up it doth ascend;
If it go down to utmost naught,
It shall return with what it sought.
Could I demolish with mine eye
Strong towers; stop the fleet stars in sky,
Bring down to earth the pale-faced moon,
Or turn black midnight to bright noon;
Though all things were put in my hand, -
As parched, as dry, as Libyan sand
Would be my life, if Charity
Were wanting. But Humility
## p. 16902 (#602) ##########################################
16902
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Is more than my poor soul durst crave,
That lies entombed in lowly grave.
But if 'twere lawful up to send
My voice to heaven, this should it rend:
Lord, thrust me deeper into dust,
That thou mayst raise me with the just.
HENRY MORE.
CONSCIENCE
T.
HE friend I loved betrayed my trust
And bowed my spirit to the dust.
I keep the hurt he gave, yet know
He was forgiven long ago.
From him I did not merit ill;
But I would bear injustice still,
Content, could years of guiltless woe
Undo the wrong I did my foe.
FLORENCE EARLE COATES.
CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE
(
“G
OOD-By,” I said to my Conscience-
“Good-by for aye and aye;)
And I put her hands off harshly,
And turned my face away:
And Conscience, smitten sorely,
Returned not from that day.
But a time came when my spirit
Grew weary of its pace:
And I cried, “Come back, my Conscience,
I long to see thy face; »
But Conscience cried, “I cannot,-
Remorse sits in my place. ”
PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR.
## p. 16903 (#603) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16903
THE HOUSE OF HATE
INE enemy builded well, with the soft blue hills in sight;
But betwixt his house and the hills I builded a house for spite:
And the name thereof I set in the stonework over the gate,
With a carving of bats and apes; and I called it the House of Hate.
M"
And the front was alive with masks of malice and of despair;
Horned demons that leered in stone, and women with serpent hair:
That whenever his glance would rest on the soft hills far and blue,
It must fall on my evil work, and my hatred should pierce him through.
And I said, “I will dwell herein, for beholding my heart's desire
On my foe:) and I knelt, and fain had brightened the hearth with
fire;
But the brands they would hiss and die, as with curses a strangled
man,
And the hearth was cold from the hour that the House of Hate
began.
And I called with a voice of power, “Make ye merry, all friends of
mine,
In the hall of my House of Hate, where is plentiful store and wine;
We will drink unhealth together unto him I have foiled and fooled ! »
And they stared and they passed me by, but I scorned thereby to be
schooled.
And I ordered my board for feast, and I drank in the topmost seat
Choice grape from a curious cup, and the first it was wonder-sweet;
But the second was bitter indeed, and the third was bitter and black,
And the gloom of the grave came on me, and I cast the cup to wrack.
Alone, I was stark alone, and the shadows were each a fear,
And thinly I laughed but once, for the echoes were strange to hear;
And the wind on the stairway howled, as a green-eyed wolf might
cry,
And I heard my heart: I must look on the face of a man or die!
So I crept to my mirrored face, and I looked and I saw it grown
(By the light in my shaking hand) to the like of the masks of stone:
And with horror I shrieked aloud as I flung my torch and fled;
And a fire-snake writhed where it fell, and at midnight the sky was
red.
And at morn, when the House of Hate was a ruin despoiled of flame,
I fell at mine enemy's feet and besought him to slay my shame.
## p. 16904 (#604) ##########################################
16904
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
»
But he looked in mine eyes and smiled, and his eyes were calm and
great:
“You rave or have dreamed,” he said, -"I saw not your House of
Hate ! »
Lippincott's Magazine.
THE WIND OF MEMORY
R
ED curtains shut the storm from sight,
The inner rooms are live with light;
The fireside faces all aglow
See not the pale ghost in the snow,-
The pale ghost at the window pressed,
With the wind moaning in her breast.
She sees the face she hurt with scorn;
The other face where joy, new born,
Died out at her cheap mockery;
The eyes she filled, how bitterly!
The head that drooped beneath her jest —
The wind is moaning in her breast.
Invisible, unfelt, unknown,
She lingers trembling. She alone
Notes tenderly her vacant place,
And sees in it her vanished face;
She only — of this happy nest!
The wind is moaning in her breast.
Star-like the happy windows glow,
Framed in with mile on mile of snow;
And from their light a thing of death,
Of grief and memory, vanisheth,-
Her sin not deep but unredressed,
And the wind m ng in her breast.
ETHELWYN WETHERALD.
## p. 16905 (#605) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16905
MY SHADOW
I
DUG a grave, and laid within
Its secret depths one secret sin.
I stamped the earth upon it well;
I left no trace, the tale to tell.
Then from the darksome place I fled,
And turned my face to God and said :-
« O God, I come to serve thee now; -
Hereafter to thy will I bow.
This sin must be — I cannot save
My soul from it, so dig this grave.
But there, O God, it hidden lies;
And I will gird my loins, and rise,
Go to my Father, and declare
That from this day his yoke I bear.
Straitly thy law I will obey,
Unswerving walk in Virtue's way,
Till thou forget that it hath been, -
This buried, unrepented sin.
(Yea, shall my soul, because of one
Deliberate sin, be quite undone ?
Shall God forever hide his face,
His mercy hold for me no place?
May I not far behind me cast
Those things I buried in the Past,
And, reaching out to those before,
Serve thee with faithful heart the more ? »
Time wraps that day in mists of years;
Upright I walk among my peers.
Honors and riches have I borne;
Plenty hath blest me with her horn.
With zeal untired my feet have trod
The blessed path that leads to God.
But sometimes beckoning Memory lifts
Her darkening veil, and all the gifts
That Fortune in my way hath placed
Are dust and ashes to my taste.
Out of the Past there steals anear
That sin, and whispers, “I am here!
Thou laidest me in ground that bears
No hallowing of repentant prayers.
## p. 16906 (#606) ##########################################
16906
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
No ghost can lie in grave unblest;
For thee and me there is no rest.
Thy works, thy faith, cannot avail:
My shadow follows in thy trail.
Between thy sacrifice and thee
Shall ever rise the thought of me! )
'Tis but a fantasy, I know:
Why should despair torment me so ?
Yea, I shall smile, when morning breaks,
At fears with which my heart now quakes.
I dug a grave, and laid within
Its secret depths one secret sin.
I closed the grave — and know full well
That day I shut myself in hell!
LOUISE BETTS EDWARDS.
THE JUDGMENT
The
Hou hast done evil
And given place to the Devil;
Yet so cunningly thou concealest
The thing which thou feelest,
That no eye espieth it,-
Satan himself denieth it:
Go where it chooseth thee,
There is none that accuseth thee;
Neither foe nor lover
Will the wrong uncover;
The world's breath raiseth thee,
And thy own past praiseth thee.
Yet know thou this:
At quick of thy being
Is an eye, all seeing,
The snake's wit evadeth not,
The charmed lip persuadeth not:
So thoroughly it despiseth
The thing thy hand prizeth,
Though the sun were thy clothing,
It should count thee for nothing.
## p. 16907 (#607) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16907
Thine own eye divineth thee;
Thine own soul arraigneth thee:
God himself cannot shrive thee
Till that judge forgive thee.
DORA READ GOODALE.
<IF I HAVE SINNED »
I
F I HAVE sinned in act, I may repent;
If I have erred in thought, I may disclaim
My silent error, and yet feel no shame:
But if my soul, big with an ill intent,
Guilty in will, by fate be innocent,
Or being bad, yet murmurs at the curse
And incapacity of being worse,
That makes my hungry passion still keep Lent
In keen expectance of a Carnival,-
Where in all worlds that round the sun revolve,
And shed their influence on this passive ball,
Lives there a power that can my soul absolve ?
Could any sin survive, and be forgiven,
One sinful wish would make a hell of heaven.
HARTLEY COLERIDGE.
WHAT THE KING SAID TO CHRIST AT THE JUDGMENT
I
AM who knew thee on that day,–
The Child that in the manger lay;
I called thee Master, King.
I laid my gifts at thy young feet,
Jewels and myrrh, frankincense sweet, - .
Such gifts as sovereigns bring.
The trumpet sounds another morn,
And I, of crown and sceptre shorn,
Look on thee from afar.
Now thou hast come, a King in state,
Know me, the beggar at the gate,
Who followed once thy star.
ISA CARRINGTON CABELL.
## p. 16908 (#608) ##########################################
16908
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
DIES IRÆ
D"
IES iræ, dies illa!
Solvet sæclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando Judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus.
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit, et natura,
Quum resurget creatura,
Judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet, apparebit:
Nil inultuin remanebit.
Quid sum, miser! tunc dicturus,
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Quum vix justus sit securus?
Rex tremendæ majestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas, gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis!
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuæ viæ;
Ne me perdas illa die!
Quærens me, sedisti lassus,
Redemisti, crucem passus:
Tantus labor non sit cassus,
Juste Judex ultionis,
Donum fac remissionis,
Ante diem rationis.
Ingemisco tanquam reus,
Culpa rubet vultus meus;
Supplicanti parce, Deus!
## p. 16909 (#609) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16909
Qui Miriam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Preces meæ non sunt dignæ,
Sed Tu bonus fac benigne
Ne perenni cremer igne!
Inter oves locum præsta,
Et ab hædis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.
Confutatis maledictis,
Flammis accribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis!
Oro supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
Gere curam mei finis.
Lacrymosa dies illa!
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus:
Huic ergo parce, Deus!
THOMAS DI CELANO.
DIES IRÆ
D^
AY of wrath! of days that Day!
Earth in flames shall pass away,
Heathen seers with prophets say.
What swift terrors then shall fall,
When descends the Judge of all,
Every action to recall.
Hark! the trump, with wondrous tone,
Wakes the graves of nations gone,
Forcing all before the Throne.
Death shall die — fair nature too,
When the creature, risen anew,
Answers to his God's review.
He the fatal scroll shall spread,
Writ with all things done or said,
Thence to judge th' awakened dead.
## p. 16910 (#610) ##########################################
16910
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Lo! he takes his seat of light:
All that's dark shall leap to sight,
Guilt, the sword of vengeance smite.
What shall I, then, wretched plead ?
Who will mediate in my need,
When the just shall scarce succeed ?
King majestic! Sovereign dread!
Saving all for whom He bled,
Save thou me, Salvation's head!
Holy Jesus! priceless stay!
Think! for me thy bleeding way!
Lose me not, upon that day.
Faint and weary, thou hast sought.
By the cross, my crown hast bought:
Can such anguish be for naught?
Oh! avenging Judge severe,
Grant remission, full and clear,
Ere th' accounting day appear.
Like a guilty thing I moan;
Flushed my cheek, my sins I own:
Hear, O God, thy suppliant's groan.
Magdalen found grace with thee,
So the thief 11pon the tree;
Hope too thou hast breathed in me.
Worthless are my vows, I know,
Yet, dear Lord, thy mercy show,
Lest I sink in endless woe.
From the goats my lot divide;
With thy lambs a place provide,
On thy right and near thy side.
When th' accursed sink in shame,
Given to tormenting flame,
With thy blessed write my name.
Bowed to earth, I strive in prayer;
Heart like cinders, see, I bear,-
Its last throbbing be thy care!
## p. 16911 (#611) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16911
Ah, that day of burning tears!
When from ashes reappears
Man all guilt, his doom to bear -
Spare him, God! in mercy spare!
Translation of Edward Slosson.
TO THE LORD OF THE YEARS
T"
his rolling sea of stars
Is dust before thy breath,
Whose pleasure makes or mars
The halls of life and death.
Thy least desire is heard
Beyond the vasts of space,
And being's core is stirred
At turning of thy face.
The cycles of earth's years
Are phases in thy dream,
Unblurred by drift of tears,
Untouched of shade and gleam.
Yet of thy will we are
And children of thy word,
With every sun and star,
With every flower and bird.
Then grant we may not fail
From out thy vision vast,
When life's strong warders quail
Before death's icy blast;
But may we still aspire
To things unknown, unguessed,
More near the heart's desire
Than this poor body's quest.
WILLIAM CARMAN ROBERTS.
## p. 16912 (#612) ##########################################
16912
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE RETURN
TH
HEY come from the ends of the earth,
White with its aged snows;
From the bounding breast of the tropic tide,
Where the day-beam ever glows:
From the east where first they dwelt,
From the north and the south and the west-
Where the sun puts on his robe of light,
And lays down his crown to rest.
Out of every land they come:
Where the palm triumphant grows,
Where the vine overshadows the roofs and the hills,
And the gold-orbed orange glows;
Where the olive and fig-tree thrive,
And the rich pomegranates red;
Where the citron blooms, and the apple of ill
Bows down its fragrant head;
From the lands where the gems are born -
Opal and emerald bright;
From shores where the ruddy corals grow,
And pearls with their mellow light;
Where silver and gold are dug,
And the diamond rivers roll,
And the marble white as the still moonlight
Is quarried, and jetty coal.
They come with a gladdening shout,
They come with a tear of joy -
Father and daughter, youth and maid,
Mother and blooming boy.
A thousand dwellings they leave –
Dwellings but not a home:
To them there is none but the sacred soil,
And the land whereto they come.
And the Temple again shall be built,
And filled as it was of yore;
And the burden be lift from the heart of the world,
And the nations all adore:
Prayers to the throne of heaven
Morning and eve shall rise,
And unto and not of the Lamb
Shall be the sacrifice.
PHILIP JAMES BAILEY.
## p. 16913 (#613) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16913
THE BANNER OF THE JEW
WAKT
AKE, Israel, wake! Recall to-day
The glorious Maccabean rage,
The sire heroic, hoary-gray,
His fivefold lion-lineage -
The Wise, the Elect, the Help-of-God,
The Burst-of-Spring, the Avenging Rod.
From Mizpah's mountain-ridge they saw
Jerusalem's empty streets, her shrine
Laid waste where Greeks profaned the Law
With idol and with pagan sign;
Mourners in tattered black were there,
With ashes sprinkled on their hair.
Then from the stony peak there rang
A blast to ope the graves: down poured
The Maccabean clan, who sang
Their battle-anthem to the Lord.
Five heroes lead, and following, see,
Ten thousand rush to victory!
Oh for Jerusalem's trumpet now,
To blow a blast of shattering power,
To wake the sleepers high and low,
And rouse them to the urgent hour!
No hand for vengeance — but to save,
A million naked swords should wave.
Oh, deem not dead that martial fire,
Say not the mystic flame is spent!
With Moses's law and David's lyre,
Your ancient strength remains unbent.
Let but an Ezra rise anew,
To lift the Banner of the Jew!
A rag, a mock at first: erelong,
When men have bled and women wept,
To guard its precious folds from wrong,
Even they who shrunk, even they who slept,
Shall leap to bless it, and to save.
Strike! for the brave revere the brave!
EMMA LAZARUS.
XXVIII-1058
## p. 16914 (#614) ##########################################
16914
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE DEAD SOLOMON
K
ING SOLOMON stood in the house of the Lord,
And the Genii silently wrought around,
Toiling and moiling without a word,
Building the temple without a sound.
Fear and rage were theirs, but naught
In mien or face of fear or rage;
For he had guessed their secret thought, -
They had pined in hell for many an age.
Closed were the eyes that the demons feared;
Over his breast streamed his silver beard;
Bowed was his head, as if in prayer,-
As if, through the busy silence there,
The answering voice of God he heard.
Solemn peace was on his brow,
Leaning upon his staff in prayer;
And a breath of wind would come and go,
And stir his robe, and beard of snow,
And long white hair;
But he heeded not,
Rapt afar in holy thought.
King Solomon stood in the house of the Lord,
And the Genii silently wrought around,
Toiling and moiling without a word,
Building the temple without a sound.
And now the work was done,
Perfected in every part;
And the demons rejoiced at heart,
And made ready to depart,
But dared not speak to Solomon,
To tell him their task was done,
And fulfilled the desire of his heart.
So around him they stood with eyes of fire,
Each cursing the king in his secret heart, –
Secretly cursing the silent king,
Waiting but till he should say “Depart":
Cursing the king,
Each evil thing:
## p. 16915 (#615) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16915
But he heeded them not, nor raised his head;
For King Solomon was dead!
Then the body of the king fell down;
For a worm had gnawed his staff in twain.
He had prayed to the Lord that the house he planned
Might not be left for another hand,
Might not unfinished remain :
So praying, he had died;
But he had not prayed in vain.
So the body of the king fell down;
And howling fled the fiends amain:
Bitterly grieved, to be so deceived,
Howling afar they fled.
Idly had they borne his chain,
And done his hateful tasks, in dread
Of mystic penal pain, -
And King Solomon was dead!
JOHN AYLMER DORGAN.
JONAH'S VOYAGE IN THE WHALE
From Patience,' a Poem of the Fourteenth Century
S
A mote in at a minster door, so mighty were its jaws,
A
he reeled in through a gullet, that seemed to him a
road,
tumbling about, aye head over heels,
till he staggers to a place as broad as a hall;
then he fixes his feet there and gropes all about,
and stands up in its belly, that stank as the devil;
in sorry plight there, 'mid grease that savored as he
his bower was arrayed, who would fain risk no ill.
Then he lurks there and seeks in each nook of the nave
the best sheltered spot, yet nowhere he finds
rest or recovery, but filthy mire
wherever he goes; but God is ever dear;
and he tarried at length and called to the Prince.
Then he reached a nook and held himself there,
where no foul filth encumbered him about.
He sat there as safe, save for darkness alone,
as in the boat's stern, where he had slept ere.
## p. 16916 (#616) ##########################################
16916
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Thus, in the beast's bowel, he abides there alive,
three days and three nights, thinking aye on the Lord,
His might and His mercy and His measure eke;
now he knows Him in woe, who could not in weal.
And onward rolls the whale through deep wild-seas,
through many rough regions, in stubborn will;
for, though that mote in its maw was small,
that monster grew sickish at heart, I trow,
and worried the wight. And Jonah aye heard
the huge flood as it lashed the whale's back and its sides.
Author Unknown.
Version of Israel Gollancz.
PEARL
(C
(A fourteenth-century poem; author unknown; modernized by Israel Gol-
lancz.
In this poem the author laments the loss of his child, Margaret, a
«pearl, fair enow for princes' pleasance,) and relates the vision which he has
of her in Paradise. ]
EARL! fair enow for princes' pleasance,
deftly set in gold so pure,
from orient lands, I durst avouch, -
ne'er saw I a gem its peer,
so round, so comely-shaped withal,
so small, with sides so smooth, -
where'er judged of radiant gems,
I placed my pearl supreme.
PAS
SO
I lost it — in an arbor - alas!
It passed from me through grass to earth.
I pine, despoiled of love's dominion,-
of mine own, my spotless pearl.
Sithence how oft have I tarried there,
where it vanished, -seeking the joy
that whilom scattered all my woe,
and raised so high my bliss !
It doth but pierce my heart with pangs,
and kindle my breast with sorrow;
yet ne'er was heard so sweet a song
as the still hour let steal to me thither.
Ah me! what thoughts stole there to my mind!
To think of my fair one o'erlaid with clay! -
## p. 16917 (#617) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16917
O earth! thou marrest a joyous theme,-
mine own, my spotless pearl.
On a day I entered that arbor green, –
fain would I picture the place in words:
'twas August, the year's high festival,
when the corn is cut with the keen-edged hook;
where my pearl had erewhile rolled adown
was shaded with herbage full beauteous and bright, -
gillyflowers, ginger, and gromwell-seed,
and peonies sprent between.
But fair as was the sight to see,
fairer the fragrance that wafted thence,
where dwelleth that glory, I wot and ween, -
my precious, my spotless pearl.
I gazed on the sight: my hands I clasped;
chill sorrow seized my heart:
wild grief made tumult in my breast,
though reason whispered "peace. ”
I wailed for my pearl, held fast from me there,-
dread doubt fought hard with doubt,-
though Christ's self shewed whence comfort is,
my will was bondman to woe.
I fell upon that flowery plat;
such fragrance rose to my brain,
that soon I was lulled in a reverie
o'er my precious, my spotless pearl.
My spirit thence sped forth into space,
my body lay there entranced on that mound,
my soul, by grace of God, had fared
in quest of adventure, where marvels be.
I knew not where that region was;
I was borne, iwis, where the cliffs rose sheer;
toward a forest I set my face,
where rocks so radiant were to see,
that none can trow how rich was the light,
the gleaming glory that glinted therefrom,
for never a web by mortal spun
was half so wondrous fair.
The hillsides there were crowned
with crystal cliffs full clear,
## p. 16918 (#618) ##########################################
16918
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
and holts and woods, all bright with boles
blue as the blue of Inde,
and trembling leaves, thick on every branch,
as burnished silver shone,–
with shimmering sheen they glistened,
touched by the gleam of the glades,-
and the gravel that rolled upon that strand
was precious orient pearls.
The sun's own light had paled before
that sight so wondrous fair.
'Mid the magic charm of those wondrous hills
my spirit forgot all woe;
fruit there of such rare flavor grew,
'twas food to make one strong:
birds flew there in peace together,
of flaming hues, both small and great;
nor citern-string, nor minstrel,
can tell their joyous glee,
for lo! whene'er they beat their wings,
they sang with sweet accord:
no rapture could so stir a man
as their song and that wondrous sight.
More of such wealth was there withal
than I might tell, though leisure were mine,
for earthly spirit cannot grasp
a tenth part of that fair delight;-
certes methought that paradise
lay those broad banks beyond:
I trowed the stream was some device,
a lake in the midst of a pleasance;
beyond the brook, by glen or glade,
I trowed to find where the moat was marked:
but the water was deep,- I durst not pass;
and ever I longed still more and more.
More and more, and yet still more
I longed to see beyond that brook;
for if 'twas fair where I passed along,
far fairer was that further land.
I stayed my steps; I gazed about;
I sought full hard to find some ford –
the farther I wended along the strand
the way grew harder, iwis:
## p. 16919 (#619) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16919
no peril methought would make me turn
where such rich treasures were, -
when fresh delights were nigh at hand,
that moved my mind still more and more.
More marvels arose to daunt my soul:
I saw beyond that gladsome mere
a crystal cliff that shone full bright,-
many a noble ray gleamed forth;-
at the foot thereof there sat a child,
a gracious maiden, so debonair;
robed was she in glistening white, -
I knew her well, I had seen her ere.
Radiant as refined gold
shone that glory 'neath the cliff;
long I gazed upon her there,-
the longer, I knew her more and more.
More than my longing was now my dread;
I stood full still; I durst not call;
with open eyes and fast-closed mouth,
I stood as a well-trained hawk in a hall;
twixt hope that it came for my soul's behoof,
and fear lest perchance it might so befall,
that the prize I chose might escape from me,
ere I held it within my grasp;
when lo! that spotless creature of grace,
so gentle, so small, so winsomely lithe,
riseth up in her royal array,-
a precious thing with pearls bedight.
Favored mortal might there see
choicest pearls of sovereign price,
when all as fresh as a fleur-de-lys
she came adown that bank.
Gleaming white was her tunic rich;
at its sides 'twas open, and wondrously stitched
with the winsomest pearls, I trow full well,
that e'er mine eyes had seen:
broad were the sleeves, I ween and wot,
with double braid of pearls bedecked,
and her bright kirtle followed suit,
with precious pearls bedight.
A crown that maiden wore withal,
bedecked with pearls, with none other stones,
## p. 16920 (#620) ##########################################
16920
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
and pinnacled high with pure white pearls,
with figured flowers wrought thereon;
no other gem was on her head;
her hair, too, hung about her neck;
her look was grave, as a duke's or an earl's;
whiter than whalebone was her hue.
Her locks shone then as bright pure gold;
loose on her shoulders so softly they lay;
though deep their color, they needed not
those precious pearls on her robe bedight.
“O Pearl! ) quoth I, “with pearls bedight,
art thou my Pearl ? — of me so lone
regretted, and through the night bewailed.
Much longing for thee have I borne concealed,
since thou glancedst from me into grass;
pensive, shattered, forlorn, am I,
but thou hast reached a life of joy
in the strifeless home of Paradise.
What chance hath hither brought my jewel,
and me in dolorous plight hath cast ?
Since we twain were sundered and set apart,
have I been joyless, so loved I my jewel. ”
That jewel then, so fair begemmed,
veered up her visage, raised her gray eyes,
set on her crown of orient pearls,
and gently thus she spake :-
“Sir, thou hast misread thy tale,
to say thy pearl is all perdu,
that is in a casket so well bestowed,
yea, in this garden of grace and joy.
herein for ever to dwell and play,
where sin nor mourning come ne'er nigh:
this were thy treasure-hold in sooth,
didst thou love thy jewel aright. ”
## p. 16921 (#621) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16921
THE WEDDING OF PALE BRONWEN
I
T**
THE wind was waked by the morning light,
And it cried in the gray birch-tree,
And the cry was plain in Bronwen's bower,
“O Bronwen, come to me! ”
Pale, pale sleeps · Bronwen, pale she wakes:
«What bird to my bower is flown ?
For my lover, Red Ithel, is at the wars
Before Jerusalem town. ”
But still the wind sang in the tree, -
«Come forth, 'tis your wedding morn,
And you must be wed in Holy Land
Ere your little babe is born. ”
c
And still the wind had her true-love's cry,
«Kind Bronwen, come ! ) until
She could not rest, and rose to look
To the sea beyond Morva Hill.
And afar came the cry over Morva Hill,
«Kind Bronwen, come to me! »
Till she could not stay, for very love,
And stole away to the sea.
She crossed the hill to the fishing-boats,
And away she sailed so fine:
"Is it far, my love, in the summer sun
To the shores of fair Palestine ? »
II
There was no sun at sea that day,
To watch pale Bronwen drown;
the sun was hot on the deadly sands
Before Jerusalem town.
All day Red Ithel lay dying there,
But he thought of the far-off sea;
And he cried all day till his lips grew white,
“Kind Bronwen, come to me! ”
c
And so it passed till the evening time,
And then the sea-wind came,
## p. 16922 (#622) ##########################################
16922
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And he thought he lay on Morva Hill
And heard her call his name.
c
He heard her voice, he held her hand:--
« This is the day,” she said,
“And this is the hour, that Holy Church
Has given for us to wed. ”
There was no strength in him to speak,
But his eyes had yet their say:-
“Kind Bronwen, now we will be wed
For ever and ever and aye! "
INI
Beneath the sea pale Bronwen lies,
Red Ithel beneath the sand;
But they are one in Holy Church,
One in love's Holy Land.
Red Ithel lies by Jerusalem town,
And she in the deep sea lies;
But I trow their little babe was born
In the gardens of Paradise.
ERNEST Rhys.
THE FOLK OF THE AIR
O
'DRISCOLL drove with a song
The wild duck and the drake
From the tall and the tufted weeds
Of the drear Heart Lake.
And he saw how the weeds grew dark
At the coming of night tide,
And he dreamed of the long dim hair
Of Bridget his bride.
He heard while he sang and dreamed
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.
And he saw young men and young girls
Who danced on a level place,
## p. 16923 (#623) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16923
And Bridget his bride among them,
With a sad and a gay face.
The dancers crowded about him,
And many a sweet thing said,
And a young man brought him red wine,
And a young girl white bread.
But Bridget drew him by the sleeve
Away from the merry bands,
To old men playing at cards
With a twinkling of ancient hands.
The bread and the wine had a doom,
For these were the folk of the air;
He sat and played in a dream
Of her long dim hair.
He played with the merry old men,
And thought not of evil chance,
Until one bore Bridget his bride
Away from the merry dance.
He bore her away in his arms,-
The handsomest young man there,–
And his neck and his breast and his arms
Were drowned in her long dim hair.
O'Driscoll got up from the grass
. And scattered the cards with a cry;
But the old men and dancers were gone
As a cloud faded into the sky.
He knew now the folk of the air,
And his heart was blackened by dread,
And he ran to the door of his house:
Old women were keening the dead;
But he heard high up in the air
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad
And never was piping so gay.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS.
## p. 16924 (#624) ##########################################
16924
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
FATHER GILLIGAN
THE
He old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day;
For half his flock were in their beds,
Or under green sods lay.
Once while he nodded on a chair,
At the moth-hour of eve,
Another poor man sent for him,
And he began to grieve.
“I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace,
For people die and die ;)
And after cried he, “God forgive!
My body spake, not I! ”
(
And then, half-lying on the chair,
He knelt, prayed, fell asleep;
And the moth-hour went from the fields,
And stars began to peep.
They slowly into inillions grew,
And leaves shook in the wind;
And God covered the world with shade,
And whispered to mankind.
If I ask him to receive me,
Will he say me nay?
“Not till earth, and not till heaven,
Pass away. ”
Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is he sure to bless ?
«Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, Yes. ”
ST. STEPHEN THE SABAITE.
Translation of John Mason Neale.
THE GUEST
[Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him; and he with me. ]
PEECHLESS Sorrow sat with me;
I was sighing wearily.
Lamp and fire were out; the rain
Wildly beat the window-pane.
S"
## p. 16893 (#593) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16893
In the dark we heard a knock,
And a hand was on the lock:
One in waiting spake to me,
Saying sweetly,
"I am come to sup with thee ! »
All my room was dark and damp:
“Sorrow,” said I, “trim the lamp;
Light the fire, and cheer thy face;
Set the guest-chair in its place. ”
And again I heard the knock;
In the dark I found the lock:-
“Enter! I have turned the key!
Enter, Stranger,
Who art come to sup with me! ”
Opening wide the door He came,
But I could not speak his name;
In the guest-chair took his place,
But I could not see his face!
When my cheerful fire was beaming,
When my little lamp was gleaming,
And the feast was spread for three,
Lo! my Master
Was the Guest that supped with me!
HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL.
I HOLD STILL
PR
Ain's furnace heat within me quivers,
God's breath upon the flame doth blow,
And all my heart in anguish shivers,
And trembles at the fiery glow:
And yet I whisper, As God will!
And in his hottest fire hold still.
He comes and lays my heart, all heated,
On the hard anvil, minded so
Into his own fair shape to beat it
With his great hammer, blow on blow:
And yet I whisper, As God will!
And at his heaviest blows hold still.
## p. 16894 (#594) ##########################################
16894
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
He takes my softened heart and beats it, -
The sparks fly off at every blow;
He turns it o'er and o'er, and heats it,
And lets it cool, and makes it glow:
And yet I whisper, As God will!
And, in his mighty hand, hold still.
Why should I murmur? for the sorrow
Thus only longer-lived would be;
Its end may come, and will, to-morrow,
When God has done his work in me:
So I say, trusting, As God will!
And, trusting to the end, hold still.
He kindles for my profit purely
Affliction's glowing fiery brand,
And all his heaviest blows are surely
Inflicted by a Master-hand:
So I say, praying, As God will!
And hope in him, and suffer still.
Julius STURM (German).
WISHES AND PRAYERS
0
UR wishes and our prayers are not
Always the same;
Alas! we often wish for what
We dare not name.
We strive to pray with bitter tears
For what we should,
But sadder than all else appears
The prayed-for good.
Lord! pardon me if I deplore
My granted prayer:
Lord, what thou taught'st me to pray for,
Teach me to bear.
MARGARET DELAND.
## p. 16895 (#595) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16895
MILTON'S PRAYER OF PATIENCE
I
AM old and blind!
Men point at me as smitten by God's frown,
Afflicted and deserted of my kind;
Yet am I not cast down.
I am weak, yet strong;
I murmur not that I no longer see:
Poor, old, and helpless, I the more belong,
Father Supreme! to thee.
All-merciful One!
When men are furthest, then art thou most near;
When friends pass by, my weaknesses to shun,
Thy chariot I hear.
Thy glorious face
Is leaning toward me; and its holy light
Shines in upon my lonely dwelling-place, -
And there is no more night.
On my bended knee
I recognize thy purpose clearly shown:
My vision thou hast dimmed, that I may see
Thyself - thyself alone.
I have naught to fear:
This darkness is the shadow of thy wing;
Beneath it I am almost sacred; here
Can come no evil thing.
Oh, I seem to stand
Trembling, where foot of mortal ne'er hath been,
Wrapped in that radiance from the sinless land
Which eye hath never seen!
Visions come and go:
Shapes of resplendent beauty round me throng;
From angel lips I seem to hear the flow
Of soft and holy song.
It is nothing now,
When heaven is opening on my sightless eyes,
When airs from Paradise refresh my brow,
That earth in darkness lies.
## p. 16896 (#596) ##########################################
16896
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
In a purer clime
My being fills with rapture,- waves of thought
Roll in upon my spirit,- strains sublime
Break over me unsought.
Give me now a lyre!
I feel the stirrings of a gift divine:
Within my bosom glows unearthly fire,
Lit by no skill of mine.
ELIZABETH LLOYD HOWELL.
THE VOYAGE
HICHEVER way the wind doth blow,
Some heart is glad to have it so;
Then blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows, that wind is best.
W*
My little craft sails not alone:
A thousand feets from every zone
Are out upon a thousand seas;
And what for me were favoring breeze
Might dash another, with the shock
Of doom, upon some hidden rock.
And so I do not dare to pray
For winds to waft me on my way,
But leave it to a Higher Will
To stay or speed me; trusting still
That all is well, and sure that He
Who launched my bark will sail with me
Through storm and calm, and will not fail,
Whatever breezes may prevail,
To land me, every peril past,
Within his sheltering heaven at last.
Then, whatsoever wind doth blow,
My heart is glad to have it so;
And blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows, that wind is best.
CAROLINE ATHERTON MASON.
## p. 16897 (#597) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16897
THE WILL OF GOD
1
WORSHIP thee, sweet will of God!
And all thy ways adore;
And every day I live, I seem
To love thee more and more.
Thou wert the end, the blessed rule,
Of our Savior's toils and tears;
Thou wert the passion of his heart
Those three-and-thirty years.
And he hath breathed into my soul
A special love of thee -
A love to lose my will in his,
And by that loss be free.
He always wins who sides with God;
To him no chance is lost:
God's will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.
When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison-walls to be,
I do the little I can do,
And leave the rest to thee.
FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER.
NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE
TAK
AKE thou the heart I cannot give;
Take that which is thine own.
To give, to take, to will, to do,
Is thine, and thine alone.
Yet, leaning on th' upholding arm,
I trust, but cannot see;
Help me, as of myself, to stretch
My helpless hands to thee.
And when thon hast received thine own,
Oh, keep it, Lord, I pray;
And save me from the wayward will
That seeks a wider way.
XXVIII-1057
## p. 16898 (#598) ##########################################
16898
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
If ever, before adverse winds,
Between the cloud and sea,
I- at the mercy of my heart -
Am drifting far from thee;
Light of all tempted souls, be mine,
Till, sea and desert passed,
Safe in thy circling love I find
My anchorage at last!
M. A. L.
THE THINGS I MISS
A
N EASY thing, O Power Divine,
To thank thee for these gifts of thine!
For summer's sunshine, winter's snow,
For hearts that kindle, thoughts that glow.
But when shall I attain to this, -
To thank thee for the things I miss ?
For all young Fancy's early gleams,
The dreamed-of joys that still are dreams,
Hopes unfulfilled, and pleasures known
Through others' fortunes, not my own,
And blessings seen that are not given,
And never will be, this side heaven.
Had I too shared the joys I see,
Would there have been a heaven for me?
Could I have felt thy presence near,
Had I possessed what I held dear?
My deepest fortune, highest bliss,
Have grown perchance from things I miss.
Sometimes there comes an hour of calm ;
Grief turns to blessing, pain to balm;
A Power that works above my will
Still leads me onward, upward still:
And then my heart attains to this, -
To thank thee for the things I miss.
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.
## p. 16899 (#599) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16899
«THOUGH NAUGHT THEY MAY TO OTHERS BE »
I
F in these thoughts of mine that now assuage
The tedium of the toilsome life I live,
The few who chance to notice should perceive
Nothing their lasting interest to engage,
And quickly cease to turn the farther page, -
It were a shameful thing if I should grieve.
For if kind Destiny has chosen to give
To other minds, in many a clime and age,
Days brighter than my hours, should I repine ?
And what if by an over-hasty glance
Some import be not heeded, or, perchance,
Too dim a light upon the pages shine ?
Would I be wronged, even though the wealth I own,
And not the less enjoy, were all unknown?
GEORGE MCKNIGHT.
THE ABBÉ'S DREAM
T"
HE Abbé Michael dreamed one night
That heaven was open to his sight;
And first among the radiant throng
Which filled the streets with praise and song,
He saw a man whose reckless. might
Had seamed his earthly life with wrong.
The Abbé saw not streets of gold,
Or splendid mansions manifold,
Or sea of glass, or jewels rare,
Or pearly gates beyond compare,
Or hosts of angels richly stoled;
He only saw this sinner there!
The hymns of triumph reached his ears,
But brought no solace for his tears;
Peace from his jealous soul had flown:
“My life is spent for God alone,”
He cried; and yet this man appears
Among the nearest to the throne. ”
((
»
(
But ere he woke he heard a voice,
Which said unto his heart, “Rejoice!
The diamond which is full of light
Was once a coal as black as night!
## p. 16900 (#600) ##########################################
16900
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Judge not the means which God employs
To make the wrong bloom into right. ”
NATHAN HASKELL DOLE.
TAKE MY LIFE
TA
WAKE my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord to thee.
Take my moments and my days:
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift, and beautiful for thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold:
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it thine:
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart: it is thine own;
It shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love: my Lord, I pour
At thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee.
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL
## p. 16901 (#601) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16901
JUSTICE
A
HUNDRED noble wishes fill my heart:
I long to help each soul in need of aid;
In all good works my zeal would have its part,
Before no weight of toil it stands afraid.
But noble wishes are not noble deeds,
And he does least who seeks to do the whole:
Who works the best, his simplest duties heeds;
Who moves the world, first moves a single soul.
Then go, my heart, thy plainest work begin;
Do first not what thou canst, but what thou must;
Build not upon a corner-stone of sin,
Nor seek great works until thou first be just.
CHARLES FRANCIS RICHARDSON.
LOVE AND HUMILITY
F
AR have I clambered in my mind,
But naught so great as love I find:
Deep-searching wit, mount-moving might,
Are naught compared to that good sprite.
Life of delight, and soul of bliss!
Sure source of asting happiness!
Higher than heaven! lower than hell!
What is thy tent? Where mayst thou dwell ?
My mansion hight humility,
Heaven's vastest capability.
The further it doth downward bend,
The higher up it doth ascend;
If it go down to utmost naught,
It shall return with what it sought.
Could I demolish with mine eye
Strong towers; stop the fleet stars in sky,
Bring down to earth the pale-faced moon,
Or turn black midnight to bright noon;
Though all things were put in my hand, -
As parched, as dry, as Libyan sand
Would be my life, if Charity
Were wanting. But Humility
## p. 16902 (#602) ##########################################
16902
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Is more than my poor soul durst crave,
That lies entombed in lowly grave.
But if 'twere lawful up to send
My voice to heaven, this should it rend:
Lord, thrust me deeper into dust,
That thou mayst raise me with the just.
HENRY MORE.
CONSCIENCE
T.
HE friend I loved betrayed my trust
And bowed my spirit to the dust.
I keep the hurt he gave, yet know
He was forgiven long ago.
From him I did not merit ill;
But I would bear injustice still,
Content, could years of guiltless woe
Undo the wrong I did my foe.
FLORENCE EARLE COATES.
CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE
(
“G
OOD-By,” I said to my Conscience-
“Good-by for aye and aye;)
And I put her hands off harshly,
And turned my face away:
And Conscience, smitten sorely,
Returned not from that day.
But a time came when my spirit
Grew weary of its pace:
And I cried, “Come back, my Conscience,
I long to see thy face; »
But Conscience cried, “I cannot,-
Remorse sits in my place. ”
PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR.
## p. 16903 (#603) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16903
THE HOUSE OF HATE
INE enemy builded well, with the soft blue hills in sight;
But betwixt his house and the hills I builded a house for spite:
And the name thereof I set in the stonework over the gate,
With a carving of bats and apes; and I called it the House of Hate.
M"
And the front was alive with masks of malice and of despair;
Horned demons that leered in stone, and women with serpent hair:
That whenever his glance would rest on the soft hills far and blue,
It must fall on my evil work, and my hatred should pierce him through.
And I said, “I will dwell herein, for beholding my heart's desire
On my foe:) and I knelt, and fain had brightened the hearth with
fire;
But the brands they would hiss and die, as with curses a strangled
man,
And the hearth was cold from the hour that the House of Hate
began.
And I called with a voice of power, “Make ye merry, all friends of
mine,
In the hall of my House of Hate, where is plentiful store and wine;
We will drink unhealth together unto him I have foiled and fooled ! »
And they stared and they passed me by, but I scorned thereby to be
schooled.
And I ordered my board for feast, and I drank in the topmost seat
Choice grape from a curious cup, and the first it was wonder-sweet;
But the second was bitter indeed, and the third was bitter and black,
And the gloom of the grave came on me, and I cast the cup to wrack.
Alone, I was stark alone, and the shadows were each a fear,
And thinly I laughed but once, for the echoes were strange to hear;
And the wind on the stairway howled, as a green-eyed wolf might
cry,
And I heard my heart: I must look on the face of a man or die!
So I crept to my mirrored face, and I looked and I saw it grown
(By the light in my shaking hand) to the like of the masks of stone:
And with horror I shrieked aloud as I flung my torch and fled;
And a fire-snake writhed where it fell, and at midnight the sky was
red.
And at morn, when the House of Hate was a ruin despoiled of flame,
I fell at mine enemy's feet and besought him to slay my shame.
## p. 16904 (#604) ##########################################
16904
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
»
But he looked in mine eyes and smiled, and his eyes were calm and
great:
“You rave or have dreamed,” he said, -"I saw not your House of
Hate ! »
Lippincott's Magazine.
THE WIND OF MEMORY
R
ED curtains shut the storm from sight,
The inner rooms are live with light;
The fireside faces all aglow
See not the pale ghost in the snow,-
The pale ghost at the window pressed,
With the wind moaning in her breast.
She sees the face she hurt with scorn;
The other face where joy, new born,
Died out at her cheap mockery;
The eyes she filled, how bitterly!
The head that drooped beneath her jest —
The wind is moaning in her breast.
Invisible, unfelt, unknown,
She lingers trembling. She alone
Notes tenderly her vacant place,
And sees in it her vanished face;
She only — of this happy nest!
The wind is moaning in her breast.
Star-like the happy windows glow,
Framed in with mile on mile of snow;
And from their light a thing of death,
Of grief and memory, vanisheth,-
Her sin not deep but unredressed,
And the wind m ng in her breast.
ETHELWYN WETHERALD.
## p. 16905 (#605) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16905
MY SHADOW
I
DUG a grave, and laid within
Its secret depths one secret sin.
I stamped the earth upon it well;
I left no trace, the tale to tell.
Then from the darksome place I fled,
And turned my face to God and said :-
« O God, I come to serve thee now; -
Hereafter to thy will I bow.
This sin must be — I cannot save
My soul from it, so dig this grave.
But there, O God, it hidden lies;
And I will gird my loins, and rise,
Go to my Father, and declare
That from this day his yoke I bear.
Straitly thy law I will obey,
Unswerving walk in Virtue's way,
Till thou forget that it hath been, -
This buried, unrepented sin.
(Yea, shall my soul, because of one
Deliberate sin, be quite undone ?
Shall God forever hide his face,
His mercy hold for me no place?
May I not far behind me cast
Those things I buried in the Past,
And, reaching out to those before,
Serve thee with faithful heart the more ? »
Time wraps that day in mists of years;
Upright I walk among my peers.
Honors and riches have I borne;
Plenty hath blest me with her horn.
With zeal untired my feet have trod
The blessed path that leads to God.
But sometimes beckoning Memory lifts
Her darkening veil, and all the gifts
That Fortune in my way hath placed
Are dust and ashes to my taste.
Out of the Past there steals anear
That sin, and whispers, “I am here!
Thou laidest me in ground that bears
No hallowing of repentant prayers.
## p. 16906 (#606) ##########################################
16906
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
No ghost can lie in grave unblest;
For thee and me there is no rest.
Thy works, thy faith, cannot avail:
My shadow follows in thy trail.
Between thy sacrifice and thee
Shall ever rise the thought of me! )
'Tis but a fantasy, I know:
Why should despair torment me so ?
Yea, I shall smile, when morning breaks,
At fears with which my heart now quakes.
I dug a grave, and laid within
Its secret depths one secret sin.
I closed the grave — and know full well
That day I shut myself in hell!
LOUISE BETTS EDWARDS.
THE JUDGMENT
The
Hou hast done evil
And given place to the Devil;
Yet so cunningly thou concealest
The thing which thou feelest,
That no eye espieth it,-
Satan himself denieth it:
Go where it chooseth thee,
There is none that accuseth thee;
Neither foe nor lover
Will the wrong uncover;
The world's breath raiseth thee,
And thy own past praiseth thee.
Yet know thou this:
At quick of thy being
Is an eye, all seeing,
The snake's wit evadeth not,
The charmed lip persuadeth not:
So thoroughly it despiseth
The thing thy hand prizeth,
Though the sun were thy clothing,
It should count thee for nothing.
## p. 16907 (#607) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16907
Thine own eye divineth thee;
Thine own soul arraigneth thee:
God himself cannot shrive thee
Till that judge forgive thee.
DORA READ GOODALE.
<IF I HAVE SINNED »
I
F I HAVE sinned in act, I may repent;
If I have erred in thought, I may disclaim
My silent error, and yet feel no shame:
But if my soul, big with an ill intent,
Guilty in will, by fate be innocent,
Or being bad, yet murmurs at the curse
And incapacity of being worse,
That makes my hungry passion still keep Lent
In keen expectance of a Carnival,-
Where in all worlds that round the sun revolve,
And shed their influence on this passive ball,
Lives there a power that can my soul absolve ?
Could any sin survive, and be forgiven,
One sinful wish would make a hell of heaven.
HARTLEY COLERIDGE.
WHAT THE KING SAID TO CHRIST AT THE JUDGMENT
I
AM who knew thee on that day,–
The Child that in the manger lay;
I called thee Master, King.
I laid my gifts at thy young feet,
Jewels and myrrh, frankincense sweet, - .
Such gifts as sovereigns bring.
The trumpet sounds another morn,
And I, of crown and sceptre shorn,
Look on thee from afar.
Now thou hast come, a King in state,
Know me, the beggar at the gate,
Who followed once thy star.
ISA CARRINGTON CABELL.
## p. 16908 (#608) ##########################################
16908
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
DIES IRÆ
D"
IES iræ, dies illa!
Solvet sæclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando Judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus.
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit, et natura,
Quum resurget creatura,
Judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet, apparebit:
Nil inultuin remanebit.
Quid sum, miser! tunc dicturus,
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Quum vix justus sit securus?
Rex tremendæ majestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas, gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis!
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuæ viæ;
Ne me perdas illa die!
Quærens me, sedisti lassus,
Redemisti, crucem passus:
Tantus labor non sit cassus,
Juste Judex ultionis,
Donum fac remissionis,
Ante diem rationis.
Ingemisco tanquam reus,
Culpa rubet vultus meus;
Supplicanti parce, Deus!
## p. 16909 (#609) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16909
Qui Miriam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Preces meæ non sunt dignæ,
Sed Tu bonus fac benigne
Ne perenni cremer igne!
Inter oves locum præsta,
Et ab hædis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.
Confutatis maledictis,
Flammis accribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis!
Oro supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
Gere curam mei finis.
Lacrymosa dies illa!
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus:
Huic ergo parce, Deus!
THOMAS DI CELANO.
DIES IRÆ
D^
AY of wrath! of days that Day!
Earth in flames shall pass away,
Heathen seers with prophets say.
What swift terrors then shall fall,
When descends the Judge of all,
Every action to recall.
Hark! the trump, with wondrous tone,
Wakes the graves of nations gone,
Forcing all before the Throne.
Death shall die — fair nature too,
When the creature, risen anew,
Answers to his God's review.
He the fatal scroll shall spread,
Writ with all things done or said,
Thence to judge th' awakened dead.
## p. 16910 (#610) ##########################################
16910
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Lo! he takes his seat of light:
All that's dark shall leap to sight,
Guilt, the sword of vengeance smite.
What shall I, then, wretched plead ?
Who will mediate in my need,
When the just shall scarce succeed ?
King majestic! Sovereign dread!
Saving all for whom He bled,
Save thou me, Salvation's head!
Holy Jesus! priceless stay!
Think! for me thy bleeding way!
Lose me not, upon that day.
Faint and weary, thou hast sought.
By the cross, my crown hast bought:
Can such anguish be for naught?
Oh! avenging Judge severe,
Grant remission, full and clear,
Ere th' accounting day appear.
Like a guilty thing I moan;
Flushed my cheek, my sins I own:
Hear, O God, thy suppliant's groan.
Magdalen found grace with thee,
So the thief 11pon the tree;
Hope too thou hast breathed in me.
Worthless are my vows, I know,
Yet, dear Lord, thy mercy show,
Lest I sink in endless woe.
From the goats my lot divide;
With thy lambs a place provide,
On thy right and near thy side.
When th' accursed sink in shame,
Given to tormenting flame,
With thy blessed write my name.
Bowed to earth, I strive in prayer;
Heart like cinders, see, I bear,-
Its last throbbing be thy care!
## p. 16911 (#611) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16911
Ah, that day of burning tears!
When from ashes reappears
Man all guilt, his doom to bear -
Spare him, God! in mercy spare!
Translation of Edward Slosson.
TO THE LORD OF THE YEARS
T"
his rolling sea of stars
Is dust before thy breath,
Whose pleasure makes or mars
The halls of life and death.
Thy least desire is heard
Beyond the vasts of space,
And being's core is stirred
At turning of thy face.
The cycles of earth's years
Are phases in thy dream,
Unblurred by drift of tears,
Untouched of shade and gleam.
Yet of thy will we are
And children of thy word,
With every sun and star,
With every flower and bird.
Then grant we may not fail
From out thy vision vast,
When life's strong warders quail
Before death's icy blast;
But may we still aspire
To things unknown, unguessed,
More near the heart's desire
Than this poor body's quest.
WILLIAM CARMAN ROBERTS.
## p. 16912 (#612) ##########################################
16912
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE RETURN
TH
HEY come from the ends of the earth,
White with its aged snows;
From the bounding breast of the tropic tide,
Where the day-beam ever glows:
From the east where first they dwelt,
From the north and the south and the west-
Where the sun puts on his robe of light,
And lays down his crown to rest.
Out of every land they come:
Where the palm triumphant grows,
Where the vine overshadows the roofs and the hills,
And the gold-orbed orange glows;
Where the olive and fig-tree thrive,
And the rich pomegranates red;
Where the citron blooms, and the apple of ill
Bows down its fragrant head;
From the lands where the gems are born -
Opal and emerald bright;
From shores where the ruddy corals grow,
And pearls with their mellow light;
Where silver and gold are dug,
And the diamond rivers roll,
And the marble white as the still moonlight
Is quarried, and jetty coal.
They come with a gladdening shout,
They come with a tear of joy -
Father and daughter, youth and maid,
Mother and blooming boy.
A thousand dwellings they leave –
Dwellings but not a home:
To them there is none but the sacred soil,
And the land whereto they come.
And the Temple again shall be built,
And filled as it was of yore;
And the burden be lift from the heart of the world,
And the nations all adore:
Prayers to the throne of heaven
Morning and eve shall rise,
And unto and not of the Lamb
Shall be the sacrifice.
PHILIP JAMES BAILEY.
## p. 16913 (#613) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16913
THE BANNER OF THE JEW
WAKT
AKE, Israel, wake! Recall to-day
The glorious Maccabean rage,
The sire heroic, hoary-gray,
His fivefold lion-lineage -
The Wise, the Elect, the Help-of-God,
The Burst-of-Spring, the Avenging Rod.
From Mizpah's mountain-ridge they saw
Jerusalem's empty streets, her shrine
Laid waste where Greeks profaned the Law
With idol and with pagan sign;
Mourners in tattered black were there,
With ashes sprinkled on their hair.
Then from the stony peak there rang
A blast to ope the graves: down poured
The Maccabean clan, who sang
Their battle-anthem to the Lord.
Five heroes lead, and following, see,
Ten thousand rush to victory!
Oh for Jerusalem's trumpet now,
To blow a blast of shattering power,
To wake the sleepers high and low,
And rouse them to the urgent hour!
No hand for vengeance — but to save,
A million naked swords should wave.
Oh, deem not dead that martial fire,
Say not the mystic flame is spent!
With Moses's law and David's lyre,
Your ancient strength remains unbent.
Let but an Ezra rise anew,
To lift the Banner of the Jew!
A rag, a mock at first: erelong,
When men have bled and women wept,
To guard its precious folds from wrong,
Even they who shrunk, even they who slept,
Shall leap to bless it, and to save.
Strike! for the brave revere the brave!
EMMA LAZARUS.
XXVIII-1058
## p. 16914 (#614) ##########################################
16914
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE DEAD SOLOMON
K
ING SOLOMON stood in the house of the Lord,
And the Genii silently wrought around,
Toiling and moiling without a word,
Building the temple without a sound.
Fear and rage were theirs, but naught
In mien or face of fear or rage;
For he had guessed their secret thought, -
They had pined in hell for many an age.
Closed were the eyes that the demons feared;
Over his breast streamed his silver beard;
Bowed was his head, as if in prayer,-
As if, through the busy silence there,
The answering voice of God he heard.
Solemn peace was on his brow,
Leaning upon his staff in prayer;
And a breath of wind would come and go,
And stir his robe, and beard of snow,
And long white hair;
But he heeded not,
Rapt afar in holy thought.
King Solomon stood in the house of the Lord,
And the Genii silently wrought around,
Toiling and moiling without a word,
Building the temple without a sound.
And now the work was done,
Perfected in every part;
And the demons rejoiced at heart,
And made ready to depart,
But dared not speak to Solomon,
To tell him their task was done,
And fulfilled the desire of his heart.
So around him they stood with eyes of fire,
Each cursing the king in his secret heart, –
Secretly cursing the silent king,
Waiting but till he should say “Depart":
Cursing the king,
Each evil thing:
## p. 16915 (#615) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16915
But he heeded them not, nor raised his head;
For King Solomon was dead!
Then the body of the king fell down;
For a worm had gnawed his staff in twain.
He had prayed to the Lord that the house he planned
Might not be left for another hand,
Might not unfinished remain :
So praying, he had died;
But he had not prayed in vain.
So the body of the king fell down;
And howling fled the fiends amain:
Bitterly grieved, to be so deceived,
Howling afar they fled.
Idly had they borne his chain,
And done his hateful tasks, in dread
Of mystic penal pain, -
And King Solomon was dead!
JOHN AYLMER DORGAN.
JONAH'S VOYAGE IN THE WHALE
From Patience,' a Poem of the Fourteenth Century
S
A mote in at a minster door, so mighty were its jaws,
A
he reeled in through a gullet, that seemed to him a
road,
tumbling about, aye head over heels,
till he staggers to a place as broad as a hall;
then he fixes his feet there and gropes all about,
and stands up in its belly, that stank as the devil;
in sorry plight there, 'mid grease that savored as he
his bower was arrayed, who would fain risk no ill.
Then he lurks there and seeks in each nook of the nave
the best sheltered spot, yet nowhere he finds
rest or recovery, but filthy mire
wherever he goes; but God is ever dear;
and he tarried at length and called to the Prince.
Then he reached a nook and held himself there,
where no foul filth encumbered him about.
He sat there as safe, save for darkness alone,
as in the boat's stern, where he had slept ere.
## p. 16916 (#616) ##########################################
16916
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Thus, in the beast's bowel, he abides there alive,
three days and three nights, thinking aye on the Lord,
His might and His mercy and His measure eke;
now he knows Him in woe, who could not in weal.
And onward rolls the whale through deep wild-seas,
through many rough regions, in stubborn will;
for, though that mote in its maw was small,
that monster grew sickish at heart, I trow,
and worried the wight. And Jonah aye heard
the huge flood as it lashed the whale's back and its sides.
Author Unknown.
Version of Israel Gollancz.
PEARL
(C
(A fourteenth-century poem; author unknown; modernized by Israel Gol-
lancz.
In this poem the author laments the loss of his child, Margaret, a
«pearl, fair enow for princes' pleasance,) and relates the vision which he has
of her in Paradise. ]
EARL! fair enow for princes' pleasance,
deftly set in gold so pure,
from orient lands, I durst avouch, -
ne'er saw I a gem its peer,
so round, so comely-shaped withal,
so small, with sides so smooth, -
where'er judged of radiant gems,
I placed my pearl supreme.
PAS
SO
I lost it — in an arbor - alas!
It passed from me through grass to earth.
I pine, despoiled of love's dominion,-
of mine own, my spotless pearl.
Sithence how oft have I tarried there,
where it vanished, -seeking the joy
that whilom scattered all my woe,
and raised so high my bliss !
It doth but pierce my heart with pangs,
and kindle my breast with sorrow;
yet ne'er was heard so sweet a song
as the still hour let steal to me thither.
Ah me! what thoughts stole there to my mind!
To think of my fair one o'erlaid with clay! -
## p. 16917 (#617) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16917
O earth! thou marrest a joyous theme,-
mine own, my spotless pearl.
On a day I entered that arbor green, –
fain would I picture the place in words:
'twas August, the year's high festival,
when the corn is cut with the keen-edged hook;
where my pearl had erewhile rolled adown
was shaded with herbage full beauteous and bright, -
gillyflowers, ginger, and gromwell-seed,
and peonies sprent between.
But fair as was the sight to see,
fairer the fragrance that wafted thence,
where dwelleth that glory, I wot and ween, -
my precious, my spotless pearl.
I gazed on the sight: my hands I clasped;
chill sorrow seized my heart:
wild grief made tumult in my breast,
though reason whispered "peace. ”
I wailed for my pearl, held fast from me there,-
dread doubt fought hard with doubt,-
though Christ's self shewed whence comfort is,
my will was bondman to woe.
I fell upon that flowery plat;
such fragrance rose to my brain,
that soon I was lulled in a reverie
o'er my precious, my spotless pearl.
My spirit thence sped forth into space,
my body lay there entranced on that mound,
my soul, by grace of God, had fared
in quest of adventure, where marvels be.
I knew not where that region was;
I was borne, iwis, where the cliffs rose sheer;
toward a forest I set my face,
where rocks so radiant were to see,
that none can trow how rich was the light,
the gleaming glory that glinted therefrom,
for never a web by mortal spun
was half so wondrous fair.
The hillsides there were crowned
with crystal cliffs full clear,
## p. 16918 (#618) ##########################################
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SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
and holts and woods, all bright with boles
blue as the blue of Inde,
and trembling leaves, thick on every branch,
as burnished silver shone,–
with shimmering sheen they glistened,
touched by the gleam of the glades,-
and the gravel that rolled upon that strand
was precious orient pearls.
The sun's own light had paled before
that sight so wondrous fair.
'Mid the magic charm of those wondrous hills
my spirit forgot all woe;
fruit there of such rare flavor grew,
'twas food to make one strong:
birds flew there in peace together,
of flaming hues, both small and great;
nor citern-string, nor minstrel,
can tell their joyous glee,
for lo! whene'er they beat their wings,
they sang with sweet accord:
no rapture could so stir a man
as their song and that wondrous sight.
More of such wealth was there withal
than I might tell, though leisure were mine,
for earthly spirit cannot grasp
a tenth part of that fair delight;-
certes methought that paradise
lay those broad banks beyond:
I trowed the stream was some device,
a lake in the midst of a pleasance;
beyond the brook, by glen or glade,
I trowed to find where the moat was marked:
but the water was deep,- I durst not pass;
and ever I longed still more and more.
More and more, and yet still more
I longed to see beyond that brook;
for if 'twas fair where I passed along,
far fairer was that further land.
I stayed my steps; I gazed about;
I sought full hard to find some ford –
the farther I wended along the strand
the way grew harder, iwis:
## p. 16919 (#619) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16919
no peril methought would make me turn
where such rich treasures were, -
when fresh delights were nigh at hand,
that moved my mind still more and more.
More marvels arose to daunt my soul:
I saw beyond that gladsome mere
a crystal cliff that shone full bright,-
many a noble ray gleamed forth;-
at the foot thereof there sat a child,
a gracious maiden, so debonair;
robed was she in glistening white, -
I knew her well, I had seen her ere.
Radiant as refined gold
shone that glory 'neath the cliff;
long I gazed upon her there,-
the longer, I knew her more and more.
More than my longing was now my dread;
I stood full still; I durst not call;
with open eyes and fast-closed mouth,
I stood as a well-trained hawk in a hall;
twixt hope that it came for my soul's behoof,
and fear lest perchance it might so befall,
that the prize I chose might escape from me,
ere I held it within my grasp;
when lo! that spotless creature of grace,
so gentle, so small, so winsomely lithe,
riseth up in her royal array,-
a precious thing with pearls bedight.
Favored mortal might there see
choicest pearls of sovereign price,
when all as fresh as a fleur-de-lys
she came adown that bank.
Gleaming white was her tunic rich;
at its sides 'twas open, and wondrously stitched
with the winsomest pearls, I trow full well,
that e'er mine eyes had seen:
broad were the sleeves, I ween and wot,
with double braid of pearls bedecked,
and her bright kirtle followed suit,
with precious pearls bedight.
A crown that maiden wore withal,
bedecked with pearls, with none other stones,
## p. 16920 (#620) ##########################################
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SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
and pinnacled high with pure white pearls,
with figured flowers wrought thereon;
no other gem was on her head;
her hair, too, hung about her neck;
her look was grave, as a duke's or an earl's;
whiter than whalebone was her hue.
Her locks shone then as bright pure gold;
loose on her shoulders so softly they lay;
though deep their color, they needed not
those precious pearls on her robe bedight.
“O Pearl! ) quoth I, “with pearls bedight,
art thou my Pearl ? — of me so lone
regretted, and through the night bewailed.
Much longing for thee have I borne concealed,
since thou glancedst from me into grass;
pensive, shattered, forlorn, am I,
but thou hast reached a life of joy
in the strifeless home of Paradise.
What chance hath hither brought my jewel,
and me in dolorous plight hath cast ?
Since we twain were sundered and set apart,
have I been joyless, so loved I my jewel. ”
That jewel then, so fair begemmed,
veered up her visage, raised her gray eyes,
set on her crown of orient pearls,
and gently thus she spake :-
“Sir, thou hast misread thy tale,
to say thy pearl is all perdu,
that is in a casket so well bestowed,
yea, in this garden of grace and joy.
herein for ever to dwell and play,
where sin nor mourning come ne'er nigh:
this were thy treasure-hold in sooth,
didst thou love thy jewel aright. ”
## p. 16921 (#621) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16921
THE WEDDING OF PALE BRONWEN
I
T**
THE wind was waked by the morning light,
And it cried in the gray birch-tree,
And the cry was plain in Bronwen's bower,
“O Bronwen, come to me! ”
Pale, pale sleeps · Bronwen, pale she wakes:
«What bird to my bower is flown ?
For my lover, Red Ithel, is at the wars
Before Jerusalem town. ”
But still the wind sang in the tree, -
«Come forth, 'tis your wedding morn,
And you must be wed in Holy Land
Ere your little babe is born. ”
c
And still the wind had her true-love's cry,
«Kind Bronwen, come ! ) until
She could not rest, and rose to look
To the sea beyond Morva Hill.
And afar came the cry over Morva Hill,
«Kind Bronwen, come to me! »
Till she could not stay, for very love,
And stole away to the sea.
She crossed the hill to the fishing-boats,
And away she sailed so fine:
"Is it far, my love, in the summer sun
To the shores of fair Palestine ? »
II
There was no sun at sea that day,
To watch pale Bronwen drown;
the sun was hot on the deadly sands
Before Jerusalem town.
All day Red Ithel lay dying there,
But he thought of the far-off sea;
And he cried all day till his lips grew white,
“Kind Bronwen, come to me! ”
c
And so it passed till the evening time,
And then the sea-wind came,
## p. 16922 (#622) ##########################################
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SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And he thought he lay on Morva Hill
And heard her call his name.
c
He heard her voice, he held her hand:--
« This is the day,” she said,
“And this is the hour, that Holy Church
Has given for us to wed. ”
There was no strength in him to speak,
But his eyes had yet their say:-
“Kind Bronwen, now we will be wed
For ever and ever and aye! "
INI
Beneath the sea pale Bronwen lies,
Red Ithel beneath the sand;
But they are one in Holy Church,
One in love's Holy Land.
Red Ithel lies by Jerusalem town,
And she in the deep sea lies;
But I trow their little babe was born
In the gardens of Paradise.
ERNEST Rhys.
THE FOLK OF THE AIR
O
'DRISCOLL drove with a song
The wild duck and the drake
From the tall and the tufted weeds
Of the drear Heart Lake.
And he saw how the weeds grew dark
At the coming of night tide,
And he dreamed of the long dim hair
Of Bridget his bride.
He heard while he sang and dreamed
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.
And he saw young men and young girls
Who danced on a level place,
## p. 16923 (#623) ##########################################
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16923
And Bridget his bride among them,
With a sad and a gay face.
The dancers crowded about him,
And many a sweet thing said,
And a young man brought him red wine,
And a young girl white bread.
But Bridget drew him by the sleeve
Away from the merry bands,
To old men playing at cards
With a twinkling of ancient hands.
The bread and the wine had a doom,
For these were the folk of the air;
He sat and played in a dream
Of her long dim hair.
He played with the merry old men,
And thought not of evil chance,
Until one bore Bridget his bride
Away from the merry dance.
He bore her away in his arms,-
The handsomest young man there,–
And his neck and his breast and his arms
Were drowned in her long dim hair.
O'Driscoll got up from the grass
. And scattered the cards with a cry;
But the old men and dancers were gone
As a cloud faded into the sky.
He knew now the folk of the air,
And his heart was blackened by dread,
And he ran to the door of his house:
Old women were keening the dead;
But he heard high up in the air
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad
And never was piping so gay.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS.
## p. 16924 (#624) ##########################################
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SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
FATHER GILLIGAN
THE
He old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day;
For half his flock were in their beds,
Or under green sods lay.
Once while he nodded on a chair,
At the moth-hour of eve,
Another poor man sent for him,
And he began to grieve.
“I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace,
For people die and die ;)
And after cried he, “God forgive!
My body spake, not I! ”
(
And then, half-lying on the chair,
He knelt, prayed, fell asleep;
And the moth-hour went from the fields,
And stars began to peep.
They slowly into inillions grew,
And leaves shook in the wind;
And God covered the world with shade,
And whispered to mankind.
