Poems

How dark, how filled with fear, the days When thus we prayed to God on high: Send down Thy light upon our ways, And bless us ere we die; And grant, when Thou hast rent the veil, Which death shall place upon our eyes, The ransomed spirit may not fail To wake in paradise. 'T was thus, dear God, we dared betray The blessing of Thy fatherhood, And blindly shut ourselves away From ever present good.

Rise up, my consciousness, and fly to where, Above the clouds in pure, life-giving air, Dwell all things joyous, all things true and fair; There wilt thou God's celestial children see, And all His universe will glow for thee In Spirit's beauty, bright eternally. And thou, if thou be lifted up, wilt draw The gaze of others Christward, till in awe These, earth-sick, rise to find the higher law, The law which shows man free to love and give Unstinted as God's representative: O consciousness, rise up, and know, and live!

Dawn! and its splendor brightens In fair, unclouded day; Oh, heart of mine, be glad to know 'T is God that shows my feet the way, Lest human weakness have its will And bid them sadly stray. Noon! and the day unfolding With each full-freighted hour Sees budding faith with honest works Reveal fruition's perfect flow'r,— The noon of Truth that glows to light The path where shadows low'r.

God fills all space; And Love controls in every situation. No night so dark that Science cannot trace The path of Truth, to speed your destination, Where safe in Soul, upon a quiet shore, You find your goal, and rest, To want no more.

The morn awakes, and I behold with quick, glad eye The beauty of the hills. Once through my tears They loomed so far and bleak against the darkling sky That weary hopes grew into silent fears.

I sing not now as once I sang, In mournful strain, When clouds of sense dimmed all my skies, And years were vain. I sing not so, for God hath given A glad new song, Whose wondrous words hang on my lips, The whole day long,— A song of truth, effulgent, bright, With Love's sunshine; A song of freedom, health, and peace, Of joy divine.

"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. "— Ephesians 5:8.

Ofttimes I've paused, Longing for joy, for happiness, for health, Which seemed denied me. Sorrow appeared my lot; unhappiness my portion.

Awakening from sleep one prayed, "Thy kingdom come. " The sky was clear; bird-songs were In the air, and voices of happy children; The reign of Truth, and Life, and Love Was gaining establishment within; Fear and sinful thoughts were being cast out; For in the consciousness where good holds sway, There is no abiding place for evil.

Sunken are our landmarks beneath the sea's rim, And the night is coming on; The gleam upon the water is shimmering and dim, And far away is dawn. Wide is the sky that arches over all— Wide is the sea.