Poems

" The dawn swings incense, silver gray; The night is past; Now comes, triumphant, God's full day; No priest, no church can bar its way; The night is past; How, on this blue Of God's great banner, blaze and glow The words, 'Forgive them: for they know Not what they do. '"— H.

" Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege Through all the years of this our life to lead From joy to joy; for she can so inform The mind that is within us, so impress With quietness and beauty, and so feed With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men Can e'er prevail against us, or disturb Our cheerful faith that all which we behold Is full of blessing. ".

Lift up thy saddened eyes in hope, thou child Of God. Can thought be born of that which hath No power of thought? Whence comes thy wondrous soul Unless there somewhere be a grander Soul Which touches thine through laws that never change? The universe is vast indeed! but He Who planned and made it, fills it through and through From smallest atom to the largest star, There is no point in space where chaos reigns.

Be true and list the voice within, Be true unto thy high ideal, Thy perfect self, that knows no sin— That self that is the only real. God is the only perfect one: My perfect self, one must it be With God, then,—and that thought begun, It solveth all the mystery.

"Well roars the storm for those that hear A deeper voice across the storm Proclaiming.

" Has the summer really come?" Said a rosebud blushing sweet, As she opened wide her eyes In a glad and sweet surprise, From a long and dreamless sleep. "Oh, I wonder if the frost, With its cold and chilling breath, Has been melted by the sun! Has the summer, then, begun, Giving life Instead of death? " So the buds which hid the leaves And the fragrance of the rose, Wooed by sunshine-laden breeze, That swayed the royal trees From this stately, calm repose, With a bashful, blushing bloom, From their floral gem'd retreats, Came with wealth of rare perfume, Covering lovely May and June In an avalanche of sweets.

" Possessions vanish, and opinions change, And passions hold a fluctuating seat; But, by the storms of circumstance unshaken, And subject neither to eclipse nor wane, Duty exists; immutably survive, For our support, the measures and the forms Which a divine Intelligence supplies, Whose kingdom is where time and space are not. ".

" There is no unbelief; Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod And waits to see it push away the clod, He trusts in God. Whoever says, when clouds are in the sky, "Be patient, heart; light breaketh by and by," Trusts the Most High.

My lady gives such blessed alms, More precious far than golden dole— The friendly word, the tender smile, The gentle, gracious courtesy. She doth surround you with such grace Of look, and word, and action, that, Like ice-bound brooks that stumbling go On thro' the winter's dark and cold, Till Spring, with fingers light and warm, Stoops down and draws the glittering bolts, And sets the brooklet bubbling free And leaping light with cadenced steps— To some poor stranger heart, may be, Had chanced upon a wintry time, Receiving from my lady's eyes The largesse of her kindly smile, Feels Springtime warmth come creeping back, And all its burdens strangely light.

Where Duty calls, go forward! And dare to do the Right; Hold high the flag of Truth and Love, And strike with all your might! Forward! God through Moses spoke To Israel's trembling host— Lo! watery gates were closed upon The pride of Egypt's boast. Be not afraid—in Duty's path— Of famine, flood or foe; As snow flakes falls the manna bread,— From rocks sweet waters flow.