Questions & Answers
Give me, O life,—I thoughtlessly cried, When the years were young and the skies were gold, When the world in my sight was a wonderland wide And the hours were robins that sang A rapturous lay,— Give me radiance, pleasure, and gain— The laughter of things but never the fang!— Music and fame and red roses untold And the brimming flagon of fortune to drain! This was the prayer I prayed, Awaiting the day. Give me, O life,—I wearily asked, When later the years loomed lurid and long, When the wonderland-world by shadow was masked— A songless, desolate close Where hope lay stark,— Give me the key to the riddle—the Why Of the wall at the end, the thorn on the rose! Is this hollowness all, this riot of wrong, Or is there a hope and a heaven on high? This was the prayer I prayed, Awaiting the dark.
'Tis ours to watch and pray, for she has taught The accepted prayer of purified desire: The cup of healing that her hand has brought Is ours forever: while her words of fire Still urge us onward to the beckoning heavens, and higher. She showed the way that Jesus showed of yore, That sin and hate and man's deceitfulness Had quite o'ercast, and shrouded more and more: We first rejected her, then learned to bless, And now our joy for her o'erwhelms our hearts' distress.
Why haltest thou here, O thou loitering one, And why art thou looking so sad? For they who are traveling the royal highway Press onward with faces all glad. Dost fear there are lions besetting the path? Love has conquered them, once and for all; And never a danger upon thee shall come, Nor an evil to thee befall.
As nature's shower and sunshine bring From fertile soil each tender thing, New thoughts, like birds upon the wing, In praise to God, rise, soar, and sing; While flowers to all their fragrance fling, As they come forth at call of spring. So Truth, unfolding beauteous, fair, Within our hearts its flowers rare — Love, constancy, devotion, prayer, Whose fragrance gentle zephyrs bear To soothe the heartsick, sweeten care — Doth call, Come forth — Love's freedom share! O earth-bound mortal; matter, clay Is not true soil nor substance; nay, 'Tis but a shadow which one ray Of light dispels and clears the way.
If e'er the brilliant day be dulled with care, Or ways seem balked by sense of limitation; Watch! lest within the burden of thy prayer The suppliant's cry outweigh Love's affirmation. If e'er life seems to breathe of self and sin, And on heaven's stillness mortal voice is falling, Watch! lest them let the subtle tempter in To drown the music of Christ's whispered calling.
O thou afflicted, tempest-tossed, Awake from troubled dreams! Arise, and fling thy portals wide To catch the first faint beams. For light is breaking in the east, And o'er the shim'ring sea The curtains of the night withdraw, And day hath dawned for thee! Then, weary heart, look up, rejoice! For all creation sings: The Sun of righteousness shall rise With healing in his wings.
" My burden is too heavy, Lord," I trembling said. "I can no farther carry it!" And tears I shed.
True consciousness is like the sea, Unbounded, free. Like white ships to and fro, Thoughts come and go All silently.
The night of materialism wanes. —Science and Health, p.
Why move ye such a saddened throng throughout a weary world of woe, The heavy fear of dreaded death upon thine eyelids hanging low, When life eternal swings thy way, where God's own angels singing go. And death is done, did ye but know! The far hereafter is today—it holds no place for trembling tears.