One thought he hated me: I thought the same.
His looks were bitter, and his speech a flame
That seared my soul and turned its day to night;
In agony I sought relief in flight.
I wandered far, but still his eyes met mine;
I wandered long where towers the darkling pine,
Then in the deeps of southern forests found
My weary way. He trod the self-same ground.
How to escape his hatred's quenchless fire
Became my great, my one supreme desire.
One morning as I woke from troubled sleep
I saw the sun's slant rays pour down the steep;
The world was compassed with a golden flood
That gave sure promise of a richer good.
The trees were glistening and alive with song;
The streams ran merrily their way along,
And flowers blushing on each swaying stem
Smiled gladly for the new day given them.
The kingly mountains crowned with royal gold,—
Staunch, faithful sovereigns o'er the common mold,—
Augustly simple and supremely fair,
Sent thrilling messages through the air.
Enwrapt in meditation, long I lay
To view this budding of the bloom of day;
Watched how the generous sun bestowed his light,
Gilding each tiny blade, each wing in flight;
Heard the sweet song flung out for one and all,
Breathed in the odors spent for great and small;
Drank in the light,—day's dear, unconscious charm,
Healer of darkness, pure, perennial balm.
Joy, left behind me in the day of flight,
Sprang to my lips—leaped forth to meet the light;
Peace, quite forgotten 'mid the surges' roll,
Again found quiet depths within my soul;
Love, warder of the life that knows no end,
Once more revealed Himself my present friend!
Ah! heaven itself was opening to me now,—
I felt its breath a-flutter on my brow.
