Out of the shuddering night
To Thee I cry in all my sin's despite,
Father of mercy! from Thine holy hill
Heed my complaint, and bid my woes be still!
There is no pain, there is no scalding tear
Where Love is king; and Love alone is here:
To do Thy will the winds and waters sweep
Along the eternal hills and on the moaning deep.
I feel Thy presence here—
A chord of peace upon the enchanted ear
Breathing the tones of heaven: my dark distress
Touched a white garment in the throng and press.
I see the wakeful sentries of the stars
Keep watch and ward above the woods and scars:
And not a star but tuneful tribute brings:
Harmonious all its ways, harmonious songs it sings.
Thine is the still, small voice
That stays the storm and bids the world rejoice:
Thine is the hand that gives divine repose;
To hearts distraught—forgetfulness of woes.
Far in the saintly cloisters of the night
The moon is waning, wondrous, calm, and white:
The clouds enfold her fondly, while the main
Weaves her white footprints in a pearl-entangled chain.
O heaven-reflecting earth
And golden sky! the music and the mirth
Of your sweet tones constrain me, and would prove,
By loveliness alone, your source is Love.
The winds are hushed, the shifting shadows creep
Silent as summer dreams, softer than sleep,
O'er the still wave, till morn awakening calls
With sound of silken wings and velvet-soft footfalls.
We long for heaven, and yet
At times we falter with a fond regret:
The wafted scent of flowers, or sound of bells,
The crimson sunset, saddening fields and fells,
The clasp of hands, the light of loving brows,
The song of wakening birds among the boughs,
We love them all so fondly, that we deem
We would not wake from such a heavenly-tinted dream!
Why do we sigh for earth
When beauty is immortal, and her birth
Is in the heaven of heavens, and here we see
But faint reflections of her purity?
But far aloft, along the mountain's horn,
The fair white path ascends to meet the morn:
And we may climb from out the shuddering night
Till beauty's self appears, and faith is lost in sight.
