"OUT OF THE ARK."

O human love, that pleads and cries for self,
Be still! and bind not earthly ties that irk
And seem to curse the ones they fain would bless—
Be still! and know that Love divine rules all.
Selfishness can but darken all the thought,
And vain imaginations of the heart
Would drive from off the earth a selfless love
Whose dovelike wings are folded in the ark,
Waiting in patient, sacred secrecy
The slow assuaging of the floods of sin
. God made a wind to rule these floods away;
Then first appear in heart and mind the peaks
Of pure desire, not yet made practical.
The earth beneath is hid by floods, and is
As yet no place where heaven-sent blessings dwell.
Even the raven to and fro must fly
Until the floods are done; much less the dove
Could there find rest for peace and purity;
But Love sends forth again the gracious dove
To seek and judge the earth, and now appear
The topmost branches of a tree whose leaves,
Like little hands held out, are hostages
That pledge a growing love for God and man.
Far, far below lie self and fear and doubt.
Though now abating like the flood, they still
Conceal the soil—a good and honest heart.
So must a third probation-time be spent,
Till once again the searching visitant
Flies down, and now the dew-drenched earth is found
No unmeet dwelling for a holy thought.
Out of the ark, at God's command, come forth
New life and faith and hope to dwell below;
Sending up thanks to God, the chastened heart
Finds that it has a dwelling-place in Mind,
And even on the earth, while time abides.
Seedtime and harvest shall not fail, nor cease
The processes of change and growth that bring
The whole vast universe and man, by steps
On steps of grand improved beliefs, to be
Full-conscious of the God they now reflect,
For all is as it ever was to God—
His work is finished, and stands fast in truth.
See! where the token of the Lord's full year
Arches the heaven of awakening thought,
Sealing the promise that due time is given
To work repentance of the heart and deeds
Which can and shall replenish all the earth.