Volume I Part 10 (1/2)

Strive; yet I do not promise The prize you dream of to-day Will not fade when you think to grasp it, And melt in your hand away; But another and holier treasure, You would now perchance disdain, Will come when your toil is over, And pay you for all your pain.

Wait; yet I do not tell you The hour you long for now, Will not come with its radiance vanished, And a shadow upon its brow; Yet far through the misty future, With a crown of starry light, An hour of joy you know not Is winging her silent flight.

Pray; though the gift you ask for May never comfort your fears, May never repay your pleading, Yet pray, and with hopeful tears; An answer, not that you long for, But diviner, will come one day, Your eyes are too dim to see it, Yet strive, and wait, and pray.

VERSE: A LAMENT FOR THE SUMMER

Moan, oh ye Autumn Winds!

Summer has fled, The flowers have closed their tender leaves and die; The Lily's gracious head All low must lie, Because the gentle Summer now is dead.

Grieve, oh ye Autumn Winds!

Summer lies low; The rose's trembling leaves will soon be shed, For she that loved her so, Alas, is dead!

And one by one her loving children go.

Wail, oh ye Autumn Winds!

She lives no more, The gentle Summer, with her balmy breath, Still sweeter than before When nearer death, And brighter every day the smile she wore!

Mourn, mourn, oh Autumn Winds, Lament and mourn; How many half-blown buds must close and die; Hopes with the Summer born All faded lie, And leave us desolate and Earth forlorn!

VERSE: THE UNKNOWN GRAVE

No name to bid us know Who rests below, No word of death or birth, Only the gra.s.s's wave, Over a mound of earth, Over a nameless grave.

Did this poor wandering heart In pain depart?

Longing, but all too late, For the calm home again, Where patient watchers wait, And still will wait in vain.

Did mourners come in scorn, And thus forlorn, Leave him, with grief and shame.

To silence and decay, And hide the tarnished name Of the unconscious clay?

It may be from his side His loved ones died, And last of some bright band, (Together now once more,) He sought his home, the land Where they had gone before.

No matter--limes have made As cool a shade, And lingering breezes pa.s.s As tenderly and slow, As if beneath the gra.s.s A monarch slept below.

No grief, though loud and deep, Could stir that sleep; And earth and heaven tell Of rest that shall not cease, Where the cold world's farewell Fades into endless peace.

VERSE: GIVE ME THY HEART

With echoing steps the wors.h.i.+ppers Departed one by one; The organ's pealing voice was stilled, The vesper hymn was done; The shadows fell from roof and arch, Dim was the incensed air, One lamp alone with trembling ray, Told of the Presence there!

In the dark church she knelt alone; Her tears were falling fast; ”Help, Lord,” she cried, ”the shades of death Upon my soul are cast!

Have I not shunned the path of sin, And chosen the better part?”

What voice came through the sacred air?-- ”My child, give me thy Heart!”