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The Prisoner of Love

By F. W. Orde Ward (F. Harald Wiliams)
  
  

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193

June 7 SUMMER'S PARABLE

The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”—Ps. cxlv. 9.

I see the ripple on the corn
Which runneth gaily to and fro,
And watch the rising of the morn
Or hear the noon-tide breezes blow;
The shadow rests on belfry walls,
I mark the nodding grasses raise
Their pennons when the wild wind calls,
And song-birds join the general praise.
The blossom blushes as it bows
Its head more humbly, and the dew
In pearls and diamonds decks those brows
It washes every night anew;
The keel grates on the golden beach,
The blue smoke riseth as a prayer,
And far off on the upland reach
Through red earth gleams the silver share.
I hear the pulsing of the wheels
And mighty springs that work Thy Law,
Father, and all my spirit kneels
To Thine in knowledge that is awe;
O Thou art beautiful and blest
In every flower and every tree,
For what is nature but Thy Breast
Which draws Thy children close to Thee?