 | The Autumn Garden |  |
94
The Cripples' Guild
To M. S.
Where no light of summer shone
By the streams of Babylon,
There they sate and wept alone;
By the streams of Babylon,
There they sate and wept alone;
Sobbing in the squalid shade
O'er the ruin life had made,
Sobbing, utterly dismayed;
O'er the ruin life had made,
Sobbing, utterly dismayed;
Listening to the wind that saith,
Piping with its hollow breath,
“Who may loose this body of death?”
Piping with its hollow breath,
“Who may loose this body of death?”
Then within that shrouded sky
Love's clear crystal flashed on high;
Voices rang, “Ye shall not die!”
Love's clear crystal flashed on high;
Voices rang, “Ye shall not die!”
Hope, by morning breezes fanned,
Waved the clarion in her hand,
Blew evangel through the land;
Waved the clarion in her hand,
Blew evangel through the land;
95
Melted with her smile the snows;
Clothed the desert with the rose;
Brimmed the stream that fuller flows;
Clothed the desert with the rose;
Brimmed the stream that fuller flows;
Dried the tears that dropped like rain
On pale folded hands in vain;
Soothed the wild heart's fluttering pain;
On pale folded hands in vain;
Soothed the wild heart's fluttering pain;
Gave the untended fingers will
For the work that combats ill;
Proved the useless useful still.
For the work that combats ill;
Proved the useless useful still.
And the life that was so dark
Wins a rapture now, and, hark!
Carols like the soaring lark!
Wins a rapture now, and, hark!
Carols like the soaring lark!
Colour wakens in the grass,
And the river shines like glass,
While the moods of languor pass,
And the river shines like glass,
While the moods of languor pass,
Till the world that sobbed for grief,
Till the thin hours, bald and brief,
Smile in joy beyond belief.
Till the thin hours, bald and brief,
Smile in joy beyond belief.
| The Autumn Garden | |