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Poems

By the author of "The Patience of Hope" [i.e. Dora Greenwell]
Greenwell, Dora (1821-1882)
  
[epigraph]

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[section]
  
CHRISTINA.
  
GOD'S SINGER.
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A STORY OF OLDEN TIME.
 I. 
[[FIRST PART.]]
 II. 
SECOND PART.
  
SEEKING.
  
THE KISS.
  
WHEN THE NIGHT AND MORNING MEET.
  
THE SOUL'S PARTING.
  
RECONCILIATION.
  
GONE.
  
HAUNTED GROUND.
  
POETS.
  
A COMPARISON.
  
THE ETERNAL NOW.
  
CONSOLATION.
  
PENCIL-MARKS IN A BOOK OF DEVOTION.
  
“FAINT, YET PURSUING.”
  
ENTREAT FOR ME.
  
A VISION OF GREEN LEAVES.
  
TO A LONG-PARTED FRIEND.
  
“SO IT HAPPENS.”
  
THE PICTURE AND THE SCROLL.
  
TO A YOUNG GIRL.
  
A SONG OF MEMORY.
  
TO JOSEPHINE.
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THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS.
 I. 
I. AGNES AT HER WINDOW.
 II. 
II. THE SERENADE.
 III. 
III. AGNES AMONG THE SISTERS.
 IV. 
IV. And oft upon me is the fancy borne
  
WITHOUT AND WITHIN.
  
MADANA.
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VALENTINES AND SONGS.
  
LUISA.
  
THE SUMMER FRIEND.
  
“QUI SAIT AIMER, SAIT MOURIR.”
  
THE BROKEN CHAIN.
  
A VALENTINE.
  
A VALENTINE.
  
“ICH DIEN.”
  
THE BABES IN THE WOOD.
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SONNETS.
  
ASCENDING.
  
LIFE TAPESTRY.
  
LOVE BIRDS.
  
TO ELIZABETH BARRET BROWNING.
  
TO A REMEMBERED STREAM, AND A NEVER FORGOTTEN FRIEND.
  
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.
  
RESERVE.
  
DREAMS.
  
THE SOUL'S WOOERS.
  
HOPE.
  
TO A FRIEND.
  
TO L. M.
  
TO THE AUTHOR OF ZISKA.
  
REST.
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PART FIRST
  
TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
  
TO AN EARLY FRIEND.
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OLD LETTERS.
  
[section]
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
  
AFTER PARTING.
  
IN ABSENCE.
  
THE FIRST LETTER.
  
SILENCE.
  
IN ILLNESS.
  
VII.
  
VIII.
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TO A LONG-PARTED FRIEND.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
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TO --- ---.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
  
TO A DISTANT FRIEND.
  
TO MY FRIENDS AT ------.
  
MEETING.
  
PARTING.
  
TO A DEPARTED SPIRIT.
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PART SECOND.
  
THE RECONCILER.
  
THE QUESTION.
  
FORSAKEN.
  
THE LESSON.
  
THE TWO RELIGIONS.
  
LOVE.
  
IN SADNESS.
  
THE SUMMONS.
  
PAX IN NOVISSIMO.
  
A MEDITATION.
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EARLIER POEMS.
  
ASPIRATION.
  
MARY.
  
CHILDHOOD.
  
WINTER.
  
THE DEFORMED CHILD.
  
THE DAUGHTER OF THE HALL.
  
THE LOVER'S QUARREL.
  
THE OLD FAMILY.
  
“REJOICE EVERMORE.”
  
BALLAD.
  
THE IRISH EMIGRANT'S SONG.
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SONGS OF FAREWELL.
  
PARTING.
  
DEATH.

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185

II.

I said, I do assign
A day far hence to speak with Thee; if late
Or soon it fall, I know not, for its date
Rests not with me, but One above, who draws
Our ruins to an order through the fine
And ceaseless working of His kindly laws;
For we are hasty builders incomplete;
Our Master follows after, far more slow
And far more sure than we, for frost and heat,
And winds that breathe, and waters in their flow
Work with Him silently; we stand too near
The part as yet to look upon the whole;
That thing which shall be doth not yet appear;
It is not with the eye but with the soul
That we must view God's work;
Of when and where
We ask not wisely; if our meeting were
Delayed indeed, until no more to part
We meet at last within a Mansion fair
Where there are many such, would this impart
A sadness to thy spirit? heart with heart
May commune safely when the Master's art
Hath tuned His perfect instrument! below
We learn not half its sweetness; not for men
Its broken strings are joined; it keeps its flow
186

Of music for the Land where none again
May wring its chords;
Yet even here, I know,
Are seasons calm and glad that antedate
The coming in of happier cycles, where
The human soul, too long left desolate
Shall reckon up its Sabbaths, and repair
Its pleasant things laid waste; upon that Rest
Together we shall enter! we shall share
Its joy above, below,—as God deems best!
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