THE PROMISE.
I
As the church-bells rolled forth their sonorous Evangel,
Their last ere the Stranger usurped the old pile,
I heard 'mid their clangour the voice of an Angel
Give words to that music which rushed o'er the Isle:
‘In thousand-fold echoes, thy God, unforsaking,
That peal shall send back from the heavenly bourne:
O hearts that are broken, O hearts that are breaking,
Be strong, for the glories gone by shall return.’
II
Thenceforth in the wood and the tempests that din it
In the thunder of mountains the moan of the shore,
That chime I can hear and the clear song within it
The voice of that Angel who sings evermore,
‘The Faith shall grow vast though the Faithful grow fewer;
By sorrow uplifted ascendeth their Throne
Who resist the ill deed but not hate the ill-doer,
Who forgive, unpartaking, all sins but their own.’
