 | The American common-place book of poetry |  |
Missions.—Mrs. Sigourney.
Light for the dreary vales
Of ice-bound Labrador!
Where the frost-king breathes on the slippery sails,
And the mariner wakes no more;
Lift high the lamp that never fails,
To that dark and sterile shore.
Of ice-bound Labrador!
Where the frost-king breathes on the slippery sails,
124
Lift high the lamp that never fails,
To that dark and sterile shore.
Light for the forest child!
An outcast though he be,
From the haunts where the sun of his childhood smiled,
And the country of the free;
Pour the hope of Heaven o'er his desert wild,
For what home on earth has he?
An outcast though he be,
From the haunts where the sun of his childhood smiled,
And the country of the free;
Pour the hope of Heaven o'er his desert wild,
For what home on earth has he?
Light for the hills of Greece!
Light for that trampled clime
Where the rage of the spoiler refused to cease
Ere it wrecked the boast of time;
If the Moslem hath dealt the gift of peace,
Can ye grudge your boon sublime?
Light for that trampled clime
Where the rage of the spoiler refused to cease
Ere it wrecked the boast of time;
If the Moslem hath dealt the gift of peace,
Can ye grudge your boon sublime?
Light on the Hindoo shed!
On the maddening idol-train,
The flame of the suttee is dire and red,
And the fakir faints with pain,
And the dying moan on their cheerless bed,
By the Ganges laved in vain.
On the maddening idol-train,
The flame of the suttee is dire and red,
And the fakir faints with pain,
And the dying moan on their cheerless bed,
By the Ganges laved in vain.
Light for the Persian sky!
The Sophi's wisdom fades,
And the pearls of Ormus are poor to buy
Armor when Death invades;
Hark! Hark!—'tis the sainted Martyn's sigh
From Ararat's mournful shades.
The Sophi's wisdom fades,
And the pearls of Ormus are poor to buy
Armor when Death invades;
Hark! Hark!—'tis the sainted Martyn's sigh
From Ararat's mournful shades.
Light for the Burman vales!
For the islands of the sea!
For the coast where the slave-ship fills its sails
With sighs of agony,
And her kidnapped babes the mother wails
'Neath the lone banana-tree!
For the islands of the sea!
For the coast where the slave-ship fills its sails
With sighs of agony,
And her kidnapped babes the mother wails
'Neath the lone banana-tree!
Light for the ancient race
Exiled from Zion's rest!
Homeless they roam from place to place,
Benighted and oppressed;
They shudder at Sinai's fearful base;
Guide them to Calvary's breast.
Exiled from Zion's rest!
Homeless they roam from place to place,
Benighted and oppressed;
They shudder at Sinai's fearful base;
Guide them to Calvary's breast.
125
Light for the darkened earth!
Ye blessed, its beams who shed,
Shrink not, till the day-spring hath its birth,
Till, wherever the footstep of man doth tread
Salvation's banner, spread broadly forth,
Shall gild the dream of the cradle-bed,
And clear the tomb
From its lingering gloom,
For the aged to rest his weary head.
Ye blessed, its beams who shed,
Shrink not, till the day-spring hath its birth,
Till, wherever the footstep of man doth tread
Salvation's banner, spread broadly forth,
Shall gild the dream of the cradle-bed,
And clear the tomb
From its lingering gloom,
For the aged to rest his weary head.
| The American common-place book of poetry | |