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162
THE FIR TREE.
Hear'st thou the song it sings to me?
The endless song of the dark fir tree.
Before my window, beside my door,
It sighs and whispers forevermore.
By dawn, or daylight, or night's mid-hour,
I hear its still small voice of power.
“Eternity! Eternity!”
Is the hourly message it brings to me.
The endless song of the dark fir tree.
Before my window, beside my door,
It sighs and whispers forevermore.
By dawn, or daylight, or night's mid-hour,
I hear its still small voice of power.
“Eternity! Eternity!”
Is the hourly message it brings to me.
When I am weary and worn with pain,
And the burning sunshine fires my brain,
Faint, and listless, and fit for death,
It swings and rustles with fragrant breath:
“Hot and lonely thy noon may be,
But there is a long, long rest for thee:
Eternity! Eternity!”
This is the psalm of the old fir tree.
And the burning sunshine fires my brain,
Faint, and listless, and fit for death,
It swings and rustles with fragrant breath:
“Hot and lonely thy noon may be,
But there is a long, long rest for thee:
Eternity! Eternity!”
This is the psalm of the old fir tree.
Sometimes the storms of Summer pour,
The lightnings dazzle, the thunders roar;
Those dark boughs groan, and writhe, and sway.
But sighing and moaning still they say:
“An end to the tempests of earth shall be;
A tranquil morning awaiteth thee—
Eternity! Eternity!
Beyond this fateful and angry sea.”
The lightnings dazzle, the thunders roar;
Those dark boughs groan, and writhe, and sway.
But sighing and moaning still they say:
“An end to the tempests of earth shall be;
A tranquil morning awaiteth thee—
Eternity! Eternity!
Beyond this fateful and angry sea.”
163
When Winter hath scattered leaf and rose,
And the boughs bend low with heavy snows,
Their patient drooping a lesson lends,
To a life borne down with the care He sends.
“Bend to thy burden! awhile for thee
The weight and the wear of toil must be.
Eternity! Eternity
From care and carking shall set thee free.”
And the boughs bend low with heavy snows,
Their patient drooping a lesson lends,
To a life borne down with the care He sends.
“Bend to thy burden! awhile for thee
The weight and the wear of toil must be.
Eternity! Eternity
From care and carking shall set thee free.”
If the ways of man my spirit vex,
And the ways of God my soul perplex,
When He hath taken my life's desire,
And molten my heart in his fining fire;
When the dearest eyes I cannot see,
And the voice I longed for is dead to me:
“Wait! for thy longing shall find the key;
Eternity! Eternity!
There shall the dayspring come back to thee,”
Softly singeth the dark fir tree.
And the ways of God my soul perplex,
When He hath taken my life's desire,
And molten my heart in his fining fire;
When the dearest eyes I cannot see,
And the voice I longed for is dead to me:
“Wait! for thy longing shall find the key;
Eternity! Eternity!
There shall the dayspring come back to thee,”
Softly singeth the dark fir tree.
When I shall sleep in my quiet grave,
Oh kindly fir tree, above me wave!
Utter thine anthems to one who grieves
Under thy shining, singing leaves:
Keep thy faith like the fadeless tree!
Tender and true let memory be.
Eternity! Eternity!
There thy lost love is waiting for thee!”
Blest be thy music, oh dark fir tree!
And blessed the Maker who fashioned thee!
Oh kindly fir tree, above me wave!
Utter thine anthems to one who grieves
Under thy shining, singing leaves:
Keep thy faith like the fadeless tree!
Tender and true let memory be.
Eternity! Eternity!
There thy lost love is waiting for thee!”
Blest be thy music, oh dark fir tree!
And blessed the Maker who fashioned thee!
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