 | The poetical works of Lucy Larcom |  |
F. W. R.
Books are as waymarks for us, looking back
Far up and down the road:
There rested we, out of the beaten track,
Where a clear streamlet flowed,
And in the running brook a message heard,
Limpid as truth, and sweet
As to the waiting angels, God's dear word;
And there our hillside seat
Took in horizons; felt the mysteries
Of the untrodden height;
While every leaf in all the sheltering trees
Stirred us to strange delight.
Far up and down the road:
There rested we, out of the beaten track,
Where a clear streamlet flowed,
And in the running brook a message heard,
Limpid as truth, and sweet
As to the waiting angels, God's dear word;
And there our hillside seat
Took in horizons; felt the mysteries
Of the untrodden height;
While every leaf in all the sheltering trees
Stirred us to strange delight.
Leaves for the healing of the nations, thrilled
By the Eternal Breath!
Under their strengthening shade our hearts were stilled,
Nor dreaded life or death,
But only felt God's presence; only saw
The ever-widening scope
Of Being whose perfection is our law;
Who lifts our human hope
To His own infinite, close neighborhood,
By humble pathways plain,
Through very simpleness misunderstood:—
Such books none write in vain.
By the Eternal Breath!
Under their strengthening shade our hearts were stilled,
Nor dreaded life or death,
But only felt God's presence; only saw
The ever-widening scope
Of Being whose perfection is our law;
Who lifts our human hope
To His own infinite, close neighborhood,
By humble pathways plain,
Through very simpleness misunderstood:—
Such books none write in vain.
269
There are who fear lest thought should be too free:
Yet, in this world of His,
Who does God's will may share His liberty;
Light for its seeker is.
O Robertson! thy life was in thy creed,
That love is sacrifice;
That all the ways of wisdom Christ-ward lead;
That man lives, when self dies!
Soldier-apostle! flashes from thy page
Truth's keen Ithuriel-flame;
And thine the heart of a believing age
Links with its Saviour's name.
Yet, in this world of His,
Who does God's will may share His liberty;
Light for its seeker is.
O Robertson! thy life was in thy creed,
That love is sacrifice;
That all the ways of wisdom Christ-ward lead;
That man lives, when self dies!
Soldier-apostle! flashes from thy page
Truth's keen Ithuriel-flame;
And thine the heart of a believing age
Links with its Saviour's name.
| The poetical works of Lucy Larcom | |