 | Words for the hour |  |
122
IN THE VINEYARD.
I am God's hireling, not his child beloved;
In the wide market-place I stand and wait
For the brief nod and gesture of the Fate
That motions me to weal or woe, unmoved.
In the wide market-place I stand and wait
For the brief nod and gesture of the Fate
That motions me to weal or woe, unmoved.
Nor lives this daring in my vexéd mind,
To struggle towards him for a moment's ease,
As a babe, striving towards his father's knees,
Looks up for love in eyes unchanging kind.
To struggle towards him for a moment's ease,
As a babe, striving towards his father's knees,
Looks up for love in eyes unchanging kind.
“Where is thy treasure,” those stern eyes should say,
“Flung to the winds with wild and haughty thrift?
What was the traffic of thy holy gift?”
And I should smother sobs, and turn away.
“Flung to the winds with wild and haughty thrift?
What was the traffic of thy holy gift?”
And I should smother sobs, and turn away.
Yet dwells remembrance in my inmost soul,
Of happy tasks, and toil divinely glad,
When I stood armed for action ere he bade,
And, bounding at his voice, o'erstripped the goal.
Of happy tasks, and toil divinely glad,
When I stood armed for action ere he bade,
And, bounding at his voice, o'erstripped the goal.
123
Oh! could I find him, as a child surprised,
Led by a menial thro' unwonted streets,
Makes wistful search in every face he meets,
And leaps up toward the dear one recognized.
Led by a menial thro' unwonted streets,
Makes wistful search in every face he meets,
And leaps up toward the dear one recognized.
Or, held and hastened by the Unseen hand,
Now pressing back, now swift and rude in wrath,
Look up, where Glory shoots across my path
And see the Father for the Master stand!
Now pressing back, now swift and rude in wrath,
Look up, where Glory shoots across my path
And see the Father for the Master stand!
Give me this vision where my feet shall stop,
Spurning no more the earth's resistless round;
Where Will and Courage reach their viewless bound,
And pausing, let the passive body drop.
Spurning no more the earth's resistless round;
Where Will and Courage reach their viewless bound,
And pausing, let the passive body drop.
Grant me, that moment, the great thought of thee,
Then, leave me life, or nothingness at will,
Beyond this prayer, are Faith and Reason still,
For that one moment is Eternity.
Then, leave me life, or nothingness at will,
Beyond this prayer, are Faith and Reason still,
For that one moment is Eternity.
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