 | Sonnets of sorrow and triumph |  |
47
RETROSPECTION
49
UNDERSTANDING
1917
The snowdrops and the crocuses
Bloomed in the olden way:
The stately tulips followed on—
The pansies had their day;
The roses came—and yet the year
Brought neither June nor May.
And now the tiger lilies lift
Their freckled faces high;
And now the sun is blazing down
From out a cloudless sky—
And yet it is not Summertime,
Though Summer days drag by.
Bloomed in the olden way:
The stately tulips followed on—
The pansies had their day;
The roses came—and yet the year
Brought neither June nor May.
And now the tiger lilies lift
Their freckled faces high;
And now the sun is blazing down
From out a cloudless sky—
And yet it is not Summertime,
Though Summer days drag by.
His dog looks up the lonely lane—
He knows the reason why.
He knows the reason why.
50
TIME AND I
Time and I were friends long gone;
Though he was my master
I would say to him each dawn
“Faster, faster, faster!
Somewhere farther down the road
We will find fair love's abode:
He is waiting [illeg.]e, I know—
Let us swifter go!”
Though he was my master
I would say to him each dawn
“Faster, faster, faster!
Somewhere farther down the road
We will find fair love's abode:
He is waiting [illeg.]e, I know—
Let us swifter go!”
Love was waiting there ahead
In his open door.
Once with him, to Time I said
“Slower, slower, slower!
Love and I would be content
If most leisurely you went.”
But Time ever hastened so
He became my foe.
In his open door.
Once with him, to Time I said
“Slower, slower, slower!
Love and I would be content
If most leisurely you went.”
But Time ever hastened so
He became my foe.
51
Now I hold Time dear once more
And his favour curry.
And I cry out as of yore,
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Love has made a new abode—
I would join him down the road.”
But Time has grown old and slow
And the days lag so.
And his favour curry.
And I cry out as of yore,
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Love has made a new abode—
I would join him down the road.”
But Time has grown old and slow
And the days lag so.
52
SEAS, SHIPS AND SHORES
The Inlands of the Middle West
Are far from sounding seas;
And where my early years were spent
Not even running rivers lent
Their music to the breeze.
But there were billowing fields of grain
That ofttimes mocked the green-hued main
When summer decked the leas.
Are far from sounding seas;
And where my early years were spent
Not even running rivers lent
Their music to the breeze.
But there were billowing fields of grain
That ofttimes mocked the green-hued main
When summer decked the leas.
Yet alway in those early years
I felt a sweet unrest;
And deep within the heart of me
There was a longing for the sea:
The reindeer in my breast
Seemed ever eager to set forth,
As reindeers in the snowbound north
Make once their briny quest.
I felt a sweet unrest;
And deep within the heart of me
There was a longing for the sea:
The reindeer in my breast
Seemed ever eager to set forth,
As reindeers in the snowbound north
Make once their briny quest.
53
It must have been the voice of Love
That this strange longing stirred:
For when I found the sea one day
It was dear Love that led the way,
And they became one word.
Love was the sea, the sea was Love,
And all life's joy was made thereof,
When once that voice I heard.
That this strange longing stirred:
For when I found the sea one day
It was dear Love that led the way,
And they became one word.
Love was the sea, the sea was Love,
And all life's joy was made thereof,
When once that voice I heard.
Now oceans, islands, sounds and seas
And ports where vessels lie,
And harbours where they sail away
And surging billows decked in spray
Where wide-winged sea-gulls fly,
And beaches where the bathers rove
All, all are properties of Love
With their blue-arching sky.
And ports where vessels lie,
And harbours where they sail away
And surging billows decked in spray
Where wide-winged sea-gulls fly,
And beaches where the bathers rove
All, all are properties of Love
With their blue-arching sky.
The glaciers and majestic Alps,
The mountains filled with ore,
The cities with their mighty throngs
Are yours—but unto me belongs
To Love and me, each shore;
Where all the billows of the world
By God's tremendous hand are hurled
And ours is all their store.
The mountains filled with ore,
The cities with their mighty throngs
Are yours—but unto me belongs
54
Where all the billows of the world
By God's tremendous hand are hurled
And ours is all their store.
We sailed and sailed and sailed again
Our wonder seas of earth:
We sailed to every port and clime,
We laughed at danger and at time,
And life was full of mirth;
And joy was in our sea-girt home
And when we roamed, joy, too, would roam
And bunk beside our berth.
Our wonder seas of earth:
We sailed to every port and clime,
We laughed at danger and at time,
And life was full of mirth;
And joy was in our sea-girt home
And when we roamed, joy, too, would roam
And bunk beside our berth.
But one May night Love sailed away
Across a Mystic Sea:
I know not why he went alone
To some far harbour all unknown,
Nor how this thing could be
That suddenly he should embark
On that strange vessel in the dark
Without one call to me.
Across a Mystic Sea:
I know not why he went alone
To some far harbour all unknown,
Nor how this thing could be
That suddenly he should embark
On that strange vessel in the dark
Without one call to me.
55
Love left me all the seas of earth
And all their cargoed ships;
And memories within each hold
More precious than a mine of gold.
But joy is in eclipse,
And must be, till I too enroll
On that same ship, and my freed soul
From out the Harbour slips.
And all their cargoed ships;
And memories within each hold
More precious than a mine of gold.
But joy is in eclipse,
And must be, till I too enroll
On that same ship, and my freed soul
From out the Harbour slips.
And though all seas and ships are mine
By right of Love made so,
Yet when that Craft that came at night
Shall come again for my delight
Is not for me to know.
I only know I cannot fail
To see at last its splendid sail,
And leap on board, and go.
By right of Love made so,
Yet when that Craft that came at night
Shall come again for my delight
Is not for me to know.
I only know I cannot fail
To see at last its splendid sail,
And leap on board, and go.
56
A PRAYER
I Know it cannot be irreverence,
This feeling that I have anent that time
When with my life work finished, I go hence,
Leaving this low plane for the upward climb.
My father God, and Christ my beauteous Brother
Have ever owned the deepest heart of me.
Yet when I journey on, there is one other
I first would meet, and clasp, and hear, and see.
This feeling that I have anent that time
When with my life work finished, I go hence,
Leaving this low plane for the upward climb.
My father God, and Christ my beauteous Brother
Have ever owned the deepest heart of me.
Yet when I journey on, there is one other
I first would meet, and clasp, and hear, and see.
God and His holy Son have host on host
To welcome, and to comfort, and to cheer;
I think They would not mind it, if the most
Belovèd soul They took from me, drew near
To show the way. ... Lord! Up the golden street
Let my love lead me to Thy shining feet.
To welcome, and to comfort, and to cheer;
I think They would not mind it, if the most
Belovèd soul They took from me, drew near
To show the way. ... Lord! Up the golden street
Let my love lead me to Thy shining feet.
57
A THRENODY
Love in the sweet, sweet morning
Of life's long radiant June;
And two hearts beating together
In time with the robin's tune.
Of life's long radiant June;
And two hearts beating together
In time with the robin's tune.
Love in the splendid noontide
Of glorious Summer days;
And two hearts growing together
In all life's tenderest ways.
Of glorious Summer days;
And two hearts growing together
In all life's tenderest ways.
Love as the sun slants westward
While the Autumn woods flame red:
And two hearts bound together
By a passion mixed with dread.
While the Autumn woods flame red:
And two hearts bound together
By a passion mixed with dread.
Love in the early evening
As the Winter time draws near:
And one heart breaking, breaking,
Alone in the shadows drear.
Thank God that only twelve months
Are in the longest year!
As the Winter time draws near:
And one heart breaking, breaking,
Alone in the shadows drear.
Thank God that only twelve months
Are in the longest year!
58
DRAW ANCHOR
So much of beauty have I seen on earth,
So much to marvel over and admire;
Yet each new sight but bred a new desire
To stray still farther from the quiet hearth.
My hand in yours, we spanned our planet's girth;
From Alpine summits, looked on summits higher;
Saw fierce Stromboli set the night on fire;
In fair Ceylon, saw dawn's exquisite birth.
So much to marvel over and admire;
Yet each new sight but bred a new desire
To stray still farther from the quiet hearth.
My hand in yours, we spanned our planet's girth;
From Alpine summits, looked on summits higher;
Saw fierce Stromboli set the night on fire;
In fair Ceylon, saw dawn's exquisite birth.
Now am I stirred with mightier unrest
For longer journeys than of old I knew.
I would set forth upon that final quest—
That Large Adventure which has come to you.
Somewhere you wait to show new worlds to me.
Pilot! draw anchor! let my soul go free!
For longer journeys than of old I knew.
I would set forth upon that final quest—
That Large Adventure which has come to you.
Somewhere you wait to show new worlds to me.
Pilot! draw anchor! let my soul go free!
59
THE HILLS OF GOD
I
Always your aims for me were large and high:
Your love was generous as the love of heaven.
The best things life could hold you wanted given
Into my keeping. So sweet years went by,
While watchful angels seemed to hover nigh,
And all the blessings for which you had striven
Were showered on me. Then the link was riven.
Was it your own great soul that bade joy die?
Your love was generous as the love of heaven.
The best things life could hold you wanted given
Into my keeping. So sweet years went by,
While watchful angels seemed to hover nigh,
And all the blessings for which you had striven
Were showered on me. Then the link was riven.
Was it your own great soul that bade joy die?
Ever you sought perfection for me, dear,
And all that makes for ultimate true gain.
Perchance because your vision was so clear
You understood that only those attain
The Heights Beyond, who walk through valleys here.
Was it for this you left me to such pain?
And all that makes for ultimate true gain.
Perchance because your vision was so clear
You understood that only those attain
The Heights Beyond, who walk through valleys here.
Was it for this you left me to such pain?
60
II
But oh, you did not, could not comprehend
How dark the valley and how long the road,
(Since days are years in sorrow's drear abode)
Or else you had gone nearer to the end
Before you left me. Pain, to be our friend,
Must use a chastening hand but not a goad,
Nor wound us so we cannot lift our load
Up the hard winding pathways that ascend.
How dark the valley and how long the road,
(Since days are years in sorrow's drear abode)
Or else you had gone nearer to the end
Before you left me. Pain, to be our friend,
Must use a chastening hand but not a goad,
Nor wound us so we cannot lift our load
Up the hard winding pathways that ascend.
I think you must be startled and amazed,
Seeing the blooddrops where my feet have trod.
But I think, too, your opened eyes have gazed
Upon celestial summits, beauteous, broad,
And that you know the trail my soul has blazed
Leads somehow, sometime, to those Hills of God.
Seeing the blooddrops where my feet have trod.
But I think, too, your opened eyes have gazed
Upon celestial summits, beauteous, broad,
And that you know the trail my soul has blazed
Leads somehow, sometime, to those Hills of God.
61
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
Detached from life, the women overseas,
Wait only for one thing—news from the front.
The olden joys, and worries, hopes and cares,
Aims and ambitions, which made up their days
Are meaningless and empty. Nothing seems
Of any import but the waited word
From dear ones who have heard the country's call
And answered it, and left vast loneliness
And hunger of the heart in silent homes.
Wait only for one thing—news from the front.
The olden joys, and worries, hopes and cares,
Aims and ambitions, which made up their days
Are meaningless and empty. Nothing seems
Of any import but the waited word
From dear ones who have heard the country's call
And answered it, and left vast loneliness
And hunger of the heart in silent homes.
Bravely they do the things that must be done,
And make no protest; but, one wish alone
Fills all their thoughts by day, their dreams by night—
News from the front!
And make no protest; but, one wish alone
Fills all their thoughts by day, their dreams by night—
News from the front!
I, too, detached from all that life once meant,
Perform my duties and pursue my tasks
As cheerfully and as bravely as I can:
While like dead leaves on bleak November winds
Old aims, ambitions, interests and desires,
Blow by me. One who heard the call of God
And answered it, left such vast loneliness
And hunger in my heart, that now my life
Has room for only one compelling wish
Which fills my thoughts by day, my dreams by night—
News from the Front!
Perform my duties and pursue my tasks
62
While like dead leaves on bleak November winds
Old aims, ambitions, interests and desires,
Blow by me. One who heard the call of God
And answered it, left such vast loneliness
And hunger in my heart, that now my life
Has room for only one compelling wish
Which fills my thoughts by day, my dreams by night—
News from the Front!
63
THE BURNING GHAT
Adown the Ganges, at your side I satAnd floated, musing on each scene and spot:
We heard the grim tale of the Burning Ghat,
We saw the place where widows once were brought
And living, cast upon the funeral pyre.
We shuddered at the story. But, today
I think it was a kind and friendly fire
That took the mourners from their grief away
A little time of terror, and despair,
A few brief tortured moments, then release
From suffering and loneliness and tears.
Oh, my Belovèd! Life gives me to bear
Perpetual pyres, and flames that never cease;
A Burning Ghat of slowly dying years.
64
“HE WHO DOETH ALL THINGS, DOETH ALL THINGS WELL”
These the words I chanced upon
While my heart seemed breaking
With its loneliness, and loss of the days agone—
Down upon the open wound, aching, aching, aching,
One by one like balm they dropped with a soothing spell—
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
While my heart seemed breaking
With its loneliness, and loss of the days agone—
Down upon the open wound, aching, aching, aching,
One by one like balm they dropped with a soothing spell—
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
He who fashioned worlds from space,
He who set in motion
All the planets, systems, suns, giving each its place,
He whose thought conceived and flung forth continent and ocean—
Gave the fragrance to the rose, shaped the tiniest shell—
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
He who set in motion
All the planets, systems, suns, giving each its place,
He whose thought conceived and flung forth continent and ocean—
65
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
He who gave me form and breath—
Gave me all my pleasure—
Lord of every Universe, Lord of life and death,
Though he gives me gall to drink now in fullest measure,
Yet the bitter like the sweet from his fountain fell—
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
Gave me all my pleasure—
Lord of every Universe, Lord of life and death,
Though he gives me gall to drink now in fullest measure,
Yet the bitter like the sweet from his fountain fell—
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
He who let his spirit flow,
Into stone and jewel,
Unto all things gave Himself (as above, below,)
Nothing in that Cosmic Mind could be wrong or cruel:
Through earth's discord sounds a voice like a silver bell,
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
Into stone and jewel,
Unto all things gave Himself (as above, below,)
Nothing in that Cosmic Mind could be wrong or cruel:
66
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
From the mineral to the man
Out from primal sources,
Gathering knowledge all the way to complete the Plan,
Down from God, and back to Him move the spirit Forces—
Shedding light along the path every doubt to quell—
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
Out from primal sources,
Gathering knowledge all the way to complete the Plan,
Down from God, and back to Him move the spirit Forces—
Shedding light along the path every doubt to quell—
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
Grief and joy are one to God
Who beholds tomorrow:
We shall see it with his eyes when the Way is trod—
We shall understand the scheme of this life of sorrow;
Every voice that now complains yet this truth shall tell,
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
Who beholds tomorrow:
We shall see it with his eyes when the Way is trod—
We shall understand the scheme of this life of sorrow;
67
“He who doeth all things, doeth all things well.”
68
TRIUMPHUS
I
At last, at last, the message! definite
As dawn, that tells the night has gone away.
The Silence has grown eloquent with it—
The Silence that, late filled me with dismay,
So dumb it was. Triumphant now I sit
So near to God and you I need not pray
For only prayers of thankfulness were fit
For this estate wherein I dwell to-day.
As dawn, that tells the night has gone away.
The Silence has grown eloquent with it—
The Silence that, late filled me with dismay,
So dumb it was. Triumphant now I sit
So near to God and you I need not pray
For only prayers of thankfulness were fit
For this estate wherein I dwell to-day.
You live, you love me! You have heard my call
And answered it in your own way. The proof
So satisfies the soul of me, were all
The hosts of earth henceforth to stand aloof
Till I recanted—my reply were this—
“One men call dead has sent me messages.”
And answered it in your own way. The proof
So satisfies the soul of me, were all
The hosts of earth henceforth to stand aloof
Till I recanted—my reply were this—
“One men call dead has sent me messages.”
69
II
Oh, my Belovèd! Through these months like years
I know you might have reached me sooner here,
Had I not blurred the trail by storms of tears;
And yet, how could, how could I help it, dear?
Now you have found a way to make God's spheres
Seem very intimate and very near.
And radiant—my lonely path appears,
The light you cast upon it is so clear.
I know you might have reached me sooner here,
Had I not blurred the trail by storms of tears;
And yet, how could, how could I help it, dear?
Now you have found a way to make God's spheres
Seem very intimate and very near.
And radiant—my lonely path appears,
The light you cast upon it is so clear.
I stand victorious at the longed-for goal
With open vision where I once was blind,
And cry aloud to every suffering soul
“Pray without ceasing—seek, and ye shall find.
Though Science sneer and school and church condemn—
Your dead dwell near—you may commune with them.”
With open vision where I once was blind,
And cry aloud to every suffering soul
“Pray without ceasing—seek, and ye shall find.
Though Science sneer and school and church condemn—
Your dead dwell near—you may commune with them.”
| Sonnets of sorrow and triumph | |