 | Poems by William W. Story |  |
268
THE BLACK-LETTER TEXT.
Not till the light of Joy has passed away
The orb of Patience rises full and great
To rule our life with soft and shadowy sway,
And sanctify the ruins of our state.
The orb of Patience rises full and great
To rule our life with soft and shadowy sway,
And sanctify the ruins of our state.
When sorrow calls us, from the feast we rise,
Its lights are glaring, trivial are its smiles,
And Thought walks on 'mid buried memories,
Like some cowled monk along the tomb-strewn aisles.
Its lights are glaring, trivial are its smiles,
And Thought walks on 'mid buried memories,
Like some cowled monk along the tomb-strewn aisles.
We go to Silence—In its cell we sit
And read the mournful missal of man's fate,
The sad black-letter text in which is writ
E'en the illumined chapter of the great.
And read the mournful missal of man's fate,
The sad black-letter text in which is writ
E'en the illumined chapter of the great.
269
Girt round by walls we never can o'erpeer,
With one dark gate, where all our pathways end,
Puzzled we stand, in hope, but yet in fear,
Unknowing where the ceaseless passers wend.
With one dark gate, where all our pathways end,
Puzzled we stand, in hope, but yet in fear,
Unknowing where the ceaseless passers wend.
“Farewell!” they say, “To Love and Joy we go,”
We have not faith, or we should smile again,
But ah! we beat the gate, and wild with woe
We struggle like a madman with his chain.
We have not faith, or we should smile again,
But ah! we beat the gate, and wild with woe
We struggle like a madman with his chain.
Yet, with this farthing candle of our Faith,
Into the dark dread void beyond we peer,
There each beholds upon the blank of death
The trembling shadows of his hope or fear.
Into the dark dread void beyond we peer,
There each beholds upon the blank of death
The trembling shadows of his hope or fear.
| Poems by William W. Story | |