 | The poetical writings of the late Willis Gaylord Clark |  |
93
PRAYER.
When on the sad and yearning heart
The clouds of early sorrow fall,
Oh! what shall bid their gloom depart,
And lift the spiritfrom their thrall?
When 'neath the foldings of the pall
The lost and beautiful are laid,
Oh, who shall answer to the call
By watchful love in anguish made?
The clouds of early sorrow fall,
Oh! what shall bid their gloom depart,
And lift the spiritfrom their thrall?
When 'neath the foldings of the pall
The lost and beautiful are laid,
Oh, who shall answer to the call
By watchful love in anguish made?
When from our daily paths, like flowers,
Our kindred wither one by one,
Ah! what shall gild the weary hours,
Or bring again the unshadowed sun
His bright and golden course to run?
To chase the clouds that round him rise—
Recall again each lustre gone,
And bathe in light the uplifted skies?
Our kindred wither one by one,
Ah! what shall gild the weary hours,
Or bring again the unshadowed sun
His bright and golden course to run?
To chase the clouds that round him rise—
Recall again each lustre gone,
And bathe in light the uplifted skies?
When, with a shadow o'er them flung,
Appear the sere autumnal trees;
And every blast their boughs among
Awakens mournful images;
What, on the lapse of hours like these,
Can earth, with all its phantoms, fling,
When Hope hath ceased her melodies,
And folded up her rainbow-wing?
Appear the sere autumnal trees;
And every blast their boughs among
Awakens mournful images;
94
Can earth, with all its phantoms, fling,
When Hope hath ceased her melodies,
And folded up her rainbow-wing?
Is it not sweet, when song and dream
Have passed, like sunset's sky of fire,
When Love's false pinion sheds no gleam
O'er Pleasure's crushed and tuneless lyre,
To raise with purified desire
The prayer, in earnest suppliance given,
Which lifts the immortal spirit higher,
And antedates the joy of Heaven?
Have passed, like sunset's sky of fire,
When Love's false pinion sheds no gleam
O'er Pleasure's crushed and tuneless lyre,
To raise with purified desire
The prayer, in earnest suppliance given,
Which lifts the immortal spirit higher,
And antedates the joy of Heaven?
| The poetical writings of the late Willis Gaylord Clark | |