University of Virginia Library

NO MORE.

The way is closing in, like barriers rise
Hedges of armèd thorn,
Betwixt me and each rapturous old surprise
And gates of golden morn.
No more for me the boundlessness of blue,
The splendid courts of Space,
The clouds of glory that were but the clue
To show my Father's face;
No more the tossing and tempestuous hills,
The thunder-cradled crest
Lost in the light, as souls from stormy ills
Sink on the Saviour's breast.
No more the statued galleries of Time
In pillared palaces,
Stay unreluctant steps with dreams sublime
And marble messages.
No more I wake each day to something new
As eager as a boy,
While from fresh worlds I lightly brush the dew
As from a flower or toy.
The curtained path grows smaller with my cares,
The burden and the rod,
And shutting out the earth and all its snares
It shuts me in to God.
New thoughts arouse no more the glow and thrill
That bade my heart rebound,
Till it ran over and was fain to spill
Its joy on all around.
The pride and passion of the world seem fled,
Its altars do not burn,
And dear old faces that were cold and dead
Like dawn to me return.
The children and the fancies of my youth,
Whatever made me free,
Come back with every simple sacred truth
Learned at my mother's knee.
The grandest things put off their royal dress
And step most humbly down,
While many a mean unhonoured littleness
Assumes a kingly crown.
The shadows wrap me close, the sunbeams droop
With morning once so sweet,
And blush (where stars were beacons) as I stoop
The daisies at my feet.
The earth goes farther off, the Heaven draws near
Which faith has ever trod,
And with an awful bliss akin to fear
Alone I walk with God.