Memorials of Theophilus Trinal, Student :: :: University of Virginia Library

The young they laugh: Laughs not the sky?
The winds they laugh as they pass by;
The sun he laughs; and nature's face
Beams with a joyous, laughing grace.
Yes, laughing; ever she renews
Her verdant fields, her morning dews;
Is ever young—the same to-day
As ages past; and when away
From earth to heaven we are gone,
Our dust beneath the turf or stone,
The moon will smile, the dews distil,
Dance to the winds the flowers will;
And round our grave the kindly spring
Will the cheerful daisies bring.

WISDOM.

A mellow wisdom is an autumn sky,
The blue of which is very pure and pale,
While oft the clouds, rainful and golden rich,
Follow the course of the leaf-strewing gale,
Or of shadowy moon-white, builded loftily
Like ships, away into the dimness sail.

For wisdom hath a pure, unsensual love;
Calm sees the wreck of fading loveliness.

From heart-illumined thoughts its sweetness melts,
For future strength and fairness earth to bless;
While thoughts, dream-beautiful and stately, move
New joy in sky-havens distant to possess.

GIRL'S EVENING WISH AND SONG.

I would that I might sit
On that white cloud yonder;
The sunset light around me,
And the darkening earth under;

A star quite near me,
The tree-tops far away:
I would kindly look on all the world,
And for all would pray.

For my heart would larger grow,
Like the sun in setting;
And my love—its light—would softer be
Every moment getting.

I would wait till the moon-rise
Should new beauty bring,
And then in the lonely air
Thus aloud would sing:—

Oh! the moon in the sky,
With her deep, quiet eye,
She gazes fixedly,
Down, down.

For Noah in his ark
She lighted the dark,
And did quietly mark
The world drown.

On the pale-faced dead
Was her pale light shed,
As around they floated
On the muddy water.

All the trouble that has been
Has the pale moon seen;
And well may we ween
It has pity taught her.

While the world sleeps under,
And the old seas thunder,
Full of love and wonder
Is her serious face.

And whether her beams come
To a night-mantled home,
Or a ship amid the foam,
They fall, like a blessing, in every place.

Moon! when our heart is as the sun,
Fair, like to thee, our thought we find;
Thou shinest seeing the hidden one—
His mellow'd beam thy lustre kind.
And what is contemplation calm?
Is it not heart-light from the mind!

[Many hours wet and dull]

Many hours wet and dull
Bring on an hour beautiful.
This winter day in darkness rose,
Yet hath it beauty at its close.
Fairest colours now we see,
Because the rains fell heavily.
And thus it is that present gloom
Prepares a beauty that shall come—
Beauty which, in one bright hour,
Of long dark countervails the power.
Soon stirrings of delight begin,
And back its peace the heart doth win.
Thus, too, a life's rain-troubled day
May glorious grow in its decay;
Familiar earth, now partly hidden,
Partly reveal'd the higher heaven—
Of sorrow and of care the traces
An evening loveliness effaces;
And as the full-starr'd darkness nears,
The twilight calmest beauty wears.
Soft grows the heart, because it sadden'd,
And with a hope in joy is gladden'd;
For hope within a joy hath place,
As star within a skyey space;
And hope as star, to heart as eye,
Beams from a far reality.

Now, gradual, earth withdraws from view,
As fades a bloom each evening hue
Dims, but to reveal on high
A lofty templed majesty.
In love, and with a calm delight,
We meet the still and solemn night.

EVENING.

Trees grow dark against the sky,
Darkly runs the river by,
Mists upon the meadows lie.

Half seen the cattle browse or rest,
The lark has fallen to his nest,
Cloudy curtains fold the west.

Above, along the unfurrow'd deep,
Racks of clouds slowly sweep,
New-born stars begin to peep.

The fragrant haystack, high and wide,
Finish'd is—the men with pride
Descend the ladder by the side.

The pony views with eye askance
The man with stealthy steps advance,
Fearing lest he begin to prance.

The bird now houses in the thatch,
Many a hand is on the latch,
And dogs begin their nightly watch.

Gnats unseen near us hum,
Bats like timid spectres come,
Black-bodied beetles boom.

Fish within their margin pool,
Of flowing river-water full,
Floating rest, asleep and cool.

A shutting gate, voices clear,
Then a heavy tread we hear,
Then a light foot passing near.

Now day is dead, and dews weep,
Sable shadows round us creep;
And the night is queen, her empire sleep.

105

MODULATIONS.

My God, I love the world,
I love it well—
Its wonder, and fairness, and delight—
More than my tongue can tell;
And ever in my heart, like morning clouds,
New earth-loves rise and swell.

Lilies I love, and stars,
Dewdrops, and the great sea;
Colour, and form, and sound,
Combining variously;
The rush of the wind, and the overhanging vast—
Voiceless immensity.

Thou world-creator art,
World-lover too;
In delight didst found the deep,
In delight uprear the blue;
And with an infinite love and carefulness
The wide earth furnish through.

My God, I am afraid of Thee, I am afraid—
Thou art so silent, and so terrible;
And oft I muse upon Thee in the deep night dead,
Listening as for a voice that shall my spirit tell,
To be of comfort and of courage, for that all is well.

106

Of thoughts uncounted as the stars,
Which burn undimm'd from old eternity,
Oh, everlasting God!
Thy Spirit is a sky—
A brighten'd dark, enrounding every world
With stillness of serenest majesty:
Fit several forms of the same splendour
Thou to beholding worlds dost render,
In starry wonder of a thousand skies,
Beheld by creature-eyes:
Who in the glorious part have symbol bright
Of the uncomprehended Infinite.

But if as the great dark art Thou, unknown,
Thou, God reveal'd, art as the sweet noon blue;
Soft canopying mercy in the Christ is shown,
And the azure of His love Thy face beams through,
Looking forth, like the sun, to comfort and to bless,
And with beauty over-lighting the rough wilderness.