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

Day melts into the night,
The night into the morning;
Darkness swallowing the light,
Light from the dark dawning;
So melts knowledge into Mystery,
The solemn dark of stars;
So from the Obscure arises wisdom,
With dewy fragrant airs;
Be there for us to-day these twilights two,
That we may view,
As the earth darkens, heavenly hopes appear;
As the heaven brightens, earthly things grow clear.

MONDAY.

The Difficult, like the cocoa-nut,
Rich milk it hath within;
Through husk and shell, by labouring well,
An entrance you may win;

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You hear the flowing of the milk
If angrily you shake it;
But if you would the sweetness taste,
Try patiently and break it.

TUESDAY.

Love hath the power of chemist rare,
For into many sorrow cups
He smiling drops
His dewy, radiant tear;
Changing into sweet and bright,
Draughts that were salt as seas, black as the night.

WEDNESDAY.

Sometimes to man is given
A thought from heaven!
Coming softly, as the falling snow
Comes from the skies;
And resting pure upon the silent spirit
As on the earth snow lies;
But quickly as the snow in spring
It passes away:
And the heart darkens as the ground
Where the whiteness lay.

THURSDAY.

Seek thou thy God alone by prayer,
And thou wilt doubt, perhaps despair;
But seek Him also by endeavour,
And gracious thou wilt find Him ever.

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Seek thou thy God alone by work,
And prospering, thou wilt not bless;
For pride will in thy doings lurk,
And in thine heart unthankfulness.

FRIDAY.

My wish was a bubble
Large and fair:
Coloured and bright, but hollow and light,
It burst with a breath, and vanished in air.
My hope was a flower
Large and fair;
The winds blew rough, the blossom fell off,
But slowly and securely a fruit grew there.

SATURDAY.

Our spirit is a temple, and a home,
Time is for worship, and a time for mirth:
Hours solemn and sportive may to each man come,
Earth loves the heaven, and the heaven loves earth.
Firesides as firmaments are Divine, for One
Kindles a log-blaze and the glorious sun;
Gabriel, perhaps, when he from toil reposes,
White-winged disports himself, becrown'd with roses.