 | A Tale of Eternity and Other Poems |  |
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A LETTER IN BLACK.
A floating on the fragrant flood
Of Summer—fuller hour by hour;
All the Spring-sweetness of the bud
Crowned by the glory of the flower,—
My spirits with the season flowed.
The air was all a breathing balm;
The lake in flame of sapphire glowed;
The mountains lay in cloudless calm:
Of Summer—fuller hour by hour;
All the Spring-sweetness of the bud
Crowned by the glory of the flower,—
My spirits with the season flowed.
The air was all a breathing balm;
The lake in flame of sapphire glowed;
The mountains lay in cloudless calm:
Green leaves were lusty; roses blusht
For pleasure in the golden time;
The birds thro' all their feathers flusht
For gladness of their marriage-prime:
Listless among the lilies I threw
Me down, for coolness 'mid the sheen:
Heaven, one large smile of brooding blue;
Earth, one large smile of basking green.
For pleasure in the golden time;
The birds thro' all their feathers flusht
For gladness of their marriage-prime:
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Me down, for coolness 'mid the sheen:
Heaven, one large smile of brooding blue;
Earth, one large smile of basking green.
A rich suspended shower of gold
Laburnum o'er me hung its crown:
You look up heavenward and behold
It glowing, coming in glory down!
There, as my thoughts of greenness grew
To fruitage of a leafy dream—
There, friend, your letter thrilled me thro',
And from the summer died the gleam.
Laburnum o'er me hung its crown:
You look up heavenward and behold
It glowing, coming in glory down!
There, as my thoughts of greenness grew
To fruitage of a leafy dream—
There, friend, your letter thrilled me thro',
And from the summer died the gleam.
The world, so pleasant to the sight,
So full of voices blithe and brave,
And all her lamps of beauty alight
With life! I had forgot the Grave;
And there it opened at my feet,
Revealing a familiar face
Upturned, my whitened look to meet,
And very patient in its place.
So full of voices blithe and brave,
And all her lamps of beauty alight
With life! I had forgot the Grave;
And there it opened at my feet,
Revealing a familiar face
Upturned, my whitened look to meet,
And very patient in its place.
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My poor bereaven friend! I know
Not how to word it, but would bring
A little solace for your woe,
A little love for comforting.
And yet the best that I can say
Will only help to sum your loss.
I can but look above and pray—
“God help my friend to bear his Cross.”
Not how to word it, but would bring
A little solace for your woe,
A little love for comforting.
And yet the best that I can say
Will only help to sum your loss.
I can but look above and pray—
“God help my friend to bear his Cross.”
I have felt something of your smart,
And lost the dearest thing e'er wound
In love about a human heart:
I too have life-roots under ground.
From out my soul hath leapt a cry
For help! Nor God Himself could save.
And tears yet run that nought will dry
Save Death's hand with the dust o' the grave.
And lost the dearest thing e'er wound
In love about a human heart:
I too have life-roots under ground.
From out my soul hath leapt a cry
For help! Nor God Himself could save.
And tears yet run that nought will dry
Save Death's hand with the dust o' the grave.
God knows, and we may one day know,
These hidden secrets of His love!
But now the stillness stuns us so;
Darkly as in a dream we move:
The glad life-pulses come and go
Over our head and at our feet:
Soft airs are sighing something low;
The flowers are saying something sweet.
These hidden secrets of His love!
But now the stillness stuns us so;
Darkly as in a dream we move:
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Over our head and at our feet:
Soft airs are sighing something low;
The flowers are saying something sweet.
And 'tis a merry world. The Lark
Is singing over the green corn.
Only the house and heart are dark;
Only the human world forlorn.
There, in the bridal-chamber lies
A dear bed-fellow all in white:
That purple shadow under the eyes
Where star-fire swam in liquid night.
Is singing over the green corn.
Only the house and heart are dark;
Only the human world forlorn.
There, in the bridal-chamber lies
A dear bed-fellow all in white:
That purple shadow under the eyes
Where star-fire swam in liquid night.
Sweet, slippery silver of her talk;
The music of her laugh so dear,
Heard in home-ways and wedded walk
For many and many a golden year:
The singing soul and shining face,
Daisy-like glad by roughest road;
Gone! with a thousand dearnesses
That hid themselves for us and glowed.
The music of her laugh so dear,
Heard in home-ways and wedded walk
For many and many a golden year:
The singing soul and shining face,
Daisy-like glad by roughest road;
Gone! with a thousand dearnesses
That hid themselves for us and glowed.
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The waiting Angel, patient Wife,
All thro' the battle at our side;
That smiled her sweetness on our strife
For gain, and it was sanctified.
When waves of trouble beat breast-high,
And the heart sank, she poured a balm
That stilled them: and the saddest sky
Made clear and starry with her calm.
All thro' the battle at our side;
That smiled her sweetness on our strife
For gain, and it was sanctified.
When waves of trouble beat breast-high,
And the heart sank, she poured a balm
That stilled them: and the saddest sky
Made clear and starry with her calm.
And when the world with harvest ripe
In all its golden fulness lay;
And God, it seem'd, saw fit to wipe,
Even on earth, all tears away:
The good true heart that bravely won,
Must smile up in our face and fall;
And all our happy days are done.
And this the end! And is this all?
In all its golden fulness lay;
And God, it seem'd, saw fit to wipe,
Even on earth, all tears away:
The good true heart that bravely won,
Must smile up in our face and fall;
And all our happy days are done.
And this the end! And is this all?
The bloom of bliss the secret glow,
That clothed without and inly curled,
All gone. We are left shivering now,
Naked to the wide open world:
A shrivelled, withered world it is,
So sad, and miserably cold;
Where be its vaunted braveries?
Grown gray and miserably old!
That clothed without and inly curled,
All gone. We are left shivering now,
Naked to the wide open world:
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So sad, and miserably cold;
Where be its vaunted braveries?
Grown gray and miserably old!
Our joy was all a drunken dream.
This is the truth at waking! We
Are swept out rootless by the stream
And current of calamity—
Out on some lone and shoreless sea
Of solitude so vast and deep,
As 'twere the wrong Eternity
Where God is not, or gone to sleep.
This is the truth at waking! We
Are swept out rootless by the stream
And current of calamity—
Out on some lone and shoreless sea
Of solitude so vast and deep,
As 'twere the wrong Eternity
Where God is not, or gone to sleep.
It seems as tho' our Darling dead,
Startled at Death's so sudden call,
With falling hands and dear bowed head
Had, like a flower-filled lap, let fall
A hoard of treasures we have found
Too late! So slow doth wisdom come!
We for the first time look around
Remembering this is not our Home.
Startled at Death's so sudden call,
With falling hands and dear bowed head
Had, like a flower-filled lap, let fall
A hoard of treasures we have found
Too late! So slow doth wisdom come!
We for the first time look around
Remembering this is not our Home.
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My friend, I see you with your cup
Of tears and trembling—see you sit;
And long to help you drink it up,
With useless longings infinite—
Sit rocking the old mournful thought,
That on the heart's-blood will be nurst,
Unless the blessëd tears be brought;
Unless the cloudy sorrows burst!
Of tears and trembling—see you sit;
And long to help you drink it up,
With useless longings infinite—
Sit rocking the old mournful thought,
That on the heart's-blood will be nurst,
Unless the blessëd tears be brought;
Unless the cloudy sorrows burst!
The little ones are gone to rest,
And for a-while they will not miss
The Mother-wings above the nest;
But thro' their slumber slides her kiss,
And, dreaming she has come, they start
And toss wild arms for her caress,
With moanings that must thrill a heart
In heaven with divine distress.
And for a-while they will not miss
The Mother-wings above the nest;
But thro' their slumber slides her kiss,
And, dreaming she has come, they start
And toss wild arms for her caress,
With moanings that must thrill a heart
In heaven with divine distress.
And Sorrow on your threshold stands,
The Dark Ladye in gloomy pall:
I see her take you by the hands;
I feel her shadow over all.
Hers is no warm and tender clasp!
With silence solemn as the Night's,
And veilëd face, and spirit-grasp,
She leads her Chosen up the heights:
The Dark Ladye in gloomy pall:
I see her take you by the hands;
I feel her shadow over all.
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With silence solemn as the Night's,
And veilëd face, and spirit-grasp,
She leads her Chosen up the heights:
The cloudy crags are cold and gray:
You cannot scale them without scars:
So many Martyrs by the way
Who never reacht her tower of stars!
But there her beauty shall be seen;
Her glittering face so proudly pure;
And all her majesty of mien;
And all her guerdon shall be sure.
You cannot scale them without scars:
So many Martyrs by the way
Who never reacht her tower of stars!
But there her beauty shall be seen;
Her glittering face so proudly pure;
And all her majesty of mien;
And all her guerdon shall be sure.
Well. 'Tis not written, God will give
To His Belovëd only rest.
The hard life of the Cross they live,
They strive, and suffer, and are blest.
The feet must bleed to reach their throne;
The brow must burn before it bear
One of the crowns that may be won
By workers, for immortal wear.
To His Belovëd only rest.
The hard life of the Cross they live,
They strive, and suffer, and are blest.
The feet must bleed to reach their throne;
The brow must burn before it bear
One of the crowns that may be won
By workers, for immortal wear.
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Dear friend, life beats tho' buried 'neath
Its long black vault of night! And see,
There trembles thro' this dark of death,
Starlight of immortality!
And yet shall dawn the eternal day
To kiss the eyes of them that sleep;
And He shall wipe all tears away
From tired eyes of them that weep.
Its long black vault of night! And see,
There trembles thro' this dark of death,
Starlight of immortality!
And yet shall dawn the eternal day
To kiss the eyes of them that sleep;
And He shall wipe all tears away
From tired eyes of them that weep.
'Tis something for the poor bereaven,
In such a weary world of care,
To think that we have friends in heaven;
Who helpt us here, may aid us there!
These yearnings for them set our Arc
Of Being widening more and more,
In circling sweep thro' outer dark
To day more perfect than before.
In such a weary world of care,
To think that we have friends in heaven;
Who helpt us here, may aid us there!
These yearnings for them set our Arc
Of Being widening more and more,
In circling sweep thro' outer dark
To day more perfect than before.
So much was left unsaid. The soul
Must live in other worlds to be;
On earth we cannot grasp the whole,
For that Love has eternity.
Love deep as death and rich as rest;
Love that was love with all Love's might;
Level to needs the lowliest;
Cannot be less Love at full-height!
Must live in other worlds to be;
On earth we cannot grasp the whole,
For that Love has eternity.
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Love that was love with all Love's might;
Level to needs the lowliest;
Cannot be less Love at full-height!
Tho' earthly forms be far apart,
Spirit to spirit nestles nigher;
The music chords the same at heart
Tho' one voice range an octave higher.
Eyes watch us that we cannot see;
Lips warn us which we may not kiss;
They wait for us, and starrily
Lean towards us from Heaven's lattices.
Spirit to spirit nestles nigher;
The music chords the same at heart
Tho' one voice range an octave higher.
Eyes watch us that we cannot see;
Lips warn us which we may not kiss;
They wait for us, and starrily
Lean towards us from Heaven's lattices.
We cannot see them face to face,
But love is nearness. And they love
Us yet, nor change, with change of place,
In their more steadfast world above,
Where love, once leal, hath never ceased,
And dear eyes never lose their shine,
And there shall be a Marriage Feast,
Where Christ shall once more make the wine.
But love is nearness. And they love
Us yet, nor change, with change of place,
In their more steadfast world above,
Where love, once leal, hath never ceased,
And dear eyes never lose their shine,
And there shall be a Marriage Feast,
Where Christ shall once more make the wine.
| A Tale of Eternity and Other Poems | |