 | Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson |  |
202
FRIENDS
I
O Guardian Angel! Patron Saints!
You, who have cared for me:
You, who have borne with all my plaints
So patiently!
You, who have cared for me:
You, who have borne with all my plaints
So patiently!
I ask but one thing now: I pray,
God grant through you, each friend
Be mine within Eternal Day,
World without end.
God grant through you, each friend
Be mine within Eternal Day,
World without end.
1894.
II
Poor powerless Sorrow! Helpless Death!
Think they to worst me in the end?
Come when they will, my Faith still saith:
I face them with a single friend.
Think they to worst me in the end?
Come when they will, my Faith still saith:
I face them with a single friend.
Were I alone, I could not fight
The imperious Powers: I should but fear,
And tremble in the lonely night,
With never a friend of all friends near.
The imperious Powers: I should but fear,
And tremble in the lonely night,
With never a friend of all friends near.
But in the eyes of every friend,
Voice, or the holding of his hand,
I learn, how love can never end:
Oh, Heart of God! I understand.
Voice, or the holding of his hand,
I learn, how love can never end:
Oh, Heart of God! I understand.
1894.
203
III
The haunting hopes, the perfect dreams,
The visionary joys, that fill
Mine heart with sudden gracious gleams:
Through friendship they grow clearer still.
The visionary joys, that fill
Mine heart with sudden gracious gleams:
Through friendship they grow clearer still.
Each friend possesses, each betrays,
Some secret of the eternal things:
Each one has walked celestial ways,
And held celestial communings.
Some secret of the eternal things:
Each one has walked celestial ways,
And held celestial communings.
The smiles upon their lips are bright
With beauty from the Face of God:
Their eyes keep something of that Light,
Which knows nor pause, nor period.
With beauty from the Face of God:
Their eyes keep something of that Light,
Which knows nor pause, nor period.
1894.
IV
O Patron Saints of all my friends!
O Guardian Angels of them all!
With them begins, with them still ends,
My prayer's most passionate call.
O Guardian Angels of them all!
With them begins, with them still ends,
My prayer's most passionate call.
You know my voice: you know their names,
That wing so its least selfish tone
Across your white celestial flames,
And up to the White Throne.
That wing so its least selfish tone
Across your white celestial flames,
And up to the White Throne.
Heaven were not Heaven, and they not there;
Heaven were no Heaven, my friends away:
O Saints and Angels! hear the prayer,
I pray you every day.
Heaven were no Heaven, my friends away:
O Saints and Angels! hear the prayer,
I pray you every day.
1894.
| Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson | |