FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102  
103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   >>  
s, With sorrows bear it down. Do what thou wilt to mold me to thy pleasure, And if I should complain, Heap full of anguish yet another measure Until I smile at pain. Send dangers--deaths! but tell me how to dare them; Enfold me in thy care. Send trials, tears! but give me strength to bear them-- This is a Christian's prayer. IN THE NIGHT. Sometimes at night, when I sit and write, I hear the strangest things,-- As my brain grows hot with burning thought, That struggles for form and wings, I can hear the beat of my swift blood's feet, As it speeds with a rush and a whir From heart to brain and back again, Like a race-horse under the spur. With my soul's fine ear I listen and hear The tender Silence speak, As it leans on the breast of Night to rest, And presses his dusky cheek. And the darkness turns in its sleep, and yearns For something that is kin; And I hear the hiss of a scorching kiss, As it folds and fondles Sin. In its hurrying race through leagues of space, I can hear the Earth catch breath, As it heaves and moans, and shudders and groans, And longs for the rest of Death. And high and far, from a distant star, Whose name is unknown to me, I hear a voice that says, "Rejoice, For I keep ward o'er thee!" Oh, sweet and strange are the sounds that range Through the chambers of the night; And the watcher who waits by the dim, dark gates, May hear, if he lists aright. GOD'S MEASURE. God measures souls by their capacity For entertaining his best Angel, Love. Who loveth most is nearest kin to God, Who is all Love, or Nothing. He who sits And looks out on the palpitating world, And feels his heart swell in him large enough To hold all men within it, he is near His great Creator's standard, though he dwells Outside the pale of churches, and knows not A feast-day from a fast-day, or a line Of Scripture even. What God wants of us Is that outreaching bigness that ignores All littleness of aims, or loves, or creeds, And clasps all Earth and Heaven in its embrace. A MARCH SNOW. Let the old snow be covered with the new: The trampled snow, so soiled, and stained, and sodden. Let it be hidden wholly from our view By pure white flakes, all trackless and untrodden. When Winter dies, low at the sweet Spring's feet, Let him be mantled in a clean, white sheet. Let the old life be covered by the new: The
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102  
103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   >>  



Top keywords:

covered

 

Winter

 

Nothing

 
nearest
 
loveth
 

flakes

 
palpitating
 

trackless

 

untrodden

 

watcher


sounds
 

Through

 

chambers

 

measures

 

capacity

 
entertaining
 

mantled

 

MEASURE

 

aright

 
Spring

outreaching

 
soiled
 

Scripture

 

stained

 

trampled

 

clasps

 

creeds

 
Heaven
 

embrace

 

bigness


ignores

 

littleness

 

Creator

 

standard

 

hidden

 

sodden

 

wholly

 

churches

 

dwells

 

Outside


shudders

 

Sometimes

 

things

 

strangest

 

strength

 

Christian

 
prayer
 

speeds

 

thought

 

burning