Poems of Sentiment Part 4

Through the lives we may succour and bless Alone may its litter turn sweet!

And the world lying there at our feet, With its cavilling praise and its sneer, We must pity, condone, but not hear, Where we stand.

As we live on those heights, we must live With the courage and pride of a G.o.d; For the world, it has nothing to give But the scourge of the lash and the rod.

Our thoughts must be n.o.ble and broad, Our purpose must challenge men's gaze, While we seek not their blame or their praise As we live.

THE LADY AND THE DAME

So, thou hast the art, good dame, thou swearest, To keep Time's peris.h.i.+ng touch at bay From the roseate splendour of the cheek so tender, And the silver threads from the gold away.

And the tell-tale years that have hurried by us Shall tip-toe back, and, with kind good-will, They shall take the traces from off our faces, If we will trust to thy magic skill.

Thou speakest fairly; but if I listen And buy thy secret, and prove its truth, Hast thou the potion and magic lotion To give me also the HEART of youth?

With the cheek of rose and the eye of beauty, And the l.u.s.trous looks of life's lost prime, Wilt thou bring thronging each hope and longing That made the glory of that dead Time?

When the sap in the trees sets young buds bursting, And the song of the birds fills the air like spray, Will rivers of feeling come once more stealing From the beautiful hills of the far-away?

Wilt thou demolish the tower of reason, And fling for ever down into the dust The caution time brought me, the lessons life taught me, And put in their places my old sweet trust?

If Time's foot-print from my brow is driven, Canst thou, too, take with thy subtle powers The burden of thinking, and let me go drinking The careless pleasures of youth's bright hours?

If silver threads from my tresses vanish, If a glow once more in my pale cheek gleams, Wilt thou slay duty and give back the beauty Of days untroubled by aught but dreams?

When the soft fair arms of the siren Summer Encircle the earth in their languorous fold, Will vast, deep oceans of sweet emotions Surge through my veins as they surged of old?

Canst thou bring back from a day long-vanished The leaping pulse and the boundless aim?

I will pay thee double, for all thy trouble, If thou wilt restore all these, good dame.

HEAVEN AND h.e.l.l

While forced to dwell apart from thy dear face, Love, robed like sorrow, led me by the hand And taught my doubting heart to understand That which has puzzled all the human race.

Full many a sage has questioned where in s.p.a.ce Those counter worlds were? where the mystic strand That separates them? I have found each land, And h.e.l.l is vast, and Heaven a narrow s.p.a.ce.

In the small compa.s.s of thy clasping arms, In reach and sight of thy dear lips and eyes, There, there for me the joy of Heaven lies.

Outside, lo! chaos, terrors' wild alarms, And all the desolation fierce and fell Of void and aching nothingness, makes h.e.l.l.

LOVE'S SUPREMACY

As yon great Sun in his supreme condition Absorbs small worlds and makes them all his own, So does my love absorb each vain ambition, Each outside purpose which my life has known.

Stars cannot s.h.i.+ne so near that vast orb'd splendour; They are content to feed his flames of fire: And so my heart is satisfied to render Its strength, its all, to meet thy strong desire.

As in a forest when dead leaves are falling From all save some perennial green tree, So one by one I find all pleasures palling That are not linked with or enjoyed by thee.

And all the homage that the world may proffer, I take as perfumed oils or incense sweet, And think of it as one thing more to offer, And sacrifice to Love, at thy dear feet.

I love myself because thou art my lover, My name seems dear since uttered by thy voice; Yet, argus-eyed, I watch and would discover Each blemish in the object of thy choice.

I coldly sit in judgment on each error, To my soul's gaze I hold each fault of me, Until my pride is lost in abject terror, Lest I become inadequate to thee.

Like some swift-rus.h.i.+ng and sea-seeking river, Which gathers force the farther on it goes, So does the current of my love forever Find added strength and beauty as it flows.

The more I give, the more remains for giving, The more receive, the more remains to win.

Ah! only in eternities of living Will life be long enough to love thee in.

THE ETERNAL WILL

There is no thing we cannot overcome Say not thy evil instinct is inherited, Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn, And calls down punishment that is not merited.

Back of thy parents and grandparents lies The Great Eternal Will. That, too, is thine Inheritance; strong, beautiful, divine, Sure lever of success for one who tries.

Pry up thy faults with this great lever, Will.

However deeply bedded in propensity, However firmly set, I tell thee firmer yet Is that vast power that comes from Truth's immensity.

Thou art a part of that strange world, I say.

Its forces lie within thee, stronger far Than all thy mortal sins and frailties are, Believe thyself divine, and watch, and pray.

There is no n.o.ble height thou canst not climb.

All triumphs may be thine in Time's futurity, If whatso'er thy fault, thou dost not faint or halt, But lean upon the staff of G.o.d's security.

Earth has no claim the soul can not contest.

Know thyself part of that Eternal Source, And naught can stand before thy spirit's force.

The soul's divine inheritance is best.

INSIGHT

On the river of life, as I float along, I see with the spirit's sight That many a nauseous weed of wrong Has root in a seed of right.

For evil is good that has gone astray, And sorrow is only blindness, And the world is always under the sway Of a changeless law of kindness.

The commonest error a truth can make Is shouting its sweet voice hoa.r.s.e, And sin is only the soul's mistake In misdirecting its force.

And love, the fairest of all fair things That ever to man descended, Grows rank with nettles and poisonous things Unless it is watched and tended.

There could not be anything better than this Old world in the way it began; And though some matters have gone amiss From the great original plan, And however dark the skies may appear, And however souls may blunder, I tell you it all will work out clear, For good lies over and under.

A WOMAN'S LOVE