Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul Part 135

LENGTH OF DAYS

He liveth long who liveth well; All other life is short and vain; He liveth longest who can tell Of living most for heavenly gain.

He liveth long who liveth well; All else is being flung away; He liveth longest who can tell Of true things truly done each day.

Waste not thy being; back to him Who freely gave it, freely give; Else is that being but a dream; 'Tis but to _be_, and not to _live_.

Be wise, and use thy wisdom well; Who wisdom _speaks_ must _live_ it too; He is the wisest who can tell How first he lived, then spoke the true.

Be what thou seemest! live thy creed!

Hold up to earth the torch divine; Be what thou prayest to be made; Let the great Master's steps be thine.

Fill up each hour with what will last; Buy up the moments as they go; The life above, when this is past, Is the ripe fruit of life below.

Sow truth if thou the true wouldst reap; Who sows the false shall reap the vain; Erect and sound thy conscience keep; From hollow words and deeds refrain.

Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure; Sow peace and reap its harvest bright; Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, And find a harvest-home of light.

--Horatius Bonar.

REDEEMING THE TIME

We would fill the hours with the sweetest things If we had but a day; We should drink alone at the purest springs In our upward way; We should love with a lifetime's love in an hour If the hours were few; We should rest not for dreams, but for fresher power To be and to do.

We should guide our wayward or wearied wills By the clearest light; We should keep our eyes on the heavenly hills If they lay in sight; We should trample the pride and the discontent Beneath our feet; We should take whatever a good G.o.d sent, With a trust complete.

We should waste no moments in weak regret If the day were but one; If what we remember and what we forget Went out with the sun; We should be from our clamorous selves set free To work and to pray, And to be what the Father would have us to be, If we had but a day.

--Mary Lowe d.i.c.kinson.

MORAL COSMETICS

Ye who would have your features florid, Lithe limbs, bright eyes, unwrinkled forehead, From age's devastation horrid, Adopt this plan-- 'Twill make, in climate cold or torrid, A hale old man:

Avoid in youth luxurious diet; Restrain the pa.s.sion's lawless riot; Devoted to domestic quiet, Be wisely gay; So shall ye, spite of age's fiat, Resist decay.

Seek not in Mammon's wors.h.i.+p pleasure, But find your richest, dearest treasure In G.o.d, his word, his work; not leisure.

The mind, not sense, Is the sole scale by which to measure Your opulence.

This is the solace, this the science, Life's purest, sweetest, best appliance, That disappoints not man's reliance, Whate'er his state; But challenges, with calm defiance, Time, fortune, fate.

--Horace Smith.

STRENGTH FOR TO-DAY

Strength for to-day is all that we need, As there never will be a to-morrow; For to-morrow will prove but another to-day, With its measure of joy and sorrow.

Then why forecast the trials of life With such sad and grave persistence, And watch and wait for a crowd of ills That as yet have no existence?

Strength for to-day--what a precious boon For the earnest souls who labor, For the willing hands that minister To the needy friend and neighbor.

Strength for to-day--that the weary hearts In the battle for right may quail not, And the eyes bedimmed with bitter tears In their search for light may fail not.

Strength for to-day, on the down-hill track, For the travelers near the valley, That up, far up, the other side Ere long they may safely rally.

Strength for to-day--that our precious youth May happily shun temptation, And build, from the rise to the set of the sun, On a strong and sure foundation.

Strength for to-day, in house and home, To practice forbearance sweetly; To scatter kind deeds and loving words Still trusting in G.o.d completely.

FAITHFUL

Like the star That s.h.i.+nes afar Without haste And without rest, Let each man wheel with steady sway Round the task that rules the day, And do his best!

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Who learns and learns, and acts not what he knows, Is one who plows and plows, but never sows.

MORNING

Lo here hath been dawning Another blue day; Think; wilt thou let it Slip useless away?

Out of eternity This new day is born; Into eternity At night will return.

Behold it aforetime No eye ever did; So soon it forever From all eyes is hid.

Here hath been dawning Another blue day; Think; wilt thou let it Slip useless away?

--Thomas Carlyle.

JUST FOR TO-DAY

Lord, for to-morrow and its needs I do not pray; Keep me, my G.o.d, from stain of sin Just for to-day.

Help me to labor earnestly, And duly pray; Let me be kind in word and deed, Father, to-day.

Let me no wrong or idle word Unthinking say; Set thou a seal upon my lips Through all to-day.

Let me in season, Lord, be grave, In season gay; Let me be faithful to thy grace, Dear Lord, to-day.

And if, to-day, this life of mine Should ebb away, Give me thy sacrament divine, Father, to-day.

So for to-morrow and its needs I do not pray; Still keep me, guide me, love me, Lord, Through each to-day.

--Ernest R. Wilberforce.