Page images
PDF
EPUB

Other birds have fled this dim light,
Soaring on to regions fair,
Singing in the richest sunlight,
Singing in the starlit air;

Hiding 'mid the broad-leaved shadows
Of the southern woods at noon,
Filling all the flower-starred meadows
With the melodies of June.

Knowest thou the woods have voices,

Poet-voices full and clear,

Strains at which the heart rejoices,

Feeling the unspoken near;

Pouring music, like a river

Many toned and deep and strong;
Tones 'midst which, like childhood's, quiver
Thy few notes of simple song?

Then the "crimson tippèd" thing,
Like a daisy among birds,
With a quiet glee did sing

Strains condensed thus in words:

"Well I know the joyous mazes Of the song so full and fine;— Very faint would be God's praises,

Sounded by no voice but mine!

"Yet the little child's sweet laughter,

Makes it no responsive smile; Though the poet singeth after,

And the angels all the while?

"What I sing I cannot measure,
Why I sing I cannot say;
But I know a well of pleasure
Springeth in my heart all day."

So, I learned that crumbs are able
Lowly hearts to fill with song,-
Crumbs from off that festal table
Lowly hearts will join ere long.

He who wintry hours has given,
With the snow gives snowdrops birth;

And while angels sing in heaven

God hears robins sing on earth.

Only keep thee on the wing,—
Music dieth in the dust;
Nothing that but creeps can sing :
Soaring-we can sing and trust.

EXCELSIOR.

The Skylark.

THEREAL minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!

Dost thou despise the earth, where cares abound;

Or, while thy wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest, upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still !

To the last point of vision and beyond,

Mount, daring warbler! that love-prompted strain ("Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond) Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain. Yet might'st thou seem,-proud privilege,-to sing All independent of the leafy Spring.

Leave to the nightingale the shady wood;
A privacy of glorious light is thine,

Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
Of harmony, with rapture more divine :
Type of the wise, who soar, but never roam,—
True to the kindred points of heaven and home.

WORDSWORTH.

Faith and Presumption.

"He that believeth shall not make haste," therefore "he shall not be confounded."

E

EAR to ask, "If it be Thou,

Bid me come to thee,"

Though thou think at Jesus' word

Thou could'st walk the sea.

Haste is mingling with such faith,

And betrays it weak;

Rather be it thine to wait

Till thy Lord shall speak.

Hast thou faith, and could'st thou joy

Perils to abide?

Yet bethink thee how a saint

His dear Lord denied:

"Yea, though all offended be,
I will not," he said;

But for those presumptuous words

Bitter tears were shed.

Taught from thence, with lowly mind
Keep the place His love assign'd:
Answering but, "Thy will be done;"
At His bidding thou shalt run.
Gathering strength, in self-control
Patiently possess thy soul;
Storing up each earnest thought
For a time with trial fraught.

FROM "SONGS OF CHRISTIAN CHIVALRY."

« PreviousContinue »