River-Reeds.Pdf
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/ 3 LONDON: JOSEPH MISTERS, AEDERSGATE STREET, AND NEW BOND STREET. xnoocmvx. j l l d, TO YOU, LONDON : OUR FATHER IN PAEADISF, PRINTED BH JOSEPH NIASTEWS AND SON, ALDERSGATE STREET. WHOM LIVING, WE DIDDEARLY LOVE:, YOUR LITTLE DAUGHTER DEDICATESTHESE. L PAGE .~ ~ XIVER-PCEEDS . s . 1 DOUBTING . 3 A SONGOP THE DAWNINGm SUMMER . m . 14 HYLAS . * 16 TEREESUNSETS . , . 20 29 BUIWET THOUGHTS. , e . X. STEPHEN’SDEATH . e 30 IN THE PIRELIGHT. .. 32 l THE ORIEL WINDOW. 35 ~ “ SISTERLQUISE DE LA MISERICORDE” . 9 39 WAR . 39 A VISIONOP PHILOSOPHY. 41 “FOR TEIS BIY SON WAS DEAD, AKD ISALITE AGAIN ; HE WAS LOST, AND IS FOUND” - 45 THE NARIES . 51 HYMN . , . * . 53 ... v111 CONTENTS. PAGE WORDSIN THE SEA-SAND. e o . 56 cc BUTWISDOM IS JUSTIFIED OP ALL HER CHILDREN” k?’ ib. BOUND OP DAYS s a u a . 59 TRUST. b s s - s m 61 A SONO-POR NP XWEETHEART . a . * 64 ONCE IN A LIFE D . 66 b NIGHTFALL . s , s s s . 69 “TIIE LAST9’ D o e . o ’al RIVER-REEDS. in the river ! reeds in the river ! All the long day through they tremble and shiver 1 . Men thatgo past, brush them down with their feet, But thebreeze that comes soft from the westerly sky, Stirs them to melodies tender and sweet, May be low laughter, or may be a sigh. Reeds in the river ! reeds in the river ! Ny thonghts and my rhymes arelike reeds in the river ! Some that go past tread them down in disdain, But thewinds of GOD’Sheaven that over them blow Shall presently wake them to music again, Xay be of gladness, or may be of woe ! Reeds from the river ! reeds from the river ! O I bring you a bundle of reeds from the river ! B 2 RIVER-REEDS. 3 Fresh smelling reeds, newly gathered and green : I bring you a bundle of fancies and rhymes, Though I know that my gift is but lowly and mean, And fair are the flowers that bloom in our times ! Reeds in Lhe river ! reeds in the river ! O deep in my heart like the reeds in the river, DOUBTING. My thoughts grow in darkness, far down out of sight, And over my life passes shadow and light, ERE, where each evening, from the west Like sunshine and cloud on the breast of the stream, Falls the last radiance, and strews o’er But I sit by the banks of my river and dream, With garlands all the sacred floor, For day after day, they grow silent and strong,- They laid my darling down to rest. The reeds of my Syrinx, the reeds ofmy sóng ! ’ .Here, underneath the marble, white And calm and cold as her dear brow, She lies in death and darkness now, Who was my only life and light. My love ! who hand in hand with me Amidst the busy throng of men, Didst closely walk awhile, and then Wast taken from me suddenly ; Wast taken ! Whither ? Who may say ? I only know that thou art gone, And that for evermore alone In the great world I tread the way. Mg love ! Thou wast a beacon light To my lost soul, but in the gale .. 5 ,4 DOUBTING. DOUBTING. Wast quenched, and helplessly I sail There is a voice gone through the earth, Whither I know not, in the night. From pole to pole, from east to west, A crying voice that will not rest Thou wast a flower fair and sweet, By cloistered aisle or homely hearth. ' In my heart's garden reared with care, But in the fervent noontide glire I hear it in theworld of men, Didst fall and wither at my feet. -- In wrangling school, and crowded mart, ' A reasoning voice within my heart, Ah me, is this the end ? What then? That ever answers me again : We still believe and still adore ;: But the quenched fire revives no more, Thou standest, Christian, by thy faith, Mor blooms the perished flower again. Thy 'veryweakness is thy might, The darkness is thine only light, To live is sweet ; but very strange 3 . Thy GODa phantom and a wraith. Seems ît to die ; yet, who shall say What sweeter life, what fairer day Hast thou, Q man, an eye to see May dawn beyond that awful change ? Beyond the darkness of the tomb ? Beneath us lie the graves of men, Or hast thou passed Hadean gloom, The silent stars are overhead ; Or,tasted immortality ? The silent stars,-the tilent dead, Shall faith suffice to overthrow And we, the living, stand between, The evidence of things that be? And lift vain voices, and implore And priests and empty creeds decree For vaster truth, and broader light, Through foolish man, what man shall know ? But through the darkness and the night Comes back the echo,-and no more. Q idle preachers ! where is he Can rend the veil that hangs between The visible and things unseen, What has been-is-and what shall be ? \ DOU BTING. DOUBTING. ,6 . DOUBTING. 7 Por how shall human eye or thought Mere creatures then of empty dust, TOsuch sublimer wisdom reach? Mere atoms in a general plan ;- Or mortal skill. presume to teach Yet somewhere in the 'heart of man What cunning Nature leaves untaught P Lingersan old undyingtrust. Herein is wisdom,-that we know 0.ur very selves to be unwise, /n \ So much of darkness round us lies, ,. So much of tyranny and WO&. Yet what avails, though we be free P Thou sayest alp things fade and die, Behold, since 'first the world begari, Thou hold& faith an idle boast, How little is the life of man, And weak, the souls that love to trust How poor a thing humanity ! A far-off immortality. What then? let Ignorance be rife, Why then the strife with moral wrong ? And let us worship with the crowd, The love of moral good? and why, For Truth is weak, and Falsehood loud, If all we love must wholly die, And small the learning of a life. Should human passion be so strong? Nor let us in our pride be rathe Shall all the love I bear to thee, To crush the hopes we deem unwise, Uy buried darling ! pass away P For much of wholesome sweetness lies Nor rather dawn in fuller day In the fair flower of Christian faith. .~ ~ TJpon some fair eternity T Shall then all human things decay? ~ 1 know not; only this I knowmT, And stirring thought and mind and sod This, that thou art no longer here, Die wholly with the common whole- And day by day, and year by yearEr, Vain shadow, vanishing away ? 1 The clouds above me seem to grow, 8 DOUBTING. DOUBTING. Y O would I were where now thou art ! And many a crew, the minstrel said, For these dead hopes no more shall make, i Was lost upon the rocky shore, And never summer sun shall break Nor ever home returned they more, The shadow brooding on my heart 1 i But all the sea was strep. with dead. And Q ! alas, for mortal men ! ,~- I For that they labour vainly still, Nor can they find that fairy rill . - Where he who drinks is young again. .. I mind me how long years ago, He sang, and ended with a sigh, I heard an aged minstrel sing, Then rising, laid his harp away, The legend of some fairy spring, And dreamily, I heard him say, Whence life and youth, eternal fl~w. “ We all must die,-we all must die.” And how in wizard days gone by, A foolish tale,-yet now and then When men were few, and faith was blind, I turn it over in my mind, The world m7as all astir to find And idly wish that I might find, The source of Immortality. That stream so sought of mortal men. And lords and knights in fair array “We all must die,” the minstrel said, Went out to seek the wondrous fount, Amen ! it is an ancient truth ; And died of weariness and want, A homely word in every mouth, Or dropped upon the tedious way. But Q ! what is it to 6e dead ? Till all the land was searched in vain, In vain we fight with failing breath, Save one tall island far at sea, And stretch forth feeble hands and cry, And there they said the charm must be, “ Give me the magic cup, that I Y Girt round with cliff arad seething main. May drink one draught and laugh at Death !” 1 10 DOUBTING, DOUBTING. 11 l '/: O me I .the grief,-the long farewell I But now our bridal dance is done, l' , .j; 1: The darkened room, and maed tread, The song, the jest, the festive speech, And then she whispered,-cc He is dead," ! And we are dearer each to each, t , .i But more than this we cannot tell. h Since night and stillness make us one. " Ay, life is short !J9 the atheist cries, Too well I loved the things that seem, ~ " And happiness the goal of men ; .I lay in sunshine at thy feet, t w60 lives to mourn, is foolish then, \I For. Q ! methought that life was sweet, 'i And he whois laughlives to wise." i? And sorrow all an idle dream. 'j , But with dimmed eyes, and folded hands, But lo, between me and the light, So be it, LOED,"the Christian saith, 'There came a cloud so deep and vast, " Por Thine alike are life and death, That all my heaven was overcast, I bow myself to Thy commands." And seemed it altogether night.' And all around me day by day, I The sound of woe and wailing grew, And dimly in my heakt I knew That one we loved had passed away.