Part 15 (1/2)

Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and s.h.i.+pwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour and to wait.

THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS.

There is a Reaper, whose name is Death, And, with his sickle keen, He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, And the flowers that grow between.

”Shall I have nought that is fair?” saith he; ”Have nought but the bearded grain?

Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, I will give them all back again.”

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, He kissed their drooping leaves; It was for the Lord of Paradise He bound them in his sheaves.

”My Lord has need of these flowers gay,”

The Reaper said, and smiled; ”Dear tokens of the earth are they, Where He was once a child.

”They shall all bloom in fields of light, Transplanted by my care, And saints, upon their garments white, These sacred blossoms wear.”

And the mother gave, in tears and pain, The flowers she most did love; She knew she should find them all again In the fields of light above.

Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The Reaper came that day; 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, And took the flowers away.

THE LIGHT OF STARS.

The night is come, but not too soon; And sinking silently, All silently, the little moon Drops down behind the sky.

There is no light in earth or heaven, But the cold light of stars; And the first watch of night is given To the red planet Mars.

Is it the tender star of love?

The star of love and dreams?

Oh, no! from that blue tent above, A hero's armour gleams.

And earnest thoughts within me rise, When I behold afar, Suspended in the evening skies The s.h.i.+eld of that red star.

O star of strength! I see thee stand And smile upon my pain; Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand, And I am strong again.

Within my breast there is no light, But the cold light of stars; I give the first watch of the night To the red planet Mars.

The star of the unconquered will, He rises in my breast, Serene, and resolute, and still, And calm, and self-possessed.

And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art, That readest this brief psalm, As one by one thy hopes depart, Be resolute and calm.

Oh, fear not in a world like this, And thou shalt know ere long, Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong.

FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS.

When the hours of Day are numbered, And the voices of the Night Wake the better soul, that slumbered, To a holy, calm delight;

Ere the evening lamps are lighted, And, like phantoms grim and tall, Shadows from the fitful firelight Dance upon the parlour wall;