Advent. Y eyes are weary with the long, long watching I see the snow-wreaths lift among the meadows Before the wind, like spirits gliding by; O watchman! is there yet no sign of glory Will He not come once more with love immortal To fold her close and bid her cease to mourn? Will He not whisper words of tender blessing To bid her aching loneliness be stilled? O watchman! speed thee up beyond the fountain; Break through the myrrh-boughs on the sacred mountain, KNOWLEDGE AND REVERENCE. The stairs are dark that point toward the morning; For her, of home and bridegroom both bereft. That soothed the weary and hath warmed the cold; Her lamp stands burning with a steady ray; Knowledge and Reverence. 19 HO knows too much to wonder and adore, Or laugh of naiads on the pebbled shore? To him for every change a Will was law, The cloud-black eagle-had lightnings in its claw! And nymphs dropped rain from brimming urns they bore. We watch a chemic force in bubbling play, Till we forget the vital soul within; We leave no meaning in the new-born-day, But the dull summons for labor to begin! Sheer night has star-gleams in its murkiness, But the moon-dazzled eye is blind with light's excess! Let me forget, O Heaven, when I behold Of virgin Dawn the Sun's miraculous birth, The spinning globes awhirl! if in this dearth How from a vast mysterious abyss The immense God rose, and from his boundless brow Flashed morning radiant with the eternities Of Power and Goodness, bidding nations bow, And the awed heart to burst in songs of praise, Unstudied as the hymns the woods and cradles raise! Ah, me! Less reverence with more light impugns The light behind the sunlight, Power in power, Grow visible, and skies beyond our skies Open to depths ineffable in that hour When Earth's young wonder, love, and reverence meet The wisdom of her age, in unity complete! O Tell Me Not of Heavenly Halls. TELL me not of heavenly halls, Of streets of pearl and gates of gold, Where angel unto angel calls 'Mid splendors of the sky untold. My homesick heart would backward turn To watch its sacred hearth-fires burn, I'd lean from out the heavenly choir To hear once more the red cock crow, To hear the ripple of the rain, The summer waves at ocean's brim, To hear the sparrow sing again I care not what heaven's glories are! Than mystic Saturn's golden rings. And yet, and yet -O dearest one, My comfort from life's earliest breath, To follow thee where thou art gone, Through these dim, awful gates of Death To find thee-feel thy smile again, To have Eternity's long day To tell my grateful love - why, then, A Christmas Hymn. ELL me what is this innumerable throng Singing in the heavens a loud angelic song? These are they who come with swift and shiny feet From round about the throne of God the Lord of Light to greet. Oh, who are these that hasten beneath the starry sky As if with joyful tidings that through the world shall fly? The faithful shepherds, they who greatly were afeared, When, as they watched their flocks by night, the heavenly host appeared. Who are these that follow across the hills of night A star that westward hurries along the fields of light? Three wise men from the East, who myrrh and treasure bring – To lay them at the feet of Him, their Lord and Christ and King, What babe new-born is this that in a manger cries? Near on her lowly bed his happy mother lies. Oh, see, the air is shaken with white and heavenly wings This is the Lord of all the earth, this is the King of Kings. |