The One remains, the many change and pass; Until Death tramples it to fragments.-Die, If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek! Follow where all is fled!-Rome's azure sky, Flowers, ruins, statues, music, words, are weak The glory they transfuse with fitting truth to speak. That Light whose smile kindles the Universe, That Beauty in which all things work and move, That Benediction which the eclipsing Curse Of birth can quench not, that sustaining Love Which through the web of being blindly wove By man and beast and earth and air and sea, Burns bright or dim, as each are mirrors of The fire for which all thirst; now beams on me, Consuming the last clouds of cold mortality. The breath whose might I have invoked in song Whilst, burning through the inmost veil of Heaven, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are. IMMORTAL SARA TEASDALE So soon my body will have gone But, oh, my frail immortal soul That will not sleep forevermore, CROSSING THE BAR ALFRED TENNYSON Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that, the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar. OF ONE SELF-SLAIN CHARLES HANSON TOWNE When he went blundering back to God, His songs half written, his work half done, Who knows what paths his bruised feet trod, What hills of peace or pain he won? I hope God smiled and took his hand, And said, "Poor truant, passionate fool! Life's book is hard to understand; Why could'st thou not remain at school?" TO NIGHT JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE Mysterious night! When our first parent knew Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed AT LAST JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER When on my day of life the night is falling, Thou who hast made my home of life so pleasant, O Love Divine, O Helper ever-present, Be Thou my strength and stay! Be near me when all else is from me drifting; Earth, sky, home's pictures, days of shade and shine, And kindly faces to my own uplifting The love which answers mine. I have but Thee, my Father! let Thy spirit Suffice it if my good and ill unreckoned, b. IMPERSONAL IMMORTALITY MISSING ANONYMOUS When the anxious hearts say "Where?" "Is it life or is it death?" "Wait," He whispers. "Child, have faith!" "Did they need love's tenderness?" "Were they frightened at the last?" "Did a thought of 'Home-Love' rise?" "Saviour, tell us, where are they?" "Tell us, tell us, how it stands." "None shall pluck them from My Hands." THE DEAD MATHILDE BLIND The dead abide with us! Though stark and cold In which their strong imperishable will— As a star's travelling light survives its star! The fate of those who then will draw this breath, And curse the heritage that we bequeath. WHERE RUNS THE RIVER? FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON Where runs the river? Who can say Where runs the river? Hill and wood Its path pursue. |