THE RABBI'S SONG

Our lives, our tears, as water,
Are spilled upon the ground;
God giveth no man quarter,

Yet God a means hath found,
Though faith and hope have vanished,
And even love grows dim—
A means whereby His banished
Be not expelled from Him.

B

THE BEE BOY'S SONG

EES! Bees! Hark to your bees!

'Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,

But all that has happened, to us you must tell,

Or else we will give you no honey to sell!'

A maiden in her glory,

Upon her wedding-day,

Must tell her Bees the story,
Or else they'll fly away.

Fly away-die away—

Dwindle down and leave you!
But if you don't deceive your Bees,
Your Bees will not deceive you.

Marriage, birth or buryin',

News across the seas,

All you're sad or merry in,

You must tell the Bees,

Tell 'em coming in an' out,

Where the Fanners fan,
'Cause the Bees are just about
As curious as a man!

Don't you wait where trees are,
When the lightnings play,

Nor don't you hate where Bees are,

Or else they'll pine away.

THE BEE BOY'S SONG

Pine away-dwine away-
Anything to leave you!

But if you never grieve your Bees,
Your Bees 'll never grieve you.

THE RETURN OF THE CHILDREN

EITHER the harps nor the crowns amused, nor the cherubs' dove-winged races

NR

Holding hands forlornly the Children wandered beneath the Dome,

Plucking the radiant robes of the passers-by, and with pitiful faces

Begging what Princes and Powers refused:-‘Ah, please will you let us go home?'

Over the jewelled floor, nigh weeping, ran to them Mary the Mother,

Kneeled and caressed and made promise with kisses, and drew them along to the gateway

Yea, the all-iron unbribeable Door which Peter must guard and none other.

Straightway She took the Keys from his keeping, and opened and freed them straightway.

Then, to Her Son, Who had seen and smiled, She said: 'On the night that I bore Thee,

What didst Thou care for a love beyond mine or a heaven that was not my arm?

Didst Thou push from the nipple, O Child, to hear the angels adore Thee?

When we two lay in the breath of the kine?' And He said: "Thou hast done no harm.'

THE RETURN OF THE CHILDREN

So through the Void the Children ran homeward merrily hand in hand,

Looking neither to left nor right where the breathless Heavens stood still;

And the Guards of the Void resheathed their swords, for

they heard the Command:

'Shall I that have suffered the children to come to Me hold them against their will?'