All the fount of grief unsealing, Came the great white angel, Death; And my flower upon my bosom Stricken by the north wind's breath. And I saw him weakly lying, And my love was vain to save! Could not triumph o'er the grave. Vainly did I crave permission, Might behold the land Elysian- . On that broad, mysterious river, Then my brain grew wild to madness, Changing to a sullen sadness, Tempered by no ray of gladness; And I cursed the God above, That, with Heaven all full of angels, He should take my little dove. Then my eyelids knew no sleeping: Once my midnight watch while keeping, I had wept beyond all weeping, Suddenly there seemed to fall From my spiritual being, From my inward sense of seeing, Scales, as from the eyes of Paul. Heavenly gales were round me playing, "Come up hither, come and see! O, thou sorrow-stricken mother! Unto thee, as to none other, Heaven unfolds her mystery." God's own Spirit seemed to move me, All the Heaven grew bright above me, All the angels seemed to love me, Waved their white hands as they smiled; And one, fair as Summer moonlight, Crowned with starry gems of midnight, Like a flower in sunshine blowing, Fairer than the things of earth. "Thou mayst take him," said the spirit, "Back to earth, there to inherit All the woes of mortal birth." 66 I had need of no advising; In divinest strength arising, All my selfishness despising, "Nay!" I cried; "now first I know What it is to be a mother, To give being to another Living soul, for joy or woe. 'Keep him in these heavenly places, Fold him in your pure embraces, Teach him the divinest graces: And the angels said, "Amen!" O thou holy Heaven above us! That we faint not in endeavor, Rise victorious in the strife. RECONCILIATION. GOD of the Granite and the Rose! Soul of the Sparrow and the Bee! The mighty tide of Being flows Through countless channels, Lord, from thee. It leaps to life in grass and flowers, Through every grade of being runs, Till from Creation's radiant towers Its glory flames in stars and suns. O, ye who sit and gaze on life With folded hands and fettered will, Who only see, amid the strife, The dark supremacy of ill, Know, that like birds, and streams, and flowers, The life that moves you is divine! Nor time, nor space, nor human powers, |