Four long years of mingled feeling, Half in rest, and half in strife,
I have seen thy waters stealing Onward, like the stream of life. Thou hast taught me, Silent River! Many a lesson, deep and long; Thou hast been a generous giver;
I can give thee but a song. Oft in sadness and in illness,
I have watched thy current glide, Till the beauty of its stillness Overflowed me, like a tide.
And in better hours and brighter, When I saw thy waters gleam,
I have felt my heart beat lighter, And leap onward with thy stream. Not for this alone I love thee,
Nor because thy waves of blue From celestial seas above thee Take their own celestial hue.
Where yon shadowy woodlands hide thee, And thy waters disappear,
Friends I love have dwelt beside thee, And have made thy margin dear.
More than this;--thy name reminds me
Of three friends, all true and tried; And that name, like magic, binds me Closer, closer to thy side.
Friends my soul with joy remembers! How like quivering flames they start, When I fan the living embers
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On the hearthstone of my heart!
'T is for this, thou Silent River! That my spirit leans to thee;
Thou hast been a generous giver, Take this idle song from me. BLIND BARTIMEUS
Blind Bartimeus at the gates
Of Jericho in darkness waits;
He hears the crowd;--he hears a breath
Say, "It is Christ of Nazareth!" And calls, in tones of agony,
<Greek here>
The thronging multitudes increase; Blind Bartimeus, hold thy peace! But still, above the noisy crowd, The beggar's cry is shrill and loud; Until they say, "He calleth thee!"
<Greek here>
Then saith the Christ, as silent stands
The crowd, "What wilt thou at my hands?" And he replies, "O give me light!
Rabbi, restore the blind man's sight. And Jesus answers, '<Greek here>'
<Greek here>!
Ye that have eyes, yet cannot see, In darkness and in misery, Recall those mighty Voices Three, <Greek here>! <Greek here>!
<Greek here>!
THE GOBLET OF LIFE
Filled is Life's goblet to the brim;
And though my eyes with tears are dim, I see its sparkling bubbles swim,
And chant a melancholy hymn
With solemn voice and slow.
No purple flowers,--no garlands green,
Conceal the goblet's shade or sheen,
Nor maddening draughts of Hippocrene,
Like gleams of sunshine, flash between
Thick leaves of mistletoe.
This goblet, wrought with curious art,
Is filled with waters, that upstart,
When the deep fountains of the heart, By strong convulsions rent apart,
Are running all to waste.
And as it mantling passes round,
With fennel is it wreathed and crowned, Whose seed and foliage sun-imbrowned Are in its waters steeped and drowned,
And give a bitter taste.
Above the lowly plants it towers, The fennel, with its yellow flowers, And in an earlier age than ours
Was gifted with the wondrous powers, Lost vision to restore.
It gave new strength, and fearless mood;
And gladiators, fierce and rude,
Mingled it in their daily food;
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And he who battled and subdued, A wreath of fennel wore.
Then in Life's goblet freely press, The leaves that give it bitterness, Nor prize the colored waters less, For in thy darkness and distress
New light and strength they give! And he who has not learned to know How false its sparkling bubbles show, How bitter are the drops of woe, With which its brim may overflow,
He has not learned to live.
The prayer of Ajax was for light; Through all that dark and desperate fight The blackness of that noonday night
He asked but the return of sight, To see his foeman's face.
Let our unceasing, earnest prayer
Be, too, for light,--for strength to bear Our portion of the weight of care, That crushes into dumb despair
One half the human race. O suffering, sad humanity! O ye afflicted one; who lie
Steeped to the lips in misery, Longing, and yet afraid to die,
Patient, though sorely tried!
I pledge you in this cup of grief, Where floats the fennel's bitter leaf ! The Battle of our Life is brief
The alarm,--the struggle,--the relief, Then sleep we side by side.
MAIDENHOOD
Maiden! with the meek, brown eyes, In whose orbs a shadow lies
Like the dusk in evening skies!
Thou whose locks outshine the sun, Golden tresses, wreathed in one,
As the braided streamlets run! Standing, with reluctant feet, Where the brook and river meet, Womanhood and childhood fleet! Gazing, with a timid glance,
On the brooklet's swift advance, On the river's broad expanse! Deep and still, that gliding stream Beautiful to thee must seem,
As the river of a dream.
Then why pause with indecision, When bright angels in thy vision Beckon thee to fields Elysian? Seest thou shadows sailing by,
As the dove, with startled eye, Sees the falcon's shadow fly? Hearest thou voices on the shore, That our ears perceive no more, Deafened by the cataract's roar?
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O, thou child of many prayers!
Life hath quicksands,--Life hath snares
Care and age come unawares!
Like the swell of some sweet tune, Morning rises into noon,
May glides onward into June.
Childhood is the bough, where slumbered Birds and blossoms many-numbered;-- Age, that bough with snows encumbered. Gather, then, each flower that grows, When the young heart overflows,
To embalm that tent of snows. Bear a lily in thy hand;
Gates of brass cannot withstand
One touch of that magic wand.
Bear through sorrow, wrong, and ruth, In thy heart the dew of youth,
On thy lips the smile of truth!
O, that dew, like balm, shall steal Into wounds that cannot heal, Even as sleep our eyes doth seal; And that smile, like sunshine, dart Into many a sunless heart,
For a smile of God thou art. EXCELSIOR
The shades of night were falling fast, As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!
His brow was sad; his eye beneath, Flashed like a falchion from its sheath, And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue, Excelsior!
In happy homes he saw the light