'HF died for me: what can I offer Him? His court wear crowns and aureoles round their hair: His ministers are subtle Cherubim ; Ring within ring, white intense Seraphim Leap like immortal lightnings through the air. What shall I offer Him? defiled and bare, My spirit broken and my brightness dim.' 'Give Me thy youth.'-'I yield it to Thy rod, As Thou didst yield Thy prime of youth for me.' 'Give Me thy life.'-'I give it breath by breath; As Thou didst give Thy life so give I Thee.' 'Give Me thy love.' God, my God, So be it, my ease; I view the glory till I partly long, Toward Him swells incense of Yet lack the fire of love which perpetual prayer: quickens these. O passing Angel, speed me with a song, For, earthly, even a mother may forget A melody of heaven to reach my And feel no pity for its piteous moan. heart And rouse me to the race and make me strong; Till in such music I take up my part Swelling those Hallelujahs full of rest, One, tenfold, hundredfold, with heavenly art, Fulfilling north and south and east and west, Thousand, ten numerable, thousandfold, in All blent in one yet each one manifest ; Each one distinguished and beloved as well As if no second voice in earth or heaven Were lifted up the Love of God to tell. Ah Love of God, which thine own To me most poor, and made me rich in love, Love that dost pass the tenfold seven times seven, Draw Thou mine eyes, draw Thou my heart above, My treasure and my heart store Brood over me with yearnings of a dove; Be Husband, Brother, closest Love me as very mother loves her son, Her sucking firstborn fondled on her knee: Yea, more than mother loves her little one; But thou, O Love of God, re member yet, Through the dry desert, through the waterflood (Life, death), until the Great White Throne is set. If now I am sick in chewing the bitter cud Of sweet past sin, though solaced by Thy grace And ofttimes strengthened by Thy How shall I then stand up before When from Thine eyes repentance shall be hid And utmost Justice stand in When every sin I thought or spoke or did Shall meet me at the inexorable bar, And there be no man standing in the mid To plead for me; while star fallen after star With heaven and earth are like a ripened shock, And all time's mighty works and wonders are Consumed as in a moment; when no rock Remains to fall on me, no tree to hide, But I stand all creation's gazingstock, Exposed and comfortless on every side, Placed trembling in the final balances Whose poise this hour, this moment, must be tried. Ah Love of God, if greater love than this New Year coming on apace, Hath no man, that a man die for Bring you scathe or bring you grace, Beneath the intense intolerable Watch with me, blessed spirits, who rod, Grown sick of love; not what I am, but think delight All through the holy night to walk in white, Thy Life then ransomed mine, Or take your ease after the long Yea, Thou dost stop with me this Passing away, saith my God, passing vigil night; To-night of pain, to-morrow of Winter passeth after the long delay: delight: I, Love, am Thine; Thou, Lord my God, art mine. 31 December 1858. 3 Passing away, saith the World, passing away: Chances, beauty, and youth, sapped day by day: Thy life never continueth in one stay. Is the eye waxen dim, is the dark hair changing to grey That hath won neither laurel nor bay? I shall clothe myself in Spring and bud in May: Thou, root-stricken, shalt not rebuild thy decay On my bosom for aye. Passing away, saith my Soul, passing away: With its burden of fear and hope, of labour and play, Hearken what the past doth witness and say: Rust in thy gold, a moth is in thine array, A canker is in thy bud, thy leaf must decay. At midnight, at cockcrow, at morn ing, one certain day away: New grapes on the vine, new figs on the tender spray, Turtle calleth turtle in Heaven's May. Though I tarry, wait for Me, trust Me, watch and pray: Arise, come away, night is past and lo it is day, My love, My sister, My spouse, thou shalt hear Me say. Then I answered: Yea. 31 December 1860. A BETTER RESURRECTION I HAVE no wit, no words, no tears; My heart within me like a stone Is numbed too much for hopes or fears. Look right, look left, I dwell alone; I lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief No everlasting hills I see; My life is in the falling leaf: O Jesus, quicken me. My life is like a faded leaf, My harvest dwindled to a husk : Truly my life is void and brief And tedious in the barren dusk; My life is like a frozen thing, No bud nor greenness can I see ; Yet rise it shall the sap of Spring; O Jesus, rise in me. Lo the Bridegroom shall come and My life is like a broken bowl, shall not delay; Watch thou and pray. Then I answered: Yea. A broken bowl that cannot hold One drop of water for my soul Or cordial in the searching cold ; |