SYMBOLS.

I

WATCHED a rosebud very long

Brought on by dew and sun and shower, Waiting to see the perfect flower:

Then, when I thought it should be strong,
It opened at the matin hour

And fell at even-song.

I watched a nest from day to day,
A green nest full of pleasant shade,
Wherein three speckled eggs were laid:
But when they should have hatched in May,
The two old birds had grown afraid
Or tired, and flew away.

Then in my wrath I broke the bough
That I had tended so with care,

Hoping its scent should fill the air;
I crushed the eggs, not heeding how
Their ancient promise had been fair:
I would have vengeance now.

But the dead branch spoke from the sod,
And the eggs answered me again :
Because we failed dost thou complain?
Is thy wrath just? And what if God,
Who waiteth for thy fruits in vain,
Should also take the rod ?

CONSIDER The lilies OF THE FIELD. 95

"CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD.”

F

LOWERS preach to us if we will hear :

The rose saith in the dewy morn,

I am most fair;

Yet all my loveliness is born
Upon a thorn.

The poppy saith amid the corn:
Let but my scarlet head appear
And I am held in scorn;
Yet juice of subtle virtue lies
Within my cup of curious dyes.
The lilies say: Behold how we
Preach without words of purity.
The violets whisper from the shade
Which their own leaves have made :
Men scent our fragrance on the air,
Yet take no heed

Of humble lessons we would read.

But not alone the fairest flowers:
The merest grass

Along the roadside where we pass,
Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,
Tell of His love who sends the dew,
The rain and sunshine too,

To nourish one small seed.

:

THE WORLD.

SONNET.

BY

day she

wooes me, soft, exceeding fair :

But all night as the moon so changeth she; Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy,

And subtle serpents gliding in her hair.

By day she wooes me to the outer air,

Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety:

But through the night, a beast she grins at me,

A very monster void of love and prayer.

By day she stands a lie: by night she stands,
In all the naked horror of the truth,

With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands.
Is this a friend indeed; that I should sell

My soul to her, give her my life and youth, Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?

I

A TESTIMONY.

SAID of laughter, it is vain.

Of mirth I said, what profits it?
Therefore I found a book, and writ
Therein how ease and also pain,
How health and sickness, every one
Is vanity beneath the sun.

Man walks in a vain shadow; he
Disquieteth himself in vain.

The things that were shall be again.
The rivers do not fill the sea,
But turn back to their secret source;
The winds too turn upon their course.

Our treasures moth and rust corrupt,

Or thieves break through and steal, or they Make themselves wings and fly away.

One man made merry as he supped,

Nor guessed how when that night grew dim His soul would be required of him.

We build our houses on the sand,
Comely withoutside and within;
But when the winds and rains begin
To beat on them, they cannot stand ;
They perish, quickly overthrown,
Loose from the very basement stone.

All things are vanity, I said, -
Yea, vanity of vanities.

The rich man dies; and the poor dies; The worm feeds sweetly on the dead. Whate'er thou lackest, keep this trust : All in the end shall have but dust:

The one inheritance, which best

And worst alike shall find and share :
The wicked cease from troubling there,

And there the weary be at rest;
There all the wisdom of the wise
Is vanity of vanities.

Man flourishes as a green leaf,

And as a leaf doth pass away;

Or, as a shade that cannot stay

And leaves no track, his course is brief: Yet man doth hope and fear and plan Till he is dead: O foolish man!

--

Our eyes cannot be satisfied

With seeing, nor our ears be filled With hearing yet we plant and build And buy and make our borders wide; We gather wealth, we gather care, But know not who shall be our heir.

Why should we hasten to arise

So early, and so late take rest? Our labor is not good; our best Hopes fade; our heart is stayed on lies: