COMMON SENSE SHE came among the gathering crowd, They argued long, and reasoned loud, They knew the length of Plato's beard, And so she said, "Excuse me, friends, And with a lulling sound And drops like balm into the drowsy ear; Of the Sepoy's distant drum, The lizard, with his mouse-like eyes, At such strange quiet after day's harsh din; MY BIRD ERE last year's moon had left the sky, A birdling sought my Indian nest, And folded, O, so lovingly, Her tiny wings upon my breast. From morn till evening's purple tinge, In winsome helplessness she lies, Two rose-leaves, with a silken fringe, Shut softly on her starry eyes. There's not in Ind a lovelier bird; Broad earth owns not a happier nest; O God, thou hast a fountain stirred, Whose waters nevermore shall rest! We gazed upon the distant scene, And thought how Columb came To kindle here the Gospel's sheen, And preach the Saviour's name: Came where the rude marauding clan Came but to bless and not to ban, To make the desert smile. That bathes the world with light. But look! this isle that gems the deep- This was Columba's fold. But in their pastoral hands they bore Here elders and his deacons due 'Neath one blest roof they dwelt, And, ere the bird of dawning crew, They rose to pray, and knelt: Here, watching through the darker hours, Vigil and fast they kept, Like those, once hailed by heavenly powers, While Herod drowsed and slept. Thus gleaming like a pharos forth Iona's isle became. The isles that waited for God's Law Mid all the highlands round, That beacon as it blazed - they saw, They sought the Light and found. It shone upon those headlands hoar That crest thy coasts, Argyle; To watchers, far as Mona's shore, And southward to the Tees. Nay more! For when, that day of bliss, Came one, as from the wilderness, A bishop of Columba's kin, Knelt pilgrim-like, those walls within, Thrilled as with rapture strange and wild, I saw him worship there; And Otey, like a little child, Outpoured his soul in prayer. Great God, how marvellous the flame What here was kindled first- the same It shines to-day o'er Oregon, Columbia from Columba claims More than great Colon brought, And where the Cross is borne afar HYMN OF THE EARTH My highway is unfeatured air, My heart has pulses like their own, The forests and the mountains high, |