The sun is sinking on the sacred lands
Wherein the grain ungarnered beckoning stands.
Who loses never finds, nor can, nor may,
The common, human glory of the day.
Close, let us enter, tear-blind as we must;
Reapers, not gleaners of a solemn trust.
A true knight! Knowing neither worldly fear,
Nor yet reproach of her unworldly faith;
Fine eyes shall see, yet see not, on this page,
A man, who from a woman's heart of hearts
Could earn, and keep, the sacred name of Friend.
Tired with the little follies of the day,
A child crept, sobbing, to your arms to say
Her evening prayer; and if by God or you
Forgiven and loved, she never asked or knew.
With life's mistake and care too early old,
And spent with sorrow upon sorrow told,
She finds the father's heart the surest rest;
The earliest love shall be the last and best.
Pearl-white, opaque and fixed fast,
Flashing between the hands unclasped,
Blinding between despairing eyes,
The awful Gates shut to, at last,
On comfort snatched, and anguish done,
On every moan beneath the sun,
Till we and ours, and joy are one.
This is your hour, Gates of God,
Your solemn hour, bars of gold,
But there shall come another yet.
Like silken sails you shall be furled,
Like melting mist you shall be set.
Oh, ye the dearest! vanished from
Love's little inner, sheltered spot.
To ye I whisper; not forgot,
But loved the dearer, namèd not.
Across the barrier old as life,
Lean to us from the Silent World.
Great God!
Behold, I lie
Beneath Thine awful eye,
As the sea beneath the sky.
My God,
What hope abides?
Thine unknown purpose rides
The torrent of my tides.
Dear God,
I am not a shore, or hill,
An ocean must take still
The colors of the heavens' will.
Choose, God.
Though days be blue, or gold,
Though sorrows new, or cold,
Though purple joy be there,
Or gray of old despair,
Give but Thyself to me,
And let me be Thy sea.
Thy storms have had their way.
I pray now not to pray.
THE GATES AJAR. 16mo, $1.50.
BEYOND THE GATES. Twentieth Thousand. 16mo, $1.25.
MEN, WOMEN, AND GHOSTS. Short Stories. 16mo, $1.50.
HEDGED IN. 16mo, $1.50.
THE SILENT PARTNER. 16mo, $1.50.
THE STORY OF AVIS. 16mo, $1.50.
SEALED ORDERS, AND OTHER STORIES. 16mo, $1.50.
FRIENDS: A DUET. 16mo, $1.25.
DOCTOR ZAY. 16mo, $1.25.
The above nine volumes, uniform, $12.50.
THE TROTTY BOOK. For Young Folks. Illustrated. Small 4to, $1.25.
TROTTY'S WEDDING TOUR AND STORY BOOK. Illustrated. Small 4to, $1.25.
WHAT TO WEAR. 16mo, $1.00.
POETIC STUDIES. Square 16mo, $1.50.
SONGS OF THE SILENT WORLD. Poems. With Portrait. 16mo, $1.25.
*** For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of
price by the Publishers,