264 THE PRAYER. Fetch me a drop from yon translucent lake, Or, farther up, from yon pure mountain well, These lips to cool, this feverish thirst to slake, This weary frame to freshen, these fierce fires to quell. O thou my God, my being's health and source, Thee. Return to me, my oft-forgotten God, My spirit's true though long-forsaken rest; Undo these bars, re-enter thine abode, In Thee and in Thy love alone would I be blest. Re-mould this inner man in every part, Re-knit these broken ties, resume thy sway; Take, as Thy throne and altar, this poor heart; Oh teach me how to love, oh help me to obey! THE CITY. THOU art no child of the city; Hadst thou known it as I have done, Thou wouldst not have smiled with pity, As if joy were with thee alone. With thee the unfettered ranger The smoke, the din, and the bustle Of the leaves in your breezy dell. Day's hurry, and evening's riot, I know, too, the loving quiet Of your glen at the day's sweet fall. I know too each grim old alley, With the blanched ray flickering through; I know each sweep of your valley, Where the rosy light lies in dew. I know too the stifling sadness Of the summer-noon's sultry street; Where the streams and the breezes meet. I know the dun haunts of fever, Where the blossoms of youth decay; I know where your free broad river Yet despite your earnest pity, And despite its own smoke and din, Though I shrink from its woe and sin. For I know its boundless measure, All the wealth of soul that is there. THE CITY. You may smile, or sneer, or pity, You may fancy it weak and strange ; My eye to yon smoky city, Still returns from its widest range. My heart in its inmost beatings To the gleam of its spires and domes. You call it life's weary common, The market of man and woman,— The wonders of life and gladness, In your lone lake's still face yonder, 267 There seems, in yon city's motion, O'er the fields of earth lie scattered, And the garner of hearts is there. You may prize the lonely lustre Of your pearl or emerald green; On the brow of the crowned Queen? And the home to which I'm hasting, Is a city of living men. The crowds are there; but the sadness Nought is heard but the song of gladness,- |