24

NO MORE SEA.

Line ne' er fathomed, eye ne 'er scanned,
Only that shall shrink and vanish,
Yielding back the imprisoned land.
Yielding back earth's fertile hollows,
Long submerged and hidden plains;
Giving up a thousand valleys,

Of the ancient world's domains.

Leaving still bright azure ranges,
Winding round this rocky tower;
Leaving still yon gem-bright island,
Sparkling like an ocean-flower.
Leaving still some placid stretches,

Where the sunbeams bathe at noon,

Leaving still some lake-like reaches,

Mirrors for the silver moon.

Only all of gloom and horror,

Idle wastes of endless brine,
Haunts of darkness, storm, and danger,
These shall be no longer thine.
Backward ebbing, wave and ripple,
Wondrous scenes shall then disclose;
And, like earth's, the wastes of ocean

Then shall blossom as the rose.

THE CHANGE.

I LOVE yon pale blue sky; it is the floor
Of that glad home where I shall shortly be;
A home from which I shall go out no more;
From toil and grief and vanity set free.

I gaze upon yon everlasting arch,

Up which the bright stars wander, as they shine; And as I mark them in their nightly march,

I think how soon that journey shall be mine!

Yon silver drift of silent cloud, far up

In the still heaven-through you my pathway lies; Yon rugged mountain-peak-how soon your top Shall I behold beneath me, as I rise!

Not many more of life's slow-pacing hours,
Shaded with sorrow's melancholy hue;—
Oh, what a glad ascending shall be ours,
Oh, what a pathway up yon starry blue !

26

THE CLOUDLESS.

A journey like Elijah's, swift and bright,

Caught gently upward to an early crown, In heaven's own chariot of unblazing light,* With death untasted and the grave unknown.

THE CLOUDLESS.

No shadows yonder!

All light and song;

Each day I wonder,

And say, How long

Shall time me sunder

From that dear throng?

No weeping yonder!

All fled away;

While here I wander

Each weary day,

And sigh as I ponder

My long, long stay.

* Θείῳ πυρὶ παμφαής.—Soph. Philoct.

THE CLOUDLESS.

No partings yonder!

Time and space never
Again shall sunder;

Hearts cannot sever;

Dearer and fonder

Hands clasp for ever.*

None wanting yonder,
Bought by the Lamb!

All gathered under

The evergreen palm ;
Loud as night's thunder

Ascends the glad psalm.

* Αδακρυν νεμονται ἀιῶνα.—Pindar. Olymp

27

THE HOME SICKNESS.

"O civitas sancta, civitas speciosa, de longinquo te saluto, ad te clamo, te requiro."—Augustine, De Spir. et Anim.

AND whence this weariness,

This gathering cloud of gloom?
Whence this dull weight of loneliness,

These greedy cravings for the tomb?
These greedier cravings for the hopes that lie
Beyond the tomb, beyond the things that die;
Beyond the smiles and joys that come and go,
Fevering the spirit with their fitful flow;
Beyond the circle where the shadows fall;
Within the region where my God is all.

It is not that I fear

To breast the storm or wrestle with the wave,

To swim the torrent or the blast to brave,

To toil or suffer in this day of strife

As He may will who gave this struggling life,But I am homesick!