Come to me, peace on earth!
From out life"s billowy sea,-- A wave of welcome birth,-- The Life that lives in Thee!
O Love divine, This heart of Thine Is all I need to comfort mine.
Come when the shadows fall, And night grows deeply dark; The barren brood, O call With song of morning lark; And from above, Dear heart of Love, Send us thy white-winged dove.
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 1899.
_FLOWERS_
Mirrors of morn Whence the dewdrop is born, Soft tints of the rainbow and skies-- Sisters of song, What a shadowy throng Around you in memory rise!
Far do ye flee, From your green bowers free, Fair floral apostles of love, Sweetly to shed Fragrance fresh round the dead, And breath of the living above.
Flowers for the brave-- Be he monarch or slave, Whose heart bore its grief and is still!
Flowers for the kind-- Aye, the Christians who wind Wreaths for the triumphs o"er ill!
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., _May 21, 1904_.
_TO THE OLD YEAR--1865_
Pa.s.s on, returnless year!
The track behind thee is with glory crowned; The turf where thou hast trod is holy ground.
Pa.s.s proudly to thy bier!
Chill was thy midnight day, While Justice grasped the sword to hold her throne, And on her altar our loved Lincoln"s own Great willing heart did lay.
Thy purpose hath been won!
Thou point"st thy phantom finger, grim and cold, To the dark record of our guilt unrolled, And smiling, say"st, ""Tis done!
"This record I will bear To the dim chambers of eternity-- The chain and charter I have lived to see Purged by the cannon"s prayer;
"Convulsion, carnage, war; The pomp and tinsel of unrighteous power; Bloated oppression in its awful hour,-- I, dying, dare abhor!"
One word, receding year, Ere thou grow tremulous with shadowy night!
Say, will the young year dawn with wisdom"s light To brighten o"er thy bier?
Or we the past forget, And heal her wounds too tenderly to last?
Or let today grow difficult and vast With traitors unvoiced yet?
Though thou must leave the tear,-- Hearts bleeding ere they break in silence yet, Wrong jubilant and right with bright eye wet,-- Thou fast expiring year,
Thy work is done, and well: Thou hast borne burdens, and may take thy rest, Pillow thy head on time"s untired breast.
Ill.u.s.trious year, farewell!
Lynn, Ma.s.s., _January 1, 1866_.
_INVOCATION FOR 1868_
Father of every age, Of every rolling sphere, Help us to write a deathless page Of truth, this dawning year!
Help us to humbly bow To Thy all-wise behest-- Whate"er the gift of joy or woe, Knowing Thou knowest best.
Aid our poor soul to sing Above the tempest"s glee; Give us the eagle"s fearless wing, The dove"s to soar to Thee!
All-merciful and good, Hover the homeless heart!
Give us this day our daily food In knowing what Thou art!
Swampscott, Ma.s.s., _January 1, 1868_.
_CHRISTMAS MORN_
Blest Christmas morn, though murky clouds Pursue thy way, Thy light was born where storm enshrouds Nor dawn nor day!
Dear Christ, forever here and near, No cradle song, No natal hour and mother"s tear, To thee belong.
Thou G.o.d-idea, Life-encrowned, The Bethlehem babe-- Beloved, replete, by flesh embound-- Was but thy shade!
Thou gentle beam of living Love, And deathless Life!
Truth infinite,--so far above All mortal strife,
Or cruel creed, or earth-born taint: Fill us today With all thou art--be thou our saint, Our stay, alway.
_December, 1898._
_EASTER MORN_
Gently thou beckonest from the giant hills The new-born beauty in the emerald sky, And wakening murmurs from the drowsy rills-- O gladsome dayspring! "reft of mortal sigh To glorify all time--eternity-- With thy still fathomless Christ-majesty.