For rigorous teachers seized my youth, And purged its faith and trimmed its fire, Showed me the high white star of Truth, There bade me gaze and there aspire. Quand j'ai connu la Vérité, Et pourtant elle est éternelle, The Dervish whined to Said, 'Thou didst not tarry while I prayed. Beware the fire that Eblis burned.' But Saadi coldly thus returned, 'Once with manlike love and fear I gave thee for an hour my ear, I kept the sun and stars at bay, And love, for words thy tongue could say. I cannot sell my heaven again For all that rattles in thy brain.' I Urania TOO have suffered yet I know She is not cold, though she seems so: She is not cold, she is not light; But our ignoble souls lack might. She smiles and smiles, and will not sigh, Eagerly once her gracious ken Was turned upon the sons of men. But light the serious visage grew— She looked, and smiled, and saw them through. Our petty souls, our strutting wits, Yet oh, that Fate would let her see His eyes be like the starry lights His voice like sounds of summer nights— The magic of the universe! And she to him will reach her hand, Then will she weep-with smiles, till then, Brahma MATTHEW Arnold. IF F the red slayer think he slays, Shadow and sunlight are the same; They reckon ill who leave me out; The strong gods pine for my abode, RALPH WALDO EMERSON. VERITATEM DILEXI Failure BECAUSE God put His adamantine fate Between my sullen heart and its desire, I swore that I would burst the Iron Gate, Proud up the Golden Stair I strode; and beat All the great courts were quiet in the sun, To creep within the dusty council-halls. RUPERT BROOKE. The Divinity YES, write it in the rock!' Saint Bernard said, 'Grave it on brass with adamantine pen! "Tis God himself becomes apparent, when God's wisdom and God's goodness are displayed, 'For God of these his attributes is made.'- God's wisdom and God's goodness!--Ay, but fools Mis-define these till God knows them no more. Wisdom and goodness, they are God!—what schools Have yet so much as heard this simpler lore? This no Saint preaches, and this no Church rules ; 'Tis in the desert, now and heretofore. MATTHEW ARNOLD. Sursum Corda SEEK not the spirit, if it hide Inexorable to thy zeal : Trembler, do not whine and chide : Why shouldst thou stoop to poor excuse? 'Here am I, here will I abide For ever to myself soothfast; Go thou, sweet Heaven, or at thy pleasure stay!' For only it can absolutely deal. RALPH WALDO EMERSON. The Bohemian Hymn IN many forms we try To utter God's infinity, But the Boundless hath no form, And the Universal Friend Doth as far transcend An angel as a worm. |