Which door, dear Lord? knock, speak, that I may know; Hark, heart, he answers with his hand and voice Oh, still small sign, I tremble and rejoice, Nor longer doubt which way my feet must go. Full lief and soon this door would open too, Not spreading light, but lighting to the light— II. Now he is here I seem no longer here! This place of light is not my chamber dim, It is not he with me, but I with him, And host, not guest, he breaks the bread of cheer. I was borne onward at his greeting,—he Earthward had come, but heavenward I had gone; Scarce welcoming him to hear him welcome me! I lie upon the bosom of my Lord, And feel his heart, and time my heart thereby; A little while I lie upon his heart, Feasting on love, and loving there to feast, And then, once more, the shadows are increased Around me, and I feel my Lord depart. THE ROSE. Again alone, but in a farther place I sit with darkness, waiting for a sign; Again I hear the same sweet plea divine, And suit, outside, of hospitable grace. This is his guile, he makes me act the host So, on and on, through many an opening door From brightening court to court of Christ, my King, At last I trust these changing scenes will cease; No door beyond, that further glory hides.— WILLIAM C. WILKINSON. The Rose. O, lovely Rose ! G% Tell her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be. Tell her that's young, And shuns to have her graces spied, In deserts where no men abide, Thou must have uncommended died. 429 Small is the worth Of beauty from the light retired; Suffer herself to be desired, And not blush so to be admired. Then die, that she The common fate of all things rare How small a part of Time they share EDMUND WALLER. Yet though thou fade, From thy dead leaves let fragrance rise That goodness time's rude hand defies, HENRY KIRKE WHITE. [This latter stanza was written by Kirke White on the margin of a borrowed rolume of Waller's poems.] H Under the Violets. ER hands are cold, her face is white; But not beneath a graven stone, To plead for tears with alien eyes; Shall say that here a maiden lies, UNDER THE VIOLETS. And gray old trees of hugest limb Shall wheel their circling shadows round, That drinks the greenness from the ground, When o'er their boughs the squirrels run, The acorns and the chestnuts fall, For her the morning choir shall sing When, turning round their dial track, The crickets, sliding through the grass, At last the rootlets of the trees Shall find the prison where she lies, If any, born of kindlier blood, Should ask: What maiden sleeps below? Say only this: A tender bud, That tried to blossom in the snow, Lies withered where the violets blow. OLIVER W. HOLMES. 431 Desiderium. IN MEMORIAM W. W. A. HE shattered water plashes down the ledge; ΤΗ The long ledge slants and bends between its walls, And shoots the current over many an edge Of shelvy rock, in thin and foamy falls,— With the same streaming light and numerous sound, Up by this path along the streamlet's brink, When love, and hope, and youth before us boundless lay. He was a kind of genius of the glen, The soul of sunshine in its heart of gloom; Nature's great mansion, wide to other men, Here for the gentlest guest reserved a room, Where she, in secret from the general throng, Welcomed him fleeing oft, and cheered him lingering long. But hospitable Nature seeks him now, Through her wide halls or cloistered cells in vain; The wistful face, the early-wrinkled brow, The peace that touched and purified the pain, The slender form, dilate with noble thought, The woman's welcoming smile for all fair things he brought; The light, quick step, elastic but not strong, Alert with springing spirit and tempered nerve Type of the heart direct that sped along Swiftly where duty led, and did not swerve For count of odds, or dread of earthly loss, Buoyed with the costliest strength to bear the heaviest cross; |