TO MY DEAR SON ON HIS TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY.
[With a Silver Lamp.—“Fiat Lux.”]
How shall I bless thee? Human Love
Is all too poor in passionate words!
The heart aches with a sense above
All language that the lip affords!
Therefore, a symbol shall express
My love;—a thing nor rare nor strange,
But yet—eternal—measureless—
Knowing no shadow and no change!
Light! which of all the lovely shows
To our poor world of shadows given,
The fervent Prophet-voices chose
Alone—as attribute of Heaven!
At a most solemn pause we stand!
From this day forth, for evermore,
The weak, but loving, human hand
Must cease to guide thee as of yore!
Then as through life thy footsteps stray
And earthly beacons dimly shine,
“Let there be Light” upon thy way,
And holier guidance far than mine.
“Let there be Light” in thy clear soul,
When Passion tempts, or Doubts assail,
When Grief’s dark tempests o’er thee roll
“Let there be Light” that shall not fail!
So—angel guarded—may’st thou tread
The narrow path, which few may find;
And at the end look back, nor dread
To count the vanished years behind!
And pray, that she whose hand doth trace
This heart-warm prayer, when life is past,
May see and know thy blessed face
In God’s own glorious Light at last!—Good Words.
Mr. Robert Browning has also written lines upon this “Tower,” and has consented to their publication in a late issue of the Pall Mall Gazette. In an introduction to the poem, the Gazette remarks: “The difference in treatment of the same subject by the two poets will, we are sure, interest our readers. Mr. Browning’s tribute to the love-inducing qualities of the late Lady Gifford was no mere compliment, as all who knew her will bear witness.”