TO HELEN KELLER.
BY JAMES TAYLOR.
Forever veiled thy piteous eyes,
Forever sealed thine ear;
How dark and still creation lies,
How distant, yet how near!
Thy sightless orbs to heaven upturn
To crave the blessed light;
Nor sun, nor stars, above thee burn—
Alas, what hopeless night.
The jeweled arch that bends above,
The earth, the air, the sea,
O’erspanned by wings of Boundless Love,
How vainly smile for thee!
The blush of morn, the sunset glow,
The dew-gemmed paradise
Where Summer’s roses blow,
Are not for thy dim eyes.
Hushed is the sound of Music’s voice,
Hushed is the murmuring sea;
No trembling harp bids thee rejoice,—
’Tis silence all to thee.
On Beauty’s loom which Nature wields
With deft, mysterious skill,
To deck with tapestries her fields,
Her every vale and hill,
She weaves with gorgeous threads of light
In mist, and cloud and rain,
Her irised gossamers so bright—
But weaves for thee in vain.
But God will make thee doubly whole,
And give thy spirit sight,—
His glory shall illume thy soul,
For God is love and light!
