FREEDOM.
The prisoned bird doth oftimes sing
Behind its prison bars;
But sweeter far its song would be
If carolled to the stars.
Just ope his door, he flies aloft,
The hills with music ring.
Exultant notes of melody
The bird when free, will sing.
When once is gained his liberty,
Each day new joys to meet,
He looks not back to prison home,
His freedom is so sweet.
No morsel giv’n, no word of love
Will tempt him back to cage.
Though he may often lack for food,
He now hath freedom’s wage.
And so with soul, when once ’tis free,
It sings sweet notes of joy;
Loud hallelujahs will send forth,
In them is no alloy.
When once the soul escapes its bonds
To soar above the stars,
Has broken chains, and freedom gained,
It ne’er goes back to bars.
It soars aloft, a happy soul,
E’en to bright heaven’s dome.
Emancipated it is now
From narrow gilded home.
Then soul be free from error’s chain,
And break the bars that bind
You to your prison cell so dark;
Then freedom you will find.
No more you’ll sup on prison food,
Contented with a crumb
That falls to you from gaoler’s hand,
To truth forever dumb.
When once the soul its prison leaves,
It finds such sweet relief
In knowing that the truth it hath,
Instead of a belief.
REVERIE.
I am sitting in the gloaming,
Sipping honey from Life’s flowers;
Gathering sweetness for the future;
I will store it in Love’s bowers.
Nothing bitter will I gather
To confront me by and by.
Though dark clouds are overhanging,
Shining is the sun in sky.
All the little clouds, and shadows
I will drive from out my heart;
For I love the sunshine better,
From no sunbeam will I part.
Though the raindrops may be falling,
Though the day is dark and drear;
It will clear before Life’s evening,
And Life’s sun again appear.
A MOHAMMEDAN’S PRAYER.
Thou art Allah, God divine,
And we bow before Thy shrine.
Humbly bend to Thee in prayer.
Thou my God art everywhere.
Thou hast willed th’ stars into space,
Everywhere we see Thy face.
In sidereal spaces grand
Worlds were fashioned by Thy hand.
Thou art Maker, Ruler, King;
Of Thy praises we will sing.
Allah great, O Allah good!
By Thy side we once have stood.
We are part of Thee, O Lord,
Though we sprang from ’neath the sod.
By Thy side we still would stand,
Guided by Thy loving hand.
There couldst never heaven be
But for immortality.
Thou dost need our helping hand
Even in Thy heavenly land.
Man was fashioned from the dust,
But his soul doth in Thee trust;
And will rise to Thee at last,
Not forgetting though, its past.
Man, from ages hath come down,
And in future Thou wilt crown
Him immortal, part of Thee;
Absorbed in Love, in Deity.
NATURE’S PLAN.
I am a part of Nature’s plan,
A part of her great work;
And incomplete would be all life
Should I my duty shirk.
I am a thread in Nature’s web,
If stitch is dropped by me,
The fabric most imperfect is,
Will not accepted be.
I am a stone the builder needs,
No other stone will do;
Nor structure ever finished be
For naught will do in lieu.
For I was fitted for the place,
Was taken from the earth,
And cut to fill this vacancy,
E’en at my very birth.
There is a leaf in Nature’s book
That is reserved for me,
And I must write my name thereon,
No blank in book must be.
I am a drop in Life’s great sea.
A drop seems very small;
But drops of water, grains of sand
Are worthy of God’s call.
I am a little candle light
That throws its beams—not far,
Yet lighting up the space around
E’en as a little star.
I may be but a common weed,
But weeds, in time, are flowers,
And are a part of Nature’s plan
To beautify God’s bowers.