As each small ripple of the mighty sea
Reflects a tiny image of the sun
Until in radiance joining one by one,
They do present a path of brilliancy;
In this broad stripe of gold that comes to me
From the horizon, as though God had spun
A thread of golden thought for me alone,
Out of His universal mystery—
So from the mirror of each human soul
Shall flash the radiance of God’s great love
Which ever shineth on us from above
Until Love’s splendour lighteth up life’s whole,
And man shall look on man, and soul through soul behold
One flaming line of Truth, God’s pure and shining gold.
SWEET OF MY LIFE.
Love is to life as perfume to the rose,
A sweet unseen enjoyment that doth lend
Rapture to beauty—so doth Nature send
The harmony of happiness that flows
Half-way between hot Passion’s leaps and throes
And Apathy, where worn-out feelings end,
Throughout the universe, there doth attend
Upon all active ordering, repose.
O Thou! the fair embodiment of good,
Who first within me struck the chord of Love,
Necessity of Life! in thee doth move
The pure quintessence of pure womanhood,
Without thy love my life would be as bare
As fairest rose without its perfume rare.
HASTINGS.
The Saxons fought hard in the fatal fray,
O! sing of the battle on Hasting’s shore,
When the arrows of Normandy won the day.
Flushed by debauch at the break of day,
Their keen-edged axes athirst for gore,
The Saxons fought hard in the fatal fray.
Proud soldiers fell down on their knees to pray,
Lord! yield us the victory, we implore;
When the arrows of Normandy won the day.
King Harold, whose heart never felt dismay,
Spake loud of the deeds they had done before;
The Saxons fought hard in the fatal fray.