DAWN.
DAY’S sweetest moments are at dawn;
Refreshed by his long sleep, the Light
Kisses the languid lips of Night,
Ere she can rise and hasten on.
All glowing from his dreamless rest
He holds her closely to his breast,
Warm lip to lip and limb to limb,
Until she dies for love of him.
PEACE AND LOVE.
THERE are two angels, messengers of light,
Both born of God, who yet are bitterest foes.
No human breast their dual presence knows.
As violently opposed as wrong and right,
When one draws near, the other takes swift flight
And when one enters, thence the other goes.
Till mortal life in the immortal flows,
So must these two avoid each other’s sight.
Despair and hope may meet within one heart,
The vulture may be comrade to the dove!
Pleasure and Pain swear friendship leal and true:
But till the grave unites them, still apart
Must dwell these angels known as Peace and Love.
For only Death can reconcile the two.
THE INSTRUCTOR.
NOT till we meet with Love in all his beauty,
In all his solemn majesty and worth,
Can we translate the meaning of life’s duty,
Which God oft writes in cypher at our birth.
Not till Love comes in all his strength and terror,
Can we read other’s hearts; not till then know
A wide compassion for all human error,
Or sound the quivering depths of mortal woe.