God knew no wings were mine; I could not soar
Into the unplumb'd heavens' ethereal vault.
E'en could I climb the hills, the infinite more
Of space above had left me still at fault.
Yet hath He will'd that I should reach the light,
Accepting steps let downward to my feet,
That I should find His ladder in the night
From shop and office, factory and street.
Yea, when the heavy-headed toilers sleep—
Life from day's fret and fume awhile immune,—
When darkling shrouds of night their sentry keep,
The heavens with the house-tops hold commune.
Then am I one with all the quests of old,
With all the wise ones whom the stars of night,
No wandering waifs of space, their message told
And crowned their heads with aureole of light.
These loved not earth the less that she provides
Foothold for souls whose gaze may pierce the skies;
Time's many travailings and changing tides
Made past and future equal in their eyes.
And this the song that, soundless, thrills the air—
One with the voice of human hearts that beat
Their living diapason to the prayer,
One with snow peaks that soar, still waters at our feet:
(1)
Up to the house-tops of Faith, ye sons and daughters of Doubt,
Up from the dungeons of Time, where sick and imprisoned ye lie!
Out from your wilderment waken,
Deem not the world God-forsaken!
Come ye, for, piercing the night, see the star in the sky
shining out,
Splendid o'er mountain and moonlight, Faith's witness which
none may deny.
See, we are here, for your helping, your bodiless pilots of old,
We whose example and aid all the world's patient pilgrims made bold.
Slow Science has humbled her pride;
She takes us and trusts as her guide;
For we are the prophets and seers
Who lead on the hesitant years;
We follow the spirit's surmise,
We hear the voices of night;
Already there dawns on our prescient eyes
The Sun of Eternity's morn, the kingdom of limitless light!
(2)
Up to the house-tops of Hope, ye downcast sons of Despair,
Ye whom experience has cheated and left defeated and bare!
Back to your childhood's fond dreaming—
Truer was this than your deeming!
Up from the purlieus of earth where men stifle and struggle
for air;
Catch from the roof-tops the joy of the vision outshining
our prayer!
Lo, where we stand, we are yours, whom the world hath not
shaken nor shocked,
We who still hoped and went on, though the multitudes melted
and mocked.
Yet fainting hearts watched from afar
And followed our beckoning star,
For God made us Hope's pioneers,
To hearten men out of their fears!
While the myriads wander and stray
In the mists of a starless night,
We are steadfast and march on our forward way,
On to Eternity's morn, to the kingdom of limitless light!
(3)
Up to the house-tops of Love, ye generations of Hate,
Up from the man-made hells where ye struggle and slander and slay!
Up from your loveless stagnation,
Up from your hearts' slow starvation!
Come, for humanity calls to the heights where all benisons wait,
Speaking through stars of the night of the luminous earnest of day!
See we are round you, your brothers, the soldiers and martyrs
of Love,
Who poured forth our souls like a river, and labored and suffered
and strove!
From the flame and the gallows-tree,
From the life-long, slow agony,
Oh, we climbed up our Calvary,
So winning Love's victory.
We followed the Lord of the Star,
Who died to discover Love's might!
God grant we may herald to men near and far
The dawn of the kingdom of Love, the kingdom of limitless light!
VIII.
Shepherds of Men
The picture for which this was written shows the shepherds standing over their slumbering flock under the shelter of a great rock. To them appears an angel, his feet almost touching the ground, bearing in one hand a star and raising the other hand to call attention to his message.