If thou dost seal the lips That fain would speak, Let me be still till thou The seal shalt break.
If thou dost make pale Pain Thy minister, Then let my patient heart Clasp hands with her.
Or, if thou sendest Joy To walk with me, My Father, let her lead Me nearer thee!
Teach me that Joy and Pain Alike are thine; Teach me my life to leave In hands divine!
MY WONDERLAND
They tell me you have been in Wonderland. Why, so have I! No boat’s keel touched the strand, No white sails flew, no swiftly gliding car Bore me to mystic realms, unknown and far.
And yet I, too, with these same questioning eyes, Have seen its mountains and beheld its skies; I, too, have been in Wonderland, and know How through its secret vales the weird winds blow.
One morn, in Wonderland—one chill spring morn— I saw a princess sleeping, pale and lorn, Cold as a corse; when, lo! from out the south A young knight rode, and kissed her sad, sweet mouth.
She smiled, she woke! Then rang from far and near Her minstrels’ voices, jubilant and clear; While in a trice, with eager, noiseless feet, All the young maiden grasses, fair and fleet,
Ran over hill and dale, to bring to her Green robes with wild flowers ’broidered. All astir Were the gay, courtier butterflies; the trees Flung forth their fluttering banners to the breeze;