Out from the shelter of loving arms,
Out from the warmth of a mother’s breast,
Heedless of darkness and night’s alarms,
On to the silent city she pressed
To take her place ’mong the mighty throng
That people its myriad streets. Ah, me!
I felt my God had done me a wrong,
When He loosened love’s cords and set her free!
And my passionate moan that broke in tears,
Like a burdened wave on a desert shore,
Seemed all too feeble to reach His ears
And the pain grew old that my bosom bore;
But the faith that I once had thought mine own
Rose up to mock where it could not save,
And my heart grew hard as the carven stone
That was crushing my darling in her grave.
Whenever a child’s sweet flower-like face
Met mine, a sickness would o’er me creep,
And I’d turn wild eyes to the lonely place
Where she was lying alone—asleep.
At strife was I with the world, and God
Had drawn around Him an angry cloud;
Earth held no green but the churchyard sod,
And the daisies wore the gleam of a shroud.
But a time there came when about my breast
With a wand’ring touch small fingers stole,
And feeble lips to its fountains pressed,
And stirred with a vague sweet joy my soul;
And the floodgates opened, and blessèd tears
Of repentance fell from my eyes like rain,
And after the barren and prayerless years
I knelt to the Giver of All again!
A SUMMER MEMORY
I remember an evening,
An evening in one far June,
The sun seemed loth to leave the sky
To a young impatient moon.
The yellow sands lay waiting
For the sea’s long cool embrace;
We watched the ripples breaking,
Like smiles upon its face.
The green trees nestled closer
To the broad breast of the hill;
The twilight’s glamour gathered,
And the day was with us still.
And a sadness born of beauty,
And a joy to pain akin,
Touched all that lay without us,
And hushed my soul within.
A silence stepped between us,
We seemed to stand apart;
Yet I thought your eyes grew tender,
And I know what filled my heart.