Poems of the Heart and Home

by Mrs. J. C. Yule

"Though thy fair Earth has been
Blood-dyed for ages,
Though in her valleys green,
Carnage still rages,
Thou, o'er whose brow serene,
Calmest and Holiest!
Angel has never seen,
E'en toward Earth's lowliest,
Shadows impatient sweep
Teach me, like thee, to keep
In my soul, still and deep,
Wavering never,
Patience—a steady light,
Burning forever!"

A PARTING HYMN.

Father in Heaven, to thee,
Guardian and friend,
Lowly the suppliant knee
Here would we bend!—
Blessing thee ere we part,
Each with a grateful heart,
For all thy love doth send—
Plenteous and free!

Thanks for thy hand outspread
Ever in power
O'er each defenceless head
In danger's hour!
Thanks for the light arid love,
From thy full fount above—
A rich and constant shower,
O'er us still shed!

Go thou with us, we pray,
Whom duties call
To our high tasks away,
Each one, and all,—
Go, with thy Spirit's might,
Go, with thy Gospel's light
—Whatever may befall—
With us alway

Now let thy blessing rest
On us anew—
Brother, and friend, and guest,
Tried ones and true—
Till, all Our pirtings o'er,
Meeting, to part no more,
In Heaven we renew
Friendships so blest

THE DANCE OF THE WINDS

The Wind god, Eolus, sat one morn
In his cavern of tempests, quite forlorn,
He'd been ill of a fever a month and a day,
And the sun had been having things all his own way,
Pouring o'er earth such a torrent of heat
That the meadows were dry as the trampled street,
And people were panting, and ready to die
Of the fire that blazed from the pitiless sky

But the King felt better that hot June day,
So he said to himself "I will get up a play
Among the children by way of a change,
No doubt they are-feeling, like me, very strange
At this dreary confinement—a month and more,
And never once stirring at all out of door!
It is terribly wearisome keeping so still—
They all shall go out for a dance on the hill."

Then aloud he spake, and the dreary hall
Re-echoed hoarsely his hollow call:
"Ho! Boreas, Auster, Eurus, ho!
And you, too, dainty-winged Zephyrus, go
And have a dance on the hills to-day,
And I'll sit here and enjoy your play."