Once was her dear name Sappho,
Singing the song of the cave—
Of him who hurled with the stone,
The hunter home from the hunting!
Where the Nile is an amber bow
She dreamed and waited for me
Coming down in my trireme of war,
Enslaved at her smile!
So through the ages we met,
So through the ages we parted:
Each time that we met
After the silence that sundered,
Fairer and fairer was she;
And I grew more like a god,
Cleansed and made strong by the tears
Shed for the sorrow we suffered;
Till one day we stood in a garden—
A little green garden of lilies
Hard by a Tomb that was open
Wide to the joy of the morning;
There in the hush of the dayspring
Breathing of dew-sprinkled lilies
White as the snow upon Hermon,
We knew that our Love was immortal!
Out of the wildness
We had grown us a rose—
Out of its thorns
We had fashioned a crown!
TE DEUM
Praise God for all things:
Praise Him for birth,
Praise Him for death,
Praise Him for health,
Praise Him for sickness;
For sorrow and sin,
For gladness and gain,
For failure and loss,
For friend and for foe—
Praise God for all things!