.t *->L.a » M.. 71; LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE •<-•v^,^;f^'■ :;:f • i/;. .'ji^---«- EASTER LILIES for NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIFTEEN • by E. W. BOURDILLON- riAWLiiA . ."TCI- EASTER LILIES EASTER LILIES for NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN • by F^' W. BOURDILLON LONDON ARTHUR L. HUMPHREYS 187 Piccadilly, VV. 1 ^\ \ fsu i CONTENTS PAGE Easter Lilies 1 The Golden Recoru 2 Under THE Staklight 3 Nunc est Vivendum 4 ' Hold on ! ' 5 Freedom Calls 7 Russia 9 To Belgium 10 Under which King? 11 Christmas Morning, 1914 13 A Dark Night 15 In Winter 16 Doubt 17 In Early Sprinc 19 The Seed 21 Two Sonnets : 'Art thou insatiahle' 23 'Break? Nay, is there nought mightier' . . 24 A Prayer 25 'Christmas Morning. 1914,' appeared in the Journal of Education, January, 1915. Permission to reprint it is acknow- ledged with gratitude. Easter Lilies. THE Lilies of Earth's Easter-tide Come year by year to say : Fair Life for ever shall abide, Though fair lives pass away. EASTER LILIES. The Golden Record. 'T^HE Angel of the Record writes -*- In blood and tears their roll Who leave sweet life and its delights To save their nation's soul. In blood and tears the roll is writ, Much blotted. But, behold, God's finger lightly touches it, And turns each name to «:old. EASTER LILIES. Under the Starlight. ON glorious stars, that night by night go down From the dark world come night by night again. Not so, alas ! the spirits of renown Who vanish in Death's all-engulfing main. On what dim seas do they arise and shine? In what far countries soothe the eyes of sleep? In what vast orbit round the Light Divine Do souls, here setting, luminously sweep? B EASTER LILIES. Nunc est Vivendum. /^H, not to-day shall the end be ^^ Of tears, nor yet to-morrow ! Life's to live, tho' each day we spend be A day of sorrow ! Dear dead, beloved and sighed for, In many a green mound lying ! How shall we make the lives ye died for Worthy your dying? EASTER LILIES. Hold on OTOUT be your hearts, and fail not *^ As the fitful battle sways! Strong be your souls, and quail not Though victory long delays I Hold on, my brother. This day and another ! These be thy Judgment Days ! Weary and heavy-hearted. With the joy of battle spent, And the light of the eyes departed As friend or comrade went ; Hold on, my brother, This day and another ! This is God's Tournament. 5 EASTER LILIES. Ye too, with eyes drained tearless, Who watch across the seas, And toil through long days cheerless, Or pray on weary knees ! Hold on, my brother, This day and another ! Thy proof-days too are these! 6 EASTER LILIES. Freedom Calls. T TARK ! who calls ? What voices waken -■■ ■*■ England from her long repose, Range her thus — old feuds forsaken — Side by side with ancient foes? Hark ! who calls ? What dreams rekindle Ancient chivalries of France, Bid the fires that seemed to dwindle In her eyes again to dance? Hark ! who calls ? What spirit quickens Russia through her mighty frame, Gathering, as the storm-cloud thickens Till the lightning leap in flame? EASTER LILIES. Freedom calls ! Arise ! Confess you Champions all, ye glorious three ! Strive, till Europe rise and bless you. Triple-fenced with Liberty ! 8 EASTER LILIES. Russia. ONE voice, but million-throated ! One heart, with myriad hands 1 One single soul, devoted ! One pulse, that shakes the lands ! Has Earth in all her story A greater thing to tell? Valour, that seeks no glory, Matched soul to soul with Hell ! 9 EASTER LILIES. To Belgium. T IFT thy heart to the Lord, O People, -*— ' Though thy head in the dvist be laid ! No more are glorious fane and steeple, No more religion in pride arrayed. Broken images — I'uined altars — Hardly a roof for the thorn-crowned head ; Slain the singers and burnt the psalters — How shall the ordered rite be said? Lift thy heart to the Lord, O Nation ! More than these is that faith of thine ! Tho' the house of God be a desolation, The heart of Man is His dearer shrine. 10 EASTER LILIES. Under which King ? X^T'HO is the King ye are dying for, ^^ Brothers and men of Germany? Kaiser — Emperor — Lord of War? Pluck the mask from the face, and see I Bid for an hour to stand aside Yon sceptred actor who holds the stage I What is the Shadow that, stride for stride, Prompts his motion and pricks his rage? Who is the Lord ye are toiling for, Brothers and men of Germany? Kaiser — Emperor — Lord of War? Look to the work of your hands, and see ! 11 c EASTER LILIES. Art and laboui' and busy brain, Aching limbs of the pit and forge, Breathless deeds in the sky or main — Nouglit to profit Man, all to scourge ! Say for whom the Zeppelin flies. And living- men to the deep go down, And Music, your own sweet daughter, dies, Wed to a Lord she Avill not own? Kaiser — Emperor — Lord of War ! Only a puppet King is he ! Death is the Lord ye are dying for, Brothers and men of Germany ! 12 EASTER LILIES. Christmas Morning, 19 14. T SLUMBERED in a dream of dread, -*■ Thunder of cannon in my ears ; Before my eyes were thousands dead, And in my heart a thousand fears. Is thence in Heaven a Love Divine, Stronger than icickedness and ivoe ? Or do the Poicers of Hell combine The King of Love to overthroiv ?- I wakened in a crystal world ; A silver-point was every tree ; The spider's network, frost-empearled, Was daintier than filigree. 13 EASTER LILIES. Around my spirit's nakedness A garment of warm thought was wove, As Nature whispered, Loveliness Is visibility of Love ! 14 EASTER LILIES. A Dark NIglit. "1X7 HAT, are the stars yet there, ' ' Sirius, Orion, shinin<^ ? Arcturus and the Bear, Arising and declining? Yes ; from these darkened skies, Battle and death and sadness, The eternal lamps shall rise — Faith, Hope, Love : even Gladness. 15 EASTER LILIES. In Winter. ' I ''HE woods, that undergo -*■ The fierceness of the wind And cruelty of the snow, Change not their mind. But in their day and hour Put forth sweet leaf and flower. Heart, be it with thee so ! Though the full rage of Death Fall on thee blow on blow. Draw deei) thy breath To endure, and after pain Put on sweet joy again ! 16 EASTEK LILIES. Doubt. QEARCH now and see ^ Where Wisdom hides, If Love there be, Or Truth abides ! The snow lies deep On mount and moor, Our bravest sleep, And Love is o'er. Lord of the Spring, The doubt forgive ! Thy birds yet sing, Thy flowers live. 17 EASTER LILIES. With hills and groves O heart awake ! And from dead leaves Bid green hopes break ! 18 EASTER LILIES. In Early Spring. QTILL the music of the thrush ^ Wakes the morning ; Though our hearts would bid her hush Her blithe warning, Hearing thi'ough her joyous throat Echoes of another note. Still the flowers in woodland ways Stand entreating, Though our eyes' averted gaze Give no greeting. Fearing 'neath that tender blue Memories of another hue. 19 D EASTER LILIES. »K But the Giver of the Sprin* Never stayeth For our sullen looks one thing, Nor delayeth, Lest Despair take Sorrow's place, Saying, God too hides His face ! 20 EASTEK LILIES. The Seed. IN a wild, wild night of tempest, From its nursing-husk new-freed. There whirled afar on the storm-wind A winged seed. In a wild, wild day of battle, When struggling nations fought, There sprang from the soul of a people A winged thought. Forests fell in the tempest, And waste were lawn and lea; But the seed in the torn earth nestled, And grew a tree. 21 EASTER LILIES. Nations sank in the battle, Cities in wreck were hurled; But the thought in silence quickened. And saved the world. EASTER LILIES. Two Sonnets. I. A RT thovi insatiable, O soul-less Death? -^ ^ Is thy dread hunger infinite, O Grave? Enough, enough ! For now from hurst and heath Spring calls, and how shall our dead hearts behave ? Too cruel is the laughter of the wave ; The fluttering Zephyr seems a dying breath; In this blue Speedwell, Love remembereth Eyes neer again to open clear and brave. And when, on April evenings, the first star Brightens before it follow Day to rest. And in the darkening wood the last-awake Love-minstrel, from some Heav'n-gate left ajar, Bid Earth prepare a room for Joy her guest. Must not the heart — till then enduring — break ? EASTER LILIES. II. BREAK ? Nay I Is there nought mightier in thee, O Man, than force which force can overthrow? Art thou but as the tempest-battling tree, That yet is broken by soft-falling snow? Shall Love be tested by the weight of woe Boi'ne till the burden pass some scaled degree? Shall Hell but marshal hosts sufficiently. And man fall unresisting 'neath the blow? A seed of fire is in the human soul That tears can quench not. Not our peaceful hours And prosperous years have made us what we are; But griefs and labours, and the will-control Won by resistance to the o'erwhelming Powers — Hate, Fate, Ill-fortune, and our Evil Star. 24 EASTER LILIES. A Prayer. Tf TERNAL ! to the tribes of Man -*-' Revealed as iiiercifiil and just, Since of Thy purpose he began The part to know, the whole to trust I We pray Thee in this hour of woe Thy mercy and Thy justice show I The wrath of Man shall praise Thee, Lord, If Thou the lingering feud restrain ! In furrows cloven by the sword Thy hand can sow a lighteous grain. From graves of rancour bid increase The vine Goodwill — the olive Peace ! 25 DATE DUE UCR APR 14 bai • GA YLORD PRINTED IN U.S. A . ii',F.,^omfR H\. W.IV¥