NUPTL&

 
 CARMEN NUPTIALE.
 
 PKIVATKLY PRINTED BY 
 
 SI'OTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW -STREET SQUARE 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET
 
 CARMEN NUPTIALE. 
 
 DEDICA TED 
 
 TO 
 
 LADY MARIAN ALFORD 
 
 AND THE 
 
 EARL AND COUNTESS BROWNLOW 
 
 BY 
 
 GERALD MASSEY.
 
 Gentles, I do not sing to flatter you : 
 
 That needs no gilding which is Gold all through. 
 
 1057585
 
 The Story of all stories, sweet and old; 
 Sweetest to Lovers the last time 'tis told.
 
 CARMEN NUPTIALE. 
 
 WEDDED LOVE. 
 
 This little spring of life, that feeds the root 
 
 Of England's greatness, giveth, underground, 
 Bloom to the Flower, freshness to the Fruit ; 
 
 Then wells and spreads, with golden ripples round, 
 In circling glory to a sea of might, 
 
 Embracing Home and Country of our love : 
 Half-mirroring the beauty beyond sight 
 
 Taking some likeness of the abode above. 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 THE WEDDING. 
 
 All Women love a Wedding ! old 
 
 Or youthful ; Mother, Widow, or Wife 
 It lights with precious gleam of gold 
 The river of poorest life : 
 
 For one, the gold is far and dim ; 
 
 For one, a glimpse of things to be ; 
 But here it sparkles, at the brim 
 Of full felicity !
 
 THE WEDDING. 
 
 And they will cluster by the way ; 
 
 Crowd at this Eden-gate, with eyes 
 That run, and pray that this pair may 
 Keep their new Paradise. 
 
 Green is the garden, as at first ; 
 
 As smiling-blue the happy skies, 
 Where float the bubble-worlds that burst, 
 And leave us smarting eyes. 
 
 They seem to think that these must clasp 
 
 The jewel turned to dew or mist : 
 The glamour they could never grasp, 
 
 Tho' wedded lips have kissed ;
 
 12 THE WEDDING. 
 
 That this gold Apple of promise, crown'd 
 
 With redness on the sunny side, 
 Will gradually grow ripe all round ; 
 
 That this new Lover and Bride 
 
 May reach the breathing Magic Rose 
 
 Such cunning spirits hold in air, 
 On which our fingers could not close, 
 
 Even when we knew 'twas there ! 
 
 This nest of hopes shall bring forth young 
 
 Unto the brooding heart's low call 
 Not merely pretty birds'-eggs, strung 
 To hide a naked wall !
 
 THE WEDDING. 13 
 
 Ah ! many start thus, hand-in-hand 
 Few only reach the blessed goal ; 
 But these shall surely see the land 
 
 Hid somewhere in the soul. 
 
 And delicate airs creep sweetly through 
 
 Old bridal-chambers dusty and dim : 
 Down from a far heaven warm and blue, 
 The mellow splendours swim. 
 
 The Woman's eyes grow loving wet ; 
 They dazzle with the morning ray : 
 The Woman's longing will beget 
 
 Her own dear wedding-day !
 
 I 4 THE WEDDING. 
 
 In his network of wrinkles, Age 
 
 May veil their virgin beauties now ; 
 Faces be furrowed a strange page 
 Of writing on the brow : 
 
 The smiling soul cannot erase 
 
 The sad life-lines it shines above ; 
 Yet, imaged in the dear old face, 
 
 You see their own young love 
 
 The sleeping Beauty wakes anew 
 
 Beneath the touch of tender tears ; 
 The Flower unfolds, to drink the dew, 
 That seemed dead for years.
 
 THE WEDDING. 
 
 All hearts are as a grove of birds 
 
 Spring-toucht and chirruping every one ; 
 And each will set the Wedding- Words 
 To a music of her own. 
 
 Some withered remnant of old bliss 
 
 Flushing on faded cheeks they bring, 
 Telling of times when Love's young kiss 
 Was a fire-offering; 
 
 And spirits walk in white, as starts 
 This bridal-tint that blooms anew ; 
 And so, with all their Woman-hearts, 
 
 They fling Good Luck's old shoe
 
 i6 
 
 SERENADE. 
 
 Awake, sweet Love, for Heaven is awake, 
 A nd waiting to be gracious for thy sake ! 
 
 All night I saw thy fairness gleam afar 
 With fresh, pure sparkle of the Morning-Star 
 Awake my Love, and let the veil te drawn 
 From Beauty bathed at the springs of Dawn.
 
 SERENADE. 17 
 
 'Awake, sweet Love, for Heaven is aivake, 
 And waiting to be gracious for thy sake. 
 
 A touch upon some silver-sounding string, 
 As all the harps of heaven were vibrating 
 Within me, ivoke me, bade me rise and say 
 " Awake, my Love, this is our wedding-day." 
 
 'Awake, sweet Love, for Heaven is awake, 
 And waiting to be gracious for thy sake. 
 It is the tender time when turtle-doves 
 Begin to murmur of their vernal loves : 
 Spirits that all night nestled in the flowers 
 Shake perfume from their wings this hour of hours.
 
 1 8 SERENADE. 
 
 ''Awake, sweet Love, for Heaven is awake, 
 And waiting to be gracious for thy sake. 
 
 To feel thee mine my faith is large enough, 
 And yet the miracle needs continual proof ! 
 One minute satisjied, the next I pine 
 For just one more assurance thou art mine. 
 
 'Awake, sweet Love, for Heaven is awake, 
 A nd waiting to be gracious for thy sake. 
 
 Thy presence sets my cloudland round about 
 Glowing as heaven were turning inside out: 
 And all the mists that darkened me erewhile 
 Are smitten into splendours at thy smile.
 
 SERENADE. 19 
 
 'Awake, sweet Love, for Heaven is awake, 
 And waiting to be gracious for thy sake. 
 
 Our great sunrise of life begins to glow, 
 And all the buds of love are ripe to blow ; 
 And all the Birds of Bliss are gaily singing, 
 And all the bridal-Bells of Heaven are ringing.
 
 ARGUING IN A CIRCLE. 
 
 1 When first my true Love crown d me with her smile, 
 Methought all Heaven encircled me the while ! 
 When first my true Love to mine arms was given, 
 Methought that I encircled all of Heaven?
 
 LEAVE-TAKING. 
 
 When the wings are feathered, 
 
 The birds forsake their nest; 
 So the Bride will leave her Home 
 
 Leaning to her Lover's breast. 
 The tear was in her eye, 
 
 But the soul was smiling through, 
 Brimful of sunshine 
 
 As a drop of summer dew. 
 D
 
 22 
 
 AS THEY PASSED. 
 
 Within Love's chariot, side by side, 
 Sweetness and Strength did never ride 
 More perfectly personified : 
 
 One of the dearest Angels out 
 Of Heaven, the Bride was, beyond doubt ; 
 And his a Manhood fit to be 
 The mortal Mansion of some deity. 
 Glad were they in the happiness they gave, 
 And in their own proud pleasure they were grave.
 
 EVOE. 
 
 In the presence of Spring, our beautiful Spring, 
 
 Blithe bird of the Bosom ! the heart will sing. 
 
 A Spirit of Joy in the oldest breast 
 
 Is stirring, and making it young as the rest : 
 
 Wakes a new life to leap in each limb, 
 
 And laugh out of eyes that were wintry and dim ; 
 
 So the old Wine stirs in his winter gloom, 
 
 And wants to waken, and climb, and bloom, 
 
 As he used to do in the world outside, 
 
 When grapes grew big in their purple of pride. 
 
 He would laugh in the light, he would flush in the foam ; 
 
 In a care-drowning wave he would rosily roam ;
 
 24 EVOE. 
 
 For his blood is so mellow, so merry, so warm, 
 
 Into spirit of joy it would fain transform, 
 
 And in human life keep holiday 
 
 Rioting ruddily, ripple and play ; 
 
 Break on the brain in a luminous spray, 
 
 Tinting with heaven our human clay ; 
 
 In a fiery chariot mount on its way, 
 
 With spirit-company, lordly and gay, 
 
 And pass like a soul that is lost in day. 
 
 So the Spirit of Joy in the oldest breast 
 
 Is stirring, and making it young as the rest ; 
 
 Wakes a new life to leap in each limb, 
 
 And laugh out of eyes that were wintry and dim ; 
 
 Blithe bird of the bosom ! the heart will sing 
 
 In the presence of Spring, oiir beautiful Spring.
 
 A FACT THAT FLOWERS DOUBLE. 
 
 English John Talbot, Shakspeare's terribly brave 
 Great Fighter, lay in his forgotten grave. 
 It was but yesterday they found his dust, 
 The sheath of that old Sword all gone to rust 
 In English earth ; his burial-place recover 
 In lands owned by a certain Lordly Lover. 
 And, lo ! a Rose had sprung from out his tomb. 
 And climbed about this Lover's life to bloom : 
 A peerless flower of the old Hero's stock 
 The tenderest gush from that heroic rock.
 
 26 A FACT THAT FLOWERS DOUBLE. 
 
 Not oft doth Fate vouchsafe so plain a sign, 
 
 Prefiguring the lives that are to twine. 
 
 All greatness to this wedded life be given ; 
 
 Its root so deep in earth, its perfect flower in heaven.
 
 A WAYSIDE WHISPER. 
 
 Seven years I served for you, 
 
 To Love, our lord of life, 
 Ere he made me a Master 
 
 And I won you for my wife 
 So faithfully, so fondly, 
 
 Through a world of doubts and fears, 
 Seven long years, Beloved ! 
 
 Seven long years.
 
 28 A WAYSIDE WHISPER. 
 
 ' Seven years you leaconed me, 
 
 My leading, crowning star, 
 To climb the Mount of Manhood, 
 
 And you drew me from afar : 
 You made my grey hours golden, 
 
 You glittered throiigh my tears, 
 Seven long years, Beloved ! 
 
 Seven long years. 
 
 1 Sometimes you shined so near me 
 
 Far as we dwelt apart 
 I hardly sought you with my arms 
 
 You were so safe at heart ! 
 Sometimes you dwined so distant, 
 
 I bowed with solemn fears ; 
 Seven long years, Beloved ! 
 
 Seven long years.
 
 A WAYSIDE WHISPER. 29 
 
 ' / built my Arch of Triumph 
 
 For you to ride through ; 
 I kept my lamps all lighted 
 
 That the ivarring winds otit-blew : 
 I worked and I waited 
 
 And I fought down my fears, 
 Seven long years, Beloved ! 
 
 Seven long years. 
 
 ' Noiv the perils are all over, 
 
 And the pains all past, 
 My Fortunes wheel full-circle comes 
 
 In your dear eyes at last! 
 F^or such a prize the winning 
 
 Most brief and poor appears, 
 Yet, 'twas seven long years, Beloved ! 
 
 Seven long years'
 
 THE WELCOME HOME. 
 
 Warm is the Welcome ! 'tis our way to grasp 
 The hand in love or greeting till it ache; 
 But, to a tender heart our love doth take 
 
 The happy pair it doth so proudly clasp. 
 
 And very tender in its love To-day 
 
 Is every heart toucht with a thought of Him, 
 Low-lying in the Cypress-shadow dim, 
 
 From which we came to waft you on your way,
 
 THE WELCOME HOME. 31 
 
 And the still face, that looks from Ashridge towers 
 With smile more regnant in its touching ruth, 
 And sad hoar-frost upon the dews of youth, 
 
 And Widow's weeds to mix with bridal-flowers. 
 
 Through Him we lost, we have more love to give. 
 As some fond Mother yearningly hath breathed 
 Her life out in the new life she bequeathed, 
 
 Our dearest died that this great love might live. 
 
 These darling Violets, eloquently mute, 
 
 Are rich in sadder bloom and sweeter breath, 
 And that pathetic sanctity of death, 
 
 Because our buried joy was at their root.
 
 32 THE WELCOME HOME. 
 
 These Roses blush with a more vital glow 
 
 Of crimson like pale buds, whose tips are red 
 As tho' the flower's heart, in breaking, bled 
 
 Because of looks so lately wan with woe. 
 
 These are our Jewels! tears that purged our sight 
 Like Euphrasy ; they lay above the Dead 
 All drear and dim ; but the sad drops we shed 
 
 Now live with precious lustres in Your light ! 
 
 The love that darkly wept at heart hath risen 
 
 Transfigured. Lo ! its sunburst in each face ! 
 As Earth, with all her flowers, smiles embrace 
 
 To Spring, rejoicing from her wintry prison.
 
 THE WELCOME HOME. 33 
 
 These Voices, mounting merry as Larks up-spring, 
 But now were praying on the low, cold sod : 
 The night is past they soar in praise to God ; 
 
 They make the old English greeting rarely ring. 
 
 We lean and look to You, thinking of Him. 
 
 Warm welcome for the sake of One that's gone ; 
 
 Warm welcome for your own ! Pass on, pass on ; 
 We wave our hands, and shout till sight grows dim : 
 
 And, ere the shouts cease ringing in your ears, 
 
 We drink a health all standing drink to you, 
 While in our eyes the tears are standing too : 
 
 Old tears, that wanted to be wept for years : 
 
 E
 
 34 THE WELCOME HOME. 
 
 But keep a holy hush mid all the noise, 
 
 To match the silent music your hearts make : 
 Pass on into your faery heaven, and take 
 
 Our gentlest blessing on your wedded joys. 
 
 The Dawn will rise, tho' golden days be set ; 
 
 The birds sing merrily, in spite of Death ; 
 
 Young hearts will love while lasts this human breath ; 
 Rainbows bridge Earth and Heaven for eyes tear- wet. 
 
 Pass gaily on in glory through the gate 
 
 Of your new life, beneath this Bridal Dawn ; 
 And when from future days the veil is drawn, 
 
 All happy fortunes for you lie in wait !
 
 THE WELCOME HOME. 35 
 
 And, looking on your bliss, with proudest flush 
 May the dear Mother's face be glorified. 
 We, now the sound hath ceased, will stand outside 
 
 Your Portals all hearts praying mid the hush.
 
 THE BONNY BRIDELAND FLOWER. 
 
 In the Brideland sleeping, 
 
 Nestled Beauty's Flower ; 
 Came the Lover peeping 
 
 Into her green bower ; 
 On her face hung tender 
 
 As a drop of dew ; 
 With her virgin splendour 
 
 Thrilling through and through.
 
 THE BONNY BRIDELAND FLOWER. 37 
 
 Now, the shy, sweet maiden 
 
 Softly droops her head ; 
 All her heart is laden 
 
 With his coming tread ! 
 Now, the new dawn breaketh 
 
 In a blush of bliss ; 
 The Beloved waketh 
 
 At her Troth-love's kiss. 
 
 In our dull grey weather 
 
 We have seen her bloom ; 
 Fain as Exiles gather 
 
 Round some flower from Home 
 Seen the face that never 
 
 Fades away, but gleams, 
 With its still smile, ever 
 
 Through the land of Dreams.
 
 38 THE BONNY BRIDELAND FLOWER. 
 
 Fair befall the bonny, 
 
 Bonny brideland flower ! 
 All things dear and sunny 
 
 Bless her bridal bower ! 
 Truest love e'er given 
 
 Feed her new life-root ; 
 And, thou God in heaven, 
 
 Crown the flower with fruit.
 
 39 
 
 A LOVER'S SONG. 
 
 ' One so fair none so fair. 
 
 In her eyes so true 
 Loves most inner Heaven bare 
 To the balmiest blue ! 
 
 ' One so fair none so fair. 
 
 In the skies no Star 
 Like my Star of Earth so near- 
 They but shine afar.
 
 40 A LOVER'S SONG. 
 
 ' One so fair none so fair. 
 
 A II too sweet it seems : 
 Wake me not, O world of care, 
 If I walk in dreams. 
 
 ' One so fair none so fair. 
 
 O my bosom-guest, 
 Love neer smiled a happier pair 
 To the bridal-nest. 
 
 ' One so fair none, so fair. 
 
 Lean to me, sweet Wife : 
 Light will be the load we bear: 
 Two hearts in one life'
 
 THE MARRIED LIFE. 
 
 O happy love of weans and Wife, 
 Ye make a man's heart dance ; 
 
 Kindle the desert face of life 
 With colours of romance : 
 
 A Land of Promise sparkles where 
 Your rosier light hath shone ; 
 
 Too distant to attain, but near 
 Enough to tempt us on.
 
 42 THE MARRIED LIFE. 
 
 Tis here that Heaven striketh root 
 To give the Immortal birth, 
 
 Man tastes the unforbidden fruit 
 That deifies on earth. 
 
 All ye that such a Garden own, 
 Of winged thieves beware, 
 
 And trifles, light as thistle-down, 
 That sow the seeds of care. 
 
 Only in singleness of heart, 
 Ye keep the heaven ye win ! 
 
 When Wife and Husband pull apart 
 The Serpent will slide in.
 
 43 
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 
 
 Spite of the Mask Eternal Love doth wear 
 At times, that makes us shrink from it in fear, 
 Because the Father's face we cannot find, 
 Nor feel the presence of His love behind, 
 Nature at heart is very pitiful. 
 
 How gentle is the hand doth kindly pull 
 The coverlet of flowers over the face 
 Of Death, and light up his dark dwelling-place ! 
 
 F
 
 44 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 
 
 With fingers and with foot-fall soft and low 
 
 She comes to make the quiet mosses grow : 
 
 Safe-smiling, draws the Snowdrop thro' the snow. 
 
 Busy in sun and rain, still strives to heal, 
 
 Doing her best to comfort or conceal : 
 
 With tenderest grass makes green the saddest grave, 
 
 And over death her flags of life will wave. 
 
 She is the Angel, waiting by the prison, 
 
 That saith, ' He is not here, he is arisen', 
 
 When lorn in soul we seek the face we knew, 
 
 And dream of buried sweetness coming through 
 
 The earth in spring-time, every flower a smile 
 
 Of that dear Presence we have lost awhile. 
 
 And, if we lift our eyes up from the ground, 
 We see how surely life is compassed round 
 With the Divine, that doth so kindly bound
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 45 
 
 The pitiless blaze of fires that soon would scorch 
 To ashes and put out our tiny torch 
 Of being ; veil the vastness of the Whole, 
 As with droopt eyelids for the naked soul. 
 
 The silent Ministers of Healing crowd 
 About the broken heart and spirit bowed, 
 To stay the bleeding with immortal balm, 
 And still the cries with wings of blessed calm. 
 No matter in what separate lives we range, 
 We feel a rootage deeper than all change. 
 We know the roses flower to fade : We know 
 The roses also fade again to blow. 
 Death is Life's Shadow ! 
 
 Mute the music looks, 
 And dark and dead when shadowed in the books
 
 46 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 
 
 Do but interpret them, all heaven will roll 
 The Life of Music thro' the echoing soul. 
 
 So we grow friends, familiar friends, with Death ; 
 Can look up in his face with firmer faith, 
 To see the frowning brows shade tender eyes, 
 Like sunny openings into Paradise. 
 
 Through all the gloom and stillness of distress, 
 
 With life all muffled up in silentness, 
 
 We voyage on ice-locked, snow-blind, frost-bound- 
 
 Like Sailors with the Arctic winter round, 
 
 Who thought they stranded in the dark, and 
 
 found 
 The solid water all one floating ground ;
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 47 
 
 And drifted through the night, divinely drawn, 
 Out to the open sea, where daylight shone. 
 
 He turns the Shadow of Death into the Dawn, 
 
 That radiant Angel of Eternity ! 
 
 The mourners look up from the grave to see 
 
 The dark, that bowed them by its awfulness, 
 
 Fell from the Father's hands, stretched out to bless. 
 
 So, in His own good season, God hath given 
 This beautiful Joy-Bringer from His Heaven, 
 To bear His benediction from above, 
 And be the smiling Presence of His love ! 
 
 ' / go, but I will send tlie Comforter ' ! 
 The gracious promise is fulfilled in Her.
 
 48 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 
 
 Though heaviness endureth for a night, 
 
 Joy cometh with the morning. Lo ! the Light. 
 
 Gone is the winter from our spirit clime ; 
 
 This is the herald of our golden time. 
 
 In all the beauty of promise, Spring is here 
 
 Our Spring that will be with us all the year. 
 
 O, beautiful Joy-Bringer ! everywhere 
 Happiness smiles around you, like an air 
 Of glory, which you dwell in Phosphor-fair ! 
 The lives that have in mourning darkling lain 
 Now gather colour ; sun them once again. 
 The tender shine that cometh after rain 
 Illumes the eyes of old heart-ache : the pain 
 Of loss transmuted to all-golden gain.
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 49 
 
 Just now we are in the shadow of coming change, 
 And faces darken, and old things grow strange ; 
 And from the new Unknown a-many shrink. 
 Our world is getting tilted,* Sages think. 
 ' The wine of life is drawn, and tfie mere lees ' 
 All that is left us. Shame on fears like these ! 
 Whate'er Eclipse may pass, storm-signals threat, 
 There's room for noble life in England yet. 
 
 As in the very heart of Hope we'll ride, 
 
 Borne on the ninth wave of our triumph's tide, 
 
 That, with its new life, heaves Old England's breast, 
 
 Only be loyal to the Loftiest ; 
 
 And if the proudest Nobles have to bow, 
 
 Then let it be as Rowers bend to row 
 
 * Astronomically.
 
 50 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 
 
 A sturdier stroke ; arfd faint not, tho' we know 
 Not under what dark arch we have to go. 
 But win the nod of an approving soul, 
 Even tho' ye never reach your chosen goal. 
 
 O ! young hearts, dancing to the rise and fall 
 Of life's most winsome tune at festival, 
 Looking on your new world wherein ye move 
 With all the large, sweet wonder of young love, 
 The moments thronging with the life of years ; 
 Crowded with happiness and quick to tears ; 
 New smiles of greeting in each moment's face ; 
 New worlds of pleasure brimming every space ; 
 This is no winter-withered earth to you. 
 Love comes, and life is deified anew !
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 51 
 
 And hearts grow larger than their fortunes are. 
 The horizon lifts around, sublime and far, 
 With godlike breathing-space an ampler scope 
 For loftier life, and glorious ground for hope. 
 
 Turn, happy Lovers, turn on those below 
 
 A little of the light in which ye glow ; 
 
 A little of your sunshine round you shed, 
 
 And make our old world blossom where ye tread. 
 
 Bring back a little seed from Eden-bowers 
 
 To sow our fallows with immortal flowers. 
 
 Ah ! Nobles, what a chance is yours to be 
 
 The founders of a lordlier Chivalry ! 
 
 And, with the proud old fire this people lead. 
 
 When they were weak, I threatened ; now I plead, 
 
 Give eyes to their blind strength, for great the need.
 
 5 2 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 
 
 The Word of Life is well-nigh preached to death ; 
 
 The Flower of all Sweetness withereth 
 
 Crusht in the grip of many that handle it, 
 
 As though they thought Life would but yield its 
 
 sweet 
 In giving up the breath. 
 
 We want the Book 
 Translated into life, not the mere look 
 Of Life embalmed and shrouded in the Book. 
 We want the Word made Flesh to breathe once 
 
 more 
 
 In likeness of the lineaments it wore 
 When living the life indeed, quick in the lives 
 Of Fathers, Mothers, Children, Husbands, Wives. 
 We need that maiden life of Christ fulfilled 
 In Marriage all its preciousness distilled.
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 53 
 
 We need the life itself lived in the Home 
 On Week-days, ere the Sabbath-rest will come 
 To many a homeless himgerer for home. 
 
 We read by corpse-light poring on the ground, 
 And there's the living God a-shine all round ! 
 The light that left Heaven centuries ago 
 Hath not yet reached dark myriads here below : 
 Your lives might be the lamp that bears this light, 
 Still burning, as the stars through all the night. 
 Because ye are lookt up to, they would mark 
 Your shining ! 
 
 O, the spirits lying dark 
 To-day, as jewels waiting but the spark 
 Of splendour that to Love's dear smile is given, 
 To brighten with the best that brighten Heaven !
 
 54 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 
 
 Look down, you Shining Ones, look kindly down, 
 
 And save them, set as jewels in your crown. 
 
 How beautiful, upon the mountain height, 
 
 The feet of them that bring the Lowly light 
 
 O'er-shadowing, on wings of gentle Love, 
 
 The faults and failings that they soar above ! 
 
 How beautiful the face of those whose smile 
 
 Doth make God's sunshine in the heart of Toil ; 
 
 In low, sick rooms a presence as of Health ; 
 
 The true Rich folk, in whom the Poor have wealth ! 
 
 A beautiful life begets itself anew 
 
 In other lives, as perfume stealing through 
 
 The sense creates the flower to live again ; 
 
 Its spirit re-embodied in the brain. 
 
 Heartfull of shining love and singing hopes, 
 
 Come down where life, blind-folded, grovels and gropes
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 55 
 
 We house the Poor to lie and die, but give 
 Them room to stand in ; house the Poor to 
 
 live ; 
 
 A little touch of clasping hands might prove 
 Mightiest of all the languages of Love. 
 Give them a glimpse of kindlier, sweeter grace, 
 And be the model of a nobler race 
 The living Poem that we may not write ; 
 The Picture that we cannot paint to sight ; 
 The Music that we dream but do not get ; 
 The Statue marble never mirrored yet. 
 
 Come down, and meet them, fellow-man to man. 
 So much we might do, as it seems, to span 
 The ancient gulf that severs Rich and Poor, 
 In which Christ threw Himself ; for evermore
 
 56 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 
 
 To show His sorrowing Poor that God hath not 
 Forgotten those He seemed to have forgot ! 
 
 And the gulf closes not, and He doth reach 
 On either side a piteous hand to each : 
 One are they by the message that He gave ; 
 One by the life He lived ; one by His grave ; 
 One by the tears He wept the love the pain ; 
 And still they stand apart, and He is torn atwain. 
 
 Now, while the Thrush upon the barest bough 
 Sits singing high in azure, telling how 
 The Spring-wind breathes along the warm hedge- 
 row, 
 Secretly setting fragrant-fires aglow
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 57 
 
 Daily more rich the Sallow-palms unfold 
 
 And change their silver into sunny gold ; 
 
 ' Good-bye, old Winter', the blue heavens laugh ; 
 
 ' T/ie flowers ska II write you a kindly epitaph' 
 
 Far on a sea of Light the twinkling Lark 
 
 Is launched, and floating like a heaven-bound bark, 
 
 In which some happy spirit sails and sings, 
 
 And stirs us in a dream of waking wings, 
 
 With homeward yearnings, heavenward flutterings, 
 
 As all about the inner life there plays 
 
 A breath of bliss from out old innocent days, 
 
 Now, while the Spring mounts somewhere up the 
 
 blue, 
 
 We bring our firstling flowers to offer you ! 
 Violets, dim and tender ; glad Primroses, 
 That promise, ere the happy prospect closes,
 
 5 8 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 
 
 Ye, hand in hand, through rosier days shall tread 
 Green earth, with richer glories garlanded ; 
 Where the wild Hyacinths, all a-dreaming, lean 
 In peeps of deep sea-azure thro' the green ; 
 And Summer sets that Golden Age of hers 
 A-bloom, in mellow miles of yellow Furze ; 
 While, smiling down the distance, Autumn stands, 
 The ripened fruitage glowing in his hands. 
 
 And, if among the flowers some few appear 
 Sacred to woe, and leaning with the tear 
 Still in the eyes, I did but seek the leaf 
 Of Healing gather Heartsease for your grief : 
 Nor are they tears, but rather drops of dew 
 From heaven, that hidden Love is looking 
 through.
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUCIS. 59 
 
 As, after death, our Lost Ones grow our Dearest, 
 
 So, after death, our Lost Ones come the nearest : 
 
 They are not lost in distant worlds above ; 
 
 They are our nearest link in God's own love 
 
 The human hand-clasps of the Infinite, 
 
 That life to life, spirit to spirit knit ! 
 
 They fill the rift they made, like veins of gold 
 
 In fire-rent fissures torture-torn of old ! 
 
 With sweetness store the empty place they left, 
 
 As of wild honey in the rock's bare cleft. 
 
 In hidden ways they aid this life of ours, 
 As Sunshine lends a finger to the flowers, 
 Shadowed and shrouded in the Wood's dim heart, 
 To climb by while they push their grave apart. 
 
 H
 
 60 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 
 
 They think of us at Sea, who are safe on Shore ; 
 Light up the cloudy coast we struggle for ! 
 The ancient Terror of Eternity 
 The dark Destroyer, crouching in Life's sea 
 To wreck us is thus Beaconed, and doth stand 
 As the Deliverer, with a lamp in hand. 
 
 We would not put them from us when we are sad ; 
 We will not shut them from us when we are glad ; 
 Nor thrust our Angel from the Marriage Feast, 
 Altho' he comes, not clothed like the rest 
 In visible garment of a Wedding-Guest. 
 
 Now pray we. 
 
 Lord of Life, look smiling down 
 
 Upon this Pair ; with choicest blessings crown
 
 VIA CRUCIS VIA LUC IS. 61 
 
 Their love ; the beauty of the Flower bring 
 Back to the bud again in some new spring ! 
 We would not pray that sorrow ne'er may shed 
 Her dews along the pathway they must tread : 
 The sweetest flowers would never bloom at all 
 If no least rain of tears did ever fall. 
 In joy the soul is bearing human fruit ; 
 In grief it may be taking divine root. 
 Come joy or grief, nestle them near to Thee 
 In happy love twin for eternity ! 
 They take our Darling's place ; long may they be 
 As glad and beautiful a hope as he 
 Hath left a bright and blessed memory : 
 Their day fulfil the promise of his dawn- 
 That, as with Thee, he may with us live on.
 
 LONDON I PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000085116 2