959 t9A3 UC-NRLF $B 3DM m? mn \s K'tns rr f I '^t ^ .^'~ri9 By Hytiian EJe'stein Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/canadianlyricsotOOedelricli Canadian Lyrics and Other Poems CANADIAN LYRICS AND OTHER POEMS By HYMAN EDELSTEIN Author's Edition WILLIAM BRIGGS TORONTO 1916 Copyright, Canada, 1916, by HYMAN EDELSTEIN E215 NOTE The Canadian pieces printed in this vol- ume are here offered to the public for the first time. Most of the other poems have been published in different periodicals, and appear now in a revised form. H. E. Montreal, January, 1916. 501 CONTENTS PAGE Pbcemium 9 Canada . . 11 Winter Morning 12 Winter in Canada 13 Contrast 15 A Picture of My Love 16 When I Left Ireland 18 The Change 19 After Death .....,.,. 20 Canada to England 21 From the Depths 22 Immortality Has No Resurrection . . . .23 Approach of Summer 24 Where? 26 For England 28 " England's Fight Is Glory " 31 Conscript or Volunteer 33 Ideals and Life 36 Science and Faith ... .... 37 The Hidden Gleams 39 7 CONTENTS PAGE The Sea 40 Farewell 41 Her Answer 42 Twilight on Summer Seas 43 Love, Charity, Goodness 45 "Let My People Go" 46 The Christian's Lament 48 The Vision Fulfilled 52 After the " Pogrom " . 54 The Drifting Boat 56 Moses .58 " We're Very Near to God " 60 Passover 61 Christmas Bells; or, The Wandering Jew . . .62 Canadian Lyrics and Other Poems PRCEMIUM Where th' ages strew their minstrel store, And long-famed bards o'ersway the lyre, Well may the world protest, ^' No more ! 'Tis surfeit of celestial fire !" But though my voice ring strange 'mid theirs. It yet shall swell those hallowed strains : My song murmurs remoter airs. And mingled ancienter refrains. My words may tell how I absorbed The music of another race : My thoughts, like days and nights bright-orbed, Shall radiate through time and space. 9 PRCEMIUM Day takes from sun no lasting glow, Nor night from stars undying grace More distant suns the glory throw, And give them an immortal face. So may this offering of a scribe, Sounding a language not his sires'. Prove that his own eternal tribe Still bears the old prophetic fires! 10 CANADA O TROPIC-ARCTIC home, my own, Whose charms I fondly cherish. Though but three years this love I^ve known, Such love will never perish. I left a fair and gleaming isle Where yet dropped tears too many, But now beneath your constant smile It seems I knew not any. If with such grace — as, sure, I know — You welcome each newcomer : 'Mid all your snows, our love must glow In everlasting summer! 11 WINTERLJMORNING The ice-breath's thick on the window-panes : The double- windows gloom o'ercast With cracking layers of murky stains Breathed on by winter's morning blast. Without, the bread and milk-sleighs glide, Tossing the roads of furrowed snow. While from the roofs the snow-crusts slide, Smashing themselves in spray below; And baker's horse with hoary bit And frosted belly his errand goes. And on the snow-piled doorsteps sit Bottles of lumped milk fresh-froze. A rose, child's face the morning hath. When lurid tuques of blue and red Scarce peep above the snow-walled path Where rubbered feet do school ward tread.- That's the spirit the morning hath With children's cheek of ruddy hue, Washed shining in the snowflake bath, And blowing clouds of living dcAV. 12 WINTER IN CANADA Canadian streams trip sprightly In the golden fires of June — But Canadian snows shine brightly In the silver winter moon : Then hail, the Canadian winter-time, With the sleigh-drive, skate, and snowshoe climb ! Mount RoyaPs slopes are snow-paved ways, And there we'll go a-sliding, While past us tinkle flying sleighs, And knived skates are gliding: Then raise the echoing slogan — To ski, skate and toboggan ! Mount Royal's sides are white and steep — What recks the snowshoed hero? The moon is clear, the snow is deep. And twenty under zero : This be our ringing tocsin. To snowshoe, mitt and mocc'sin ! 13 WINTER IN CANADA And O, how the blood with new youth thrills In these Canadian winters, 4s the ski skims high and the sledge slips by, And the skate cnts icy splinters : How the heart skis too — -mid delirious shrieks Of the springing young Canadians, In the winter sun on the snowy peaks, Or the moon's majestic radiance: O, the wild Canadian winter-time! That's for the blood the sprinter-time ! 14 CONTRAST O, THE soul of the night of the Arctic, With your sea of memorial lights — There^s a spirit that throws stranger gleam on these snows Than the moon from her glittering heights. Not from ice rivers flowing with starlight, Floats this dream of a long- vanished day : There's another, a sacred, a far light From behind all this starry array; And it fills all this glimmering whiteness With the hallowing rays that illume The beloved we have lost — the pure brightness Of a spirit that shines from the tomb ; And there's something that's haunting and tragic In this slumber and ancient repose. And the phantom-like lights and the magic Of the moon on Canadian snows. 15 A PICTURE OF MY LOVE ( Taken in a snowshoe tramp on Mount Royal, Montreal.) See, there she stands, in snowshoe strapped, Her vigorous, luscious form In the familiar sweater wrapped That hugs her, snug and warm. And dazzling o'er that Mount, snow-capped, Like sunburst after storm! Her laughing eyes defy the sun, Her teeth bemock the snow; And, red and moistly-fresh, upon Her cheek I spy the glow Of kisses left by snowflakes spun 'Mong winds that chilly blow. 16 A PICTURE OF MY LOVE There in the gloomy, still background The naked trees repose, Weaving a dreamy shadow round — While she such radiance throws. As glad from those dark wilds to bound- A Naiad of the snows ! And well this wood and snowy sea. Should frame her pictured laughter. Sure, 'twas some smiling god to me From mystic haunts did waft her — Vision of light, love, purity, And heaven forever after ! 17 WHEN I LEFT IRELAND Hearthsick, ill in body, too, So I left you, Erin, Wond'ring on the raptures you Bore for me to share in, Wond'ring on my griefs of which You were so unsparin', Wond'ring on the unknown beach Whither I was farin'. O, that end of dreams, that knell Of a vain endeavor ! Yet what lover bade farewell Erin — thee — forever ? How those partings bind the soul That our bodies sever ! So though oceans 'twixt us roll We are parted never. 18 THE CHANGE In that tiny island That oft seemed my cell, 'Mid woods deep and silent How I longed to dwell ! Now, Erin, I'm wishin' For your darling beams : It's you^re now the vision, Of you are my dreams ! 19 AFTER DEATH There never grew A flower like you, So exquisitely fair, That such sweet scent And beauty lent Unto the summer air. O, ne'er were strewn Like you, so soon, Dead petals torn and sere. Yet O, how bright In my black night And 'mid my winter here ! 20 CANADA TO ENGLAND O'ER the dividing, joining seas, I breathe with every ocean-breeze My love for thee! Each wave that knocks against thy shore My filial troth vows evermore To thee, the free ! Now in thy hour of grief and strife. My blood to thee who gav'st me life I give, my mother ! What mother like thee can I know? O never, never fall that blow — To own another ! 21 FROM THE DEPTHS Sitting under a maple-tree, The sunny green light round me shed From leaves translucent like a sea Surging and sobbing overhead : It seems I lie 'neath oceans buried, And only hear life's long, deep sighs, And I could wish some boat had ferried My weary flesh into the skies ! 22 IMMORTALITY HAS NO RESURRECTION Death taketh all — the flesh is only flesh — There is no life but what is from the flesh : The soul is but a poet^s thought, and never, Never and never shall we meet again ! You think, like seasons, doth our life run out : The Spring our youth; the Summer our full bloom ; The Autumn our decline ; the Winter, sinking Into black death — and after? Spring again? . . . The spirit hath an eternal summer, here And in th' hereafter ; for if man hath soul. Rising amid his physical decay, How shall it wither in that fadeless day Where matter is not, nor a resurrection ; Where are no suns to shape its life to seasons, But ultimate, unchanging light of God? 23 APPROACH iOF SUMMER A MORNING of late Spring, when perfumes well With every breath of Nature, and the soul Of Beauty, Freedom, Love reanimate. Leaps from its chains, as a long- frozen sea, Kelaxing all its stiffened, flat-laid limbs Flings off its ice-bands, and with merry tumult Races along in a new spirit of youth; And once again the universe is sounding With tune of birds in blue, mysterious spaces, And song of breezes breathing on the trees Their resurrecting balsam o'er the bud. And lo ! the sun is warming up the city. And the white, shining streets are specked with groups Of playing children, while the hiding birds, Peeping from secret vantage, humorously Keep winking at those small contemporaries Like jovial spectators at a circus. Approving now with whistle, now applauding With chorus of rapturous trills ... 24 APPROACH OF SUMMER Till suddenly A shower of teeming rain sweeps in the players, Some under dripping trees, some on the door- steps. And the road rushes with the roaring tide. But soon again the sun dives from the blue Splashing in gold the town and fields ; and th' air Reeks with the spices of Canadian forests . . . This is the rain that weeps Spring into Summer, Leaving such perfume and such light around, As tears — those sudden, fast, remembering tears — Which, scalding though they be, shower round the fragrance And the wild, glorious blaze of our lost Spring! 25 WHERE ? The brilliant heaven and sea Abound in minstrelsy; The lovely earth is full Of garlands sweet to cull : Now tell me, what is there or here that I love? The sunset, dawn are fraught With charms by poets sought; The world's a marvellous sight Of glories infinite — Can you then tell me where, O where is my love? It's not in earth or air. It is not anywhere On hills or daisied plain Or o'er the magic main, Nor thither will I vainly long to fly, love : 26 WHERE ? O, here in your near face All those delights I trace — All beauties there I find, Flower, sun and song combined — I know, I know, I know that there is my love! 27 FOR ENGLAND {In reply to the German '' Song of Hate.") O, LET me sing a " song of love '' That sea and land and heav'n above May echo back my praise Of England and her freedom, mild As summer's breeze that plays Over the seas that long have smiled Since old, victorious days; And smiling still, lie fair and free In England's sunny liberty. Shall foemen sing the " song of hate," Invoking Hell to blast thy fate. And shall the German rave. Such cursed slanders 'gainst thee speak — My England, free and brave! — " A foul oppressor of the weak. And tyrant of the wave !" Calling thy ancient liberty A dire and shameful tyranny! 28 FOR ENGLAND How shall my quivering lips be dumb, And from my heart no answer come To quell the foeman's cries, That brand thee " robber-nation " " false,'^ And "master-mind of lies?'' — Is this thou whom their Schiller calls Grand Freedom's Paradise? O England, thou that mad'st me free. How shall I plead and pray for thee? O England, mother England! Confusion shall be theirs Who seek to shame thee to the world When German might despairs: Their taunts and slanders at thee hurled Shall track them unawares. O England, mother England! That lov'st to shield and save — Were't not for thy benignant laws, I still had been a slave! — For that have I not worthy cause To call thee free and brave? 29 FOR ENGLAND In the strong grip of liberty Thou holdest fast the main — And if thy rule is tyranny, When did thy slaves complain? What recompense is ours to be Linked in thy freedom's chain! O England, mother England! Long may'st thou " tyrant " be ! — Thy " slaves '' shall never, never swerve In love and loyalty — If men are proud to love and serve A tyrant such as thee ! 30 "ENGLAND'S FIGHT IS GLORY" Hoist high the martial banner, boys! — let swell the battle's thunder-strain, We're out to fight old England's fight on swelter- ing field and breezy main; The floating forts of England will keep sentry round our darling isle, While we shall tramp tlie battlefield for many a long and gruesome mile ; Those fields with flood of our father's blood in righteous cause are gory, boys — Then stand together ! — ^at this hour we're neither Whig, nor Tory, boys! — Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! it's war — and Eng- land's fight is glory, boys ! O, brother Dick will come back home in fresh- won stripes and colors dressed. And papa will be with him, too, with gorgeous medals on his breast; 31 "ENGLAND'S FIGHT IS GLORY" And little sis brave Dick will kiss, and papa strong will lift her high, And he will point where England^ s flag flies boldly in the Avindy sky : " The Union Jack is still our flag, and England's still our home, my child; Our lovely land of freedom grand is still by foe- men undeflled: So pray, dear wife, our child by God be cherished for such motherhood In England's great, free Empire — Heaven's temple of men's brotherhood. So shall the Union Jack be ours, and ours it ever shall remain. The emblem of true liberty which nothing but our blood may stain!" So will they tell the grand old tale — old Eng- land's splendid story, boys. Of fields with flood of our heroes' blood in right- eous cause all gory, boys: Then stand together ! — at this hour we're neither Whig nor Tory, boys ! — Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! it's war — and Eng- land's fight is glory, boys! 32 CONSCRIPT OR VOLUNTEER Let other nations vaunt their might, With martial tyranny affright The Sons of Freedom and of Peace; But England never shall rejoice To lift the sword and make to cease The principle of man's free choice ! Let armies gather everywhere — Our own free spirit shall be there To drive the foe into the sea And vindicate our liberty: — Not driven, a trembling, conscript slave; But free as he was born, and brave. Each man shall rise and arm and stand To guard the borders of our land: For Englishmen must ever be The volunteers of Liberty! 33 CONSCRIPT OR VOLUNTEER O Britain! show thyself the one — Constant as thy unsetting sun — To scorn to use the word " compel/' Though round thy shores burst every hell ! Let our free spirit now prevail ! Defend the Empire ! — if we fail, And heed not our own Mother's call, Truth fails, and Justice, Freedom, — all! Ye sons of England, there your flag Beckons to you, and Avill ye lag? Wait for the shameful, base decree — By force to shield your liberty! Shall it be said that Englishmen At duty's call, could falter then? O never name " a conscript slave " The son of England, free and brave ! But come in armies numberless; Each act his part, and God will bless ! Come of your own free will and show To all the world that Britons know Their duty to their destiny As God's own Guard of Liberty! 34 CONSCRIPT OR VOLUNTEER O let no English lip command " Britons by force shall serve their land !" That were worse slavery by far And worse damnation than all war! Be true, be true, O England ! — then Shall Heav'n requite, though all earth raves Let Englishmen be Englishmen And Britons never shall be slaves! THE ANSWER O never England — Freedom — fall ! God!^ — I answer to the call, Answer — I give my life, my all ! 35 IDEALS AND LIFE I MADE me, long ago, a golden harp, And every string I tuned to harnionies Of a celestial song : and I, the player. Slept in the wonder of the music\s charm. And Life seemed very far — no world of mine Yet oft were borne to me discordant sounds From the harsh world of Life; and, later, when The graphic murmurs of realities Surged in a ruthless, overwhelming tide, I woke — the strings were snapped — the harp lay broken. And now I stoop, fit back the golden frame. And gather and tie the strings to the keys of Life. 36 SCIENCE AND FAITH I SAW afar the dim, cerulean sea Embrace the sapphire sky, And from their union fly Myriads of dazzling gems, pouring to me. And r6und me seemed to fall th' effulgent shower, And spread the earth with light. And all the marvellous sight Enthralled me by its wonder and its power. Lo ! everywhere new brightness sparkling lay : The fields, the vales, the hills, The glades, the lakes and rills Gleamed in the splendour of th' ethereal day; 37 SCIENCE AND FAITH And from the eyes and flesh of man there shone A radiance all divine For Love did intertwine The Universe, and men knew God was One! Afar the sea of Truth doth smile and nod Kissed by the heav'n of Faith, Whence infinite void and Death Are lit with flaming messages of God! 38 THE HIDDEN GLEAMS A SPRING THOUGHT Why should a poet sing Of nature's bourgeoning, Of fields that flaunt their summer-gay attire, Of trees new-clad And hearts all glad At skies atune with nature's living lyre; The concert of these sparkling hills. Their drumming falls and stringed rills : — They're all from God, The assuring nod, Repeated promises, the prophecy. And murmurings of immortality. Such is a poet's ear Diviner things to hear — x\nd such, a poet's eye The hidden gleams to spy. The nobler shades and hues, the distant melody, Which are the touches of God's perfect artistry. 39 THE SEA I GREET thee, my beloved sea, once more ! Once more I hear thy ancient murmuring, And mark thy smile on every liquid wing That wafts thy progress to and from the shore. Beckoning me to follow and explore The mystic language of thy lips, which bring Old, sacred whispers — songs the sea-shells sing Pressed at the ear — lost voices we adore! O, my beloved sea ! and canst thou yet, After these lonely years of hope all fled. Have power to conjure scenes I'd fain forget And bury, with the lovely that lies dead? Where dost thou offer rest, thou restless sea? Far o'er thy bosom, or deep, deep under thee? 40 FAREWELL Call it a sunset or a dream — Thou'lt loveliest seem: Thy cheeks shadowing in the ebbing lights, The droop and waning in thine eyes, As in the skies, The stars close at the end of summer nights ! Call it a sunset — so thy hair, Flaxen hair, Throws round thy paling brow its crowning ray ; Call it a vision — so we sleep, So we weep That each from each should vanish far away ! 41 HER ANSWER You ask me whom I'd marry: Dear friend, I love too well With love too vast and starry In weary flesh to dwell — But give me the poet's vision, And music's breath elysian — His harmonies should slay me By whose grave in the dust I would lay me ! So, in a sunset valley, When the dying flames of day Vanish majestically Over the hills away, — My soul, my soul it is yearning No more to this earth-mist returning — To be there with the sun in his setting. And to sink with him unregretting ! 42 TWILIGHT ON SUMMER SEAS Lo ! upon the ocean sheeting- Twilight's pensive hues are fleeting — Curtains of the parting day, Fleecy folds of blue and gray : Dim the coast- line, ocean-kissed; Phantom foam and flaky mist: Dumb, unnumbered murmurings, Ocean's mystic whisperings: Ebb-lulled lapping of still seas Rocked in twilight's slumbrous breeze : Like hushed breath of infant sleeping In the mother's song-swayed keeping : — And sea's golden smiles grow wan, As the summer night sails on. O, sweet hour of solemn thought ! O, sweet hour, by tired brain sought ! Hour of tender retrospect. Hour that bids us to reflect — With the passing of the day. Thus all fairness flees away: 43 TWILIGHT ON SUMMER SEAS When like star-beams, angel bright, Myriad memories round me light With the faces of sweet friends. And of love that swift Death ends : — And the sea each image laves Cradled 'mid the hollowing waves. Oh! I thank thee, twilight calm. For this deep, mysterious balm. That dost give such dreams and sighs For old daylights and old skies ! 44 LOVE, CHARITY, GOODNESS The warrior's deeds have short renown ; Love blossoms with eternal roots, And Charity hath deathless fruits, And Goodness wears a priceless crown. And Love has lasting recompense, The memory through endless age, Tie record of a golden page In spiritual permanence. 45 "LET MY PEOPLE GO" (^ee Exodus 8: 20.) When_, 'mid the noise of cymbals clashing wild and free, And chant of Israel's daughters dancing by the sea, Freedom was throned majestic in God's victory — Then from before His Power did trembling ty- rants flee. Age upon age has echoed with that mighty song — The battle against Force — the triumph over Wrong : — Still we see tyrants raging, still cower the slavish throng. Still we hear Israel groaning — " How long, O God, how long?" 46 "LET MY PEOPLE GO" Burst into flames, ye heavens ! and let your brim- stone flow : Like Sodom and Gomorrah, let be the overthrow Of throned murderers that say, " Your God we do not know!" But see! the White Czar shudders — a surging murmur — lo ! 'Tis a human cry of nations : " Woe to all tyrants. woe!" . . . So swells the voice of Freedom, commanding, " Let them go !" And the heavens reverberating, re-echo : " Let them go !" And the flery tongue of Justice thunders : " Let them go ! — " Hurl down the gates of Bondage, and let my people go !" 47 THE CHRISTIAN'S LAMENT [Written after a perusal of a History of the Jews, wherein its Christian author in most bitter and passionate language laments the unparal- lellecl suffering inflicted by professing Christians on the Jewish people.] Sometimes in blindness I may curse The oppressor's bloody soul, But at such bitter, wild remorse E'en fury seeks control. I may have vowed eternal hate, Have mocked the Gentile's creed — The love that cursed a nation's fate Were not less foul in deed. Two thousand years — two thousand years! Sword, stake, and rack, and cell ; Steel, fire, and torture, blood and tears; Affe, childhood, steeped in hell! 48 THE CHRISTIAN'S LAMENT Egyptian lash, Assyrian chain, Barbarian tyrants' rod; The Grecian's curse, Rome's martial train- Still lives the Son of God ! The pen his sword, the Book his shield, He bore the age-long yoke. And on the bloody battlefield The foeman felt his stroke. Th' Egyptian cowed at Moses' staff. The Greek 'fore Judas flew, The Roman scattered as the chaff Swept by the conquering Jew. Yet, God in Heaven ! how many know What battles Israel fought? What wondrous works with pen and bow The Hebrew hero wrought? Ye lights of Israel ! shed your beam On Israel's starless night. And bathe in glory's beauteous gleam His wars for God and right! Judas — he hurled the tyrant king From his inglorious throne — 49 THE CHRISTIAN'S LAMENT Of myriads like thee though I sing, 'Tis but to me alone ! Bar Cochba, who on Bither's height Didst valorous deeds to free Thy people from Rome's galling mi^ht, Who cares for songs of thee? The Roman lord built temples grand In memory of the brave — No shrines for that heroic band That fills an unknown grave. The rocks in vaunting measures tell Of Greece's faithful sons — No pillar for the Jews who fell In countless Marathons! Oh, shame! who in fanatic glee Revere the Grecian fane. The Roman arch of victory. And Israel's deeds disdain. Yet there shall shine the gladsome day When things that buried lie, Like precious stones with peerless ray Alone shall charm the eye. 50 THE CHRISTIAN'S LAMENT Then for the Samson of mankind In every Christian land, Where beat such hearts as here I find Shall tow'ring columns stand, And Roman might, and Grecian fame. Spurned by men's mocking laugh. Shall shrink into an empty name, A warning epitaph ! Then sing, my race, thy day is come. When truth must right restore ! — The nations know thy martyrdom. And thou shalt weep no more ! No more thou'lt think 'twere vanity In Christian work to see The love thou'st taught — Christianity In inhumanity! 51 THE VISION FULFILLED Daniel Deronda. — " The idea that I am pos- sessed with is that of restoring a political exist- ence to my people, making them a nation again ; giving them a national centre, such as the Eng- lish have, though they too are scattered over the face of the globe. That is a task which presents itself to me as a duty. I am resolved to begin it, however feebly. I am resolved to devote my life to it. At the least, I may awaken a movement in other minds, such as has been awakened in my Mordecai. — " Let us help to will our own better future and the better future of the world — not renounce our higher gift and say, * Let us be as if we were not among the populations ' ; but choose our full heritage, claim the brotherhood of our nation, and carry into it a new brother- hood with the nations of the Gentiles. The vision is there; it will be fulfilled." ^^ Daniel Deronda '' ( George Eliot) . 52 THE VISION FULFILLED What if the day at last should calm up-blaze After this moaning night, bloody and black; When from this war begotten, leap the rays Of everlasting Peace, Love without lack; What if poor Israel in his home of old Again be throned, and new Jerusalem^ Reflect the Messianic Temple's gold, The Sh'chinah of the chosen seed of Shem ! The Prophets spake: th' Eternal God hath wrought By all His thunders, their grand prophecy : " Ye are my witnesses ; you have I bought For My great Name, and you shall never die!'' Though now in murder-lust, in greed and fraud. The nations reel, yet every strife shall cease. And in the blessed victory of God, Vengeance shall die, and men shall walk in Peace ! — Here are the Night and Terror ; — there the dawn, Where Love sits mourning on Hate's ruins, gleams From our beloved East; and Israel, drawn To Zion's breast, can dream, thank God! and dreams ! 53 AFTER THE "POGROM" ( On seeing the picture of a Jewess sitting hy the dissevered head of her brother.) She sits beside a human skull That was her brother's head, She picked it from a village-full Of battered Jews, all dead ; She sits alone ; nor light nor tear Her fixed eye betrays, Until her own and his appear To join their ghastly gaze. The snow outside is red and white. But only white her cheek: Her people's blood had flowed all night, And hers is chill and bleak. 54 AFTER THE "POGROM" Her tresses, black, unkempt and dull, Around her bare arms fold That now embrace the hideous skull. And now her head uphold. Then suddenly she thinks it wakes, The eyes roll gruesomely, The mouth distends and from it breaks Demoniacal glee. Closer she bends, and now she tries A competition grim: She moves her lips, she rolls her eyes. And smiles, and shrieks — like him!- So all that day, in that dark room. Rang laughter, weird and shrill : The silent houses shrink in gloom; The corpse lies still, so still ! 55 THE ^DRIFTING .BOAT A LITTLE boat was drifting Alone upon the sea — The big, big waves were lifting And swinging threateningly; The angry clouds were shifting Above it fast and free. The billows leaped and tumbled, The lightning madly clave. The thunder cracked and rumbled. And fierce the rain-storm drave. And the boat-sides fairly crumbled Beneath the crashing wave. But harmless flew the lightning. Vain fell the thunder-shock, Powerless the gale, nor frightening The treacherous, sunken rock: — For the waves, instead, were tightening The boat-sides with each knock. 56 THE DRIFTING BOAT And the lightning only lighted The unknown seas before, And the wind held up and righted The boat, when waves swept o'er . . . ****** — Till the " Promised Land '' is sighted, And Israel's home once more! 57 MOSES In a little bark — A pitch-smeared ark — The Hebrew mother laid him, Amid the sedge By the river's edge Where papyri-leaves could shade him. Ne'er was launched a ship On more wondrous trip With such Pilot true to guide it, For that fragile, dark Rude-fashioned ark Bore the mightiest mind inside it! What grander feats Have they done — the fleets And sea-lords of the nations? Was there one, withal, Like this Admiral Of all times and generations? 58 MOSES O, Pilot-Sage, Through endless age Thine Ark with us safe reposes, While with eye and ear Like thy sister's, near We shall heed thee, our Teacher, Moses ! 59 "WE'RE VERY NEAR TO GOD" ^^ Oh, mother, tell me why it is That Christian priests so bless us, And with their soft caresses. Say we are very dear to God, And we are very near to God, And we are always His." The Hebrew mother raised the lad. And dew'd his cheek with kisses — Such love the Hebrew^ s bliss is — An angel's halo lit the floor. The Eussian savage burst the door : " Thus by the bloody rod, my child. We're very near to God, my child. We're very near to God." 60 PASSOVER Once more resound the tents of Israel With chant of jubilation and of praise, Telling the martyrdom of ancient days, x\nd how God heard His anguished people's wail. And saved with great redemption : then grew pale The chiefs of Edom, and in dread amaze The mighty lords of Moab, faint, did gaze On Egypt's doom, and 'fore God's wrath did quail. Vanished is Egypt now ; th' Assyrian chain No more affrights, nor Roman tyranny — Yet other foes and other Pharaohs reign, And 'neath the lash of Christianity Israel still writhes, heir to eternal scars, — Bondsman of Christian love and Russian Tsars ! 61 CHRISTMAS BELLS; OR, THE WANDERING JEW " Peace on earth, good- will 'twixt men.'' Far the midnight air's resounding, And the words are gaily bounding Over sea, land, wood and glen. Through the dark a darker form Wends his way outcast and lonely — 'Tis the wandering Hebrew only. And his beard waves in the storm; And the storm wafts forth the peal, And the words dance round the spectre. Moist his lips with their sweet nectar; But they only make him reel. On his staff he leans, and hears. " 'Tis the song I'm always singing," — And the bells are gaily ringing. And he sighs and disappears. . . . 62 CHRISTMAS BELLS Peace is his 'neath blood-stained cowl, Good-will reigns among the devils — For the Jew no Christmas revels But the revels of the ghoul. " Peace in Heav'n ^neath earth for me !"- And the bells are made of iron, Singing like the guileful Siren, And they peal in irony. 63