A Hidden Life and Other Poems Part 34

IV.

THE SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN.

"Bestow her prayer, and let her go; She crieth after us."

Nay, to the dogs ye cast it so; Help not a woman thus.

Their pride, by condescension fed, He speaks with truer tongue: "It is not meet the children's bread Should to the dogs be flung."

She, too, shall share the hurt of good, Her spirit, too, be rent, That these proud men their evil mood May see, and so repent.

And that the hidden faith in her May burst in soaring flame, From childhood truer, holier, If birthright not the same.

If for herself had been her prayer, She might have turned away; But oh! the woman-child she bare Was now the demon's prey.

She crieth still; gainsays no words Contempt can hurt withal; The daughter's woe her strength affords, And woe nor strength is small.

Ill names, of proud religion born, She'll wear the worst that comes; Will clothe her, patient, in their scorn, To share the healing crumbs.

And yet the tone of words so sore The words themselves did rue; His face a gentle sadness wore, As if He suffered too.

Mother, thy agony of care He justifies from ill; Thou wilt not yield?--He grants the prayer In fullness of _thy_ will.

Ah Lord! if I my hope of weal Upon thy goodness built, Thy will perchance my will would seal, And say: _Be it as thou wilt._

V.

THE WIDOW OF NAIN.

Away from living man's abode The tides of sorrow sweep, Bearing a dead man on the road To where the weary sleep.

And down the hill, in sunny state, Glad footsteps troop along; A n.o.ble figure walks sedate, The centre of the throng.

The streams flow onward, onward flow, Touch, waver, and are still; And through the parted crowds doth go, Before the prayer, the will.

"Weep not, O mother! Young man, rise!"

The bearers hear and stay; Up starts the form; wide flash the eyes; With gladness blends dismay.

The lips would speak, as if they caught Some converse sudden broke, When echoing words the dead man sought, And Hades' silence woke.

The lips would speak. The eyes' wild stare Gives place to ordered sight; The low words die upon the air-- The soul is dumb with light.

He brings no news; he has forgot; Or saw with vision weak: Thou seest all our unseen lot, And yet thou dost not speak.

It may be as a mother keeps A secret gift in store; Which if he knew, the child that sleeps, That night would sleep no more.

Oh, thine are all the hills of gold!

Yet gold Thou gavest none; Such gifts would leave thy love untold-- The widow clasps her son.

No word of hers hath left a trace Of uttered joy or grief; Her tears alone have found a place Upon the holy leaf.

Oh, speechless sure the widow's pain, To lose her only boy!

Speechless the flowing tides again Of new-made mother's joy!

Life is triumphant. Joined in one The streams flow to the gate; Death is turned backward to the sun, And Life is hailed our Fate.

VI.

THE WOMAN WHOM SATAN HAD BOUND.

For eighteen years, O patient soul, Thine eyes have sought thy grave; Thou seest not thy other goal, Nor who is nigh to save.

Thou nearest gentle words that wake Thy long-forgotten strength; Thou feelest tender hands that break The iron bonds at length.

Thou knowest life rush swift along Thy form bent sadly low; And up, amidst the wondering throng Thou risest firm and slow,

And seest him. Erect once more In human right divine, Joyous thou bendest yet before The form that lifted thine.

O Saviour, Thou, long ages gone, Didst lift her joyous head: Now, many hearts are moaning on, And bending towards the dead.

They see not, know not Thou art nigh: One day thy word will come; Will lift the forward-beaming eye, And strike the sorrow dumb.

Thy hand wipes off the stains of time Upon the withered face; Thy old men rise in manhood's prime Of dignity and grace.

Thy women dawn like summer days Old winters from among; Their eyes are filled with youthful rays, The voice revives in song.

All ills of life will melt away Like cureless dreams of woe, When with the dawning of the day Themselves the sad dreams go.

O Lord, Thou art my saviour too: I know not what my cure; But all my best, Thou, Lord, wilt do; And hoping I endure.

VII.

THE WOMAN WHO CAME BEHIND HIM IN THE CROWD.

Near him she stole, rank after rank; She feared approach too loud; She touched his garment's hem, and shrank Back in the sheltering crowd.

A trembling joy goes through her frame: Her twelve years' fainting prayer Is heard at last; she is the same As other women there.