Fifty years & Other Poems Part 7

THE WORD OF AN ENGINEER

"She's built of steel From deck to keel, And bolted strong and tight; In scorn she'll sail The fiercest gale, And pierce the darkest night.

"The builder's art Has proved each part Throughout her breadth and length; Deep in the hulk, Of her mighty bulk, Ten thousand t.i.tans' strength."

The tempest howls, The Ice Wolf prowls, The winds they shift and veer, But calm I sleep, And faith I keep In the word of an engineer.

Along the trail Of the slender rail The train, like a nightmare, flies And dashes on Through the black-mouthed yawn Where the cavernous tunnel lies.

Over the ridge, Across the bridge, Swung twixt the sky and h.e.l.l, On an iron thread Spun from the head Of the man in a draughtsman's cell.

And so we ride Over land and tide, Without a thought of fear-- _Man never had The faith in G.o.d That he has in an engineer!_

LIFE

Out of the infinite sea of eternity To climb, and for an instant stand Upon an island speck of time.

From the impa.s.sible peace of the darkness To wake, and blink at the garish light Through one short hour of fretfulness.

SLEEP

O Sleep, thou kindest minister to man, Silent distiller of the balm of rest, How wonderful thy power, when naught else can, To soothe the torn and sorrow-laden breast!

When bleeding hearts no comforter can find, When burdened souls droop under weight of woe, When thought is torture to the troubled mind, When grief-relieving tears refuse to flow; 'Tis then thou comest on soft-beating wings, And sweet oblivion's peace from them is shed; But ah, the old pain that the waking brings!

That lives again so soon as thou art fled!

Man, why should thought of death cause thee to weep; Since death be but an endless, dreamless sleep?

PRAYER AT SUNRISE

O mighty, powerful, dark-dispelling sun, Now thou art risen, and thy day begun.

How shrink the shrouding mists before thy face, As up thou spring'st to thy diurnal race!

How darkness chases darkness to the west, As shades of light on light rise radiant from thy crest!

For thee, great source of strength, emblem of might, In hours of darkest gloom there is no night.

Thou shinest on though clouds hide thee from sight, And through each break thou sendest down thy light.

O greater Maker of this Thy great sun, Give me the strength this one day's race to run, Fill me with light, fill me with sun-like strength, Fill me with joy to rob the day its length.

Light from within, light that will outward shine, Strength to make strong some weaker heart than mine, Joy to make glad each soul that feels its touch; Great Father of the sun, I ask this much.

THE GIFT TO SING

Sometimes the mist overhangs my path, And blackening clouds about me cling; But, oh, I have a magic way To turn the gloom to cheerful day-- I softly sing.

And if the way grows darker still, Shadowed by Sorrow's somber wing, With glad defiance in my throat, I pierce the darkness with a note, And sing, and sing.

I brood not over the broken past, Nor dread whatever time may bring; No nights are dark, no days are long, While in my heart there swells a song, And I can sing.

MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT

When morning shows her first faint flush, I think of the tender blush That crept so gently to your cheek When first my love I dared to speak; How, in your glance, a dawning ray Gave promise of love's perfect day.

When, in the ardent breath of noon, The roses with pa.s.sion swoon; There steals upon me from the air The scent that lurked within your hair; I touch your hand, I clasp your form-- Again your lips are close and warm.

When comes the night with beauteous skies, I think of your tear-dimmed eyes, Their mute entreaty that I stay, Although your lips sent me away; And then falls memory's bitter blight, And dark--so dark becomes the night.

HER EYES TWIN POOLS

Her eyes, twin pools of mystic light, The blend of star-sheen and black night; O'er which, to sound their glamouring haze, A man might bend, and vainly gaze.

Her eyes, twin pools so dark and deep, In which life's ancient mysteries sleep; Wherein, to seek the quested goal, A man might plunge, and lose his soul.

THE AWAKENING

I dreamed that I was a rose That grew beside a lonely way, Close by a path none ever chose, And there I lingered day by day.

Beneath the sunshine and the show'r I grew and waited there apart, Gathering perfume hour by hour, And storing it within my heart, Yet, never knew, Just why I waited there and grew.

I dreamed that you were a bee That one day gaily flew along, You came across the hedge to me, And sang a soft, love-burdened song.

You brushed my petals with a kiss, I woke to gladness with a start, And yielded up to you in bliss The treasured fragrance of my heart; And then I knew That I had waited there for you.