Lays from the West Part 5

We walk among labyrinths of wonder, but tread the mazes with a club; We sail in chartless seas, but behold! the Pole-star is above us--TUPPER.

Life is a pathway, stretched from morn till eve, O'er which, through shade and sunshine, we must go And, whether bright or dark this life we live, Its end must bring us unto joy or woe; Joy, that no mortal's holiest dreams can know, Or dread, unending; fearful depths of woe!

This path is fair at morning, wondrous fair; With verdant windings, hiding from the view The far-off journey, and what may be there, Hid by the Future hilltops, high and blue; And morn's glad sunlight smiles from dazzling skies, Gilding the path we tread with heaven-lent dyes.

Oh! youth is sweet! for tender hands are near, And eyes aglow with Love's own magic ray, Heart meeting heart, each to the other dear-- Through hours that, ere we count them, glide away; For none can turn to seek a cherished place-- One only life, whose path we can't retrace!

And soon they pa.s.s, these meteor joys of earth, That flash and gleam along the troubled way; Till wondering wanderers question if their birth Dawns from a Land that knows no sad decay; Some sinless region, from whose portals bright These fleeting rays descent in heavenly light.

Such glorious hues, in golden glory glowing, When sunrise splendour glads the morning sky; That bloom awhile, and as they bloom bestowing Beauty and light, so soon to melt and die, Leaving a yearning in the darkened heart To know more closely what we see in part.

The noonday calm, the sunny Summer hours, The wild-birds' warbled songs, the balmy air; Life's early pathway strewn with earth's sweet flowers-- Can these be dying things--so bright, so fair?

Or lights to lead us o'er a chequered road, And cheer the shadows to a blest abode?

Oh! spell-bound Fancy fain would wander far, If we might only break this mortal thrall; And roam, unshackled, o'er Time's broken bar, Trace these gleams whose glory lights on all!

Then would we see in all below, above, The Great Creator's perfect power and love.

Yet in this path that stretched before us lies We may, as oft with weary feet we tread Through chequered ways of change, see through the mysteries The living promise from their gleamings shed, That far from mortal things, and sin, and care, There is a glorious world, unchanging, fair.

Oh! may we trace in all that lives and grows The shadows of a perfect life, unseen; As when some star that in the twilight glows In mirrored dimly in the water's sheen, And we can see, in the calm lake's cool breast, The far-off glow that lingers in the West.

Thus, as we onward go, may thoughts be ours Whose holy pureness in our souls may raise An anthem of thanksgiving, till life's hours, Ending, shall find our hearts' attuned to praise That Love which cheered us on earth's chequered way, O'er the long path that led to Cloudless Day!

CLOUDS IN MAY.

"May is here, sweet 'Mois de Marie,' but my sky is overcast!"--ST. GERMAN.

The hush of twilight, fair and still Great cloud-ranks, bright with gorgeous dyes That linger in the Western skies, Ere Night's deep gloom steals o'er the hill.

The wind sighs softly round the eaves, The May's fresh sweetness fills the air, And Peace seems hovering everywhere.

Oh, restless heart, that aches and grieves!-- Grieves when the earth is bright and green, And Summer's balmy breeze and flowers Are brightening, charming all the hours That span the long, long "bridge between"

Dear hopes and their fruition, laid In many a way, by human plan.

But ah! these dream-world thoughts of man Soon, soon can droop, and blight and fade!

We know 'tis best. Then wherefore try To ask whence come the darksome clouds?

We know 'tis G.o.d's own hand that shroud Our coming days in mysteries.

"A little while," and there is room In that bright, blessed land above, To see, and feel, and taste the love That sends us now the clouds and gloom.

Why come the clouds? G.o.d only knows Why human hearts need pain and woe; But Faith's glad gleams still come and go, Like sunbeams flashing on the snows Of earth's dark winter-time, and He Shall smile at last, and frosts shall melt, And heavenly sunshine shall be felt When Time fades in Eternity

A FRAGMENT.

"My spirit beats her mortal bars As down dark tides the glory glides, Then, star-like, mingles with the stars."--TENNYSON.

Oh, restful peace of night! The balmy air Laden with myriad sounds of things so fair, The waving branches, and the leaves' low whispering The wondrous songs the winding river sings, That through the meadow-lands and forest ways, By flowery nooks, and glades, and valleys strays.

Oh! shadowy time of dreams, and mysteries, And longing hopes! Far in the dark blue skies The star-worlds glimmer brightly through the night; The flowers are sleeping that at close of day Wept dew-tears, as the sun's last fading light From glen and moor land slowly pa.s.sed away, When amorous zephyrs wooed them softly sighing In odorous breaths, as eve's last glow was dying.

Oh! stars, that through the darkness smile and gleam, Like glory-rays that gild the dreary gloom, Or like some soul-world glance or mystic dream That from the mind's vast store of summer bloom We feel at times--your influence comes to raise Our hearts above earth's night of doubts and haze For all these holy thoughts of peace, that spring From hearts at rest from daytime cares and pains, Are messengers of love, sent from the King That in the blessed country lives and reigns.

And from its gates, above the starry heaven, Come mystic rays that round our pathway stray-- His guiding lights that to our souls are given, Foretastes that cheer and brighten all our way!

SPRING THOUGHTS.

"Of the bright things in earth and air How little can the heart embrace- Soft shades and gleaming lights are there I know it well, but cannot trace!"--KEBLE

Spring comes again, and the freed flowers are springing From the cold, frost-bound earth; And on the budding trees the wild birds singing, Hail Nature's glad new birth!

And hope awakes from many a heart-grave using, Glad gloriously and new; And many souls, in faith and trust, are prizing That promise sweet and true;

Summer and Winter, ever coming, going, Springtime and Harvest days, And falling leaves and opening buds are showing G.o.d's ever faithful ways.

That point us to the resurrection morning, And to the gladsome day, When light eternal, the far East adorning, Shall chase these glooms away.

And she shall rise who left our home so early, And left our hearts in gloom, Clad like the flowers, in beauty's bloom all fairly Arising from the tomb.

In that fair Spring and in that Summer shadeless, With her we, too, shall live-- There, 'neath His smile whose glory, beaming fadeless, Eternal peace shall give.

And all these ties that Time's rough hand had driven Shall be united there, And every cross a Father's hand had given Be gemmed with jewels fair!

LINES.

On reading "Lays of Love and Fatherland," by X. Y. Z.

Oh! say not now that Erin's harp Is left untouched by minstrel hand; Oh! say not that no minstrel heart Sings now of "Love and Fatherland."

Green Ulster's mountains and her vales Hear once again a patriot's lyre; Ierna's legendary tales Once more are told in patriot fire!

And hearts beat high, as when of old In chieftain's hall or peasant's cot The stories of our land were told In songs whose spell was half forgot Till, touched again, the chords resound That bid our slumbering zeal return, And souls, so long in coldness bound, With old-time fire and fervour burn!

And favoured ones, whom love shall bless In life's bright, sunny morning hours, Shall sing in joy and happiness These songs in Hope's enchanted bowers, For youth hath dreams, and tho' they go like sunset fading from the sky, The cherished songs of "long ago,"

While memory lives, can never die.

Song's potent powers, like holy things That hover round our path unseen, On airy wings, to fancy brings Old scenes, new-clad in fairy sheen.

And like sweet music heard at eve In some cathedral, old and grey, Such songs can cheer the hearts that grieve, And chase all present gloom away.