14 EVENING PRAYER. With all their clustering locks, untouched by care, And bowed-as flowers are bowed with night-in prayer. Gaze on, 'tis lovely!-childhood's lips and cheek, Mantling beneath its earnest brow of thought! Gaze, yet what seest thou in those fair, and meek, And fragile things, as but for sunshine wrought?Thou seest what grief must nurture for the sky, What death must fashion for eternity! O joyous creatures! that will sink to rest Though fresh within your breast th' untroubled springs Of hope make melody where'er ye tread, And o'er your sleep bright shadows, from the wings Of spirits visiting but youth, be spread; Yet in those flute-like voices, mingling low, Is woman's tenderness-how soon her woe! 15 EVENING PRAYER. Her lot is on you!-silent tears to weep, hour, And sunless riches, from affections deep, To pour on broken reeds-a wasted shower! And to make idols, and to find them clay, And to bewail that worship-therefore pray! Her lot is on you!-to be found untired, Watching the stars out by the bed of pain, With a pale cheek, and yet a brow inspired, And a true heart of hope, though hope be vain! Meekly to bear with wrong, to cheer decay, And, oh! to love through all things-therefore pray! And take the thought of this calm vesper-time, With its low murmuring sounds and silvery light, On through the dark days fading from their prime, Che Better Land. BY F. HEMANS. I HEAR thee speak of the better land; Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise, "Not there, not there, my child." Is it far away, in some region old, Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold- THOUGHT AND DEED. 17 And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand— Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy! Chought and Deed. BY C. B. KENNEDY. FULL many a light thought man may cherish, Full many an idle deed may do; Yet not a deed or thought shall perish 18 THOUGHT AND DEED. When by the wind the tree is shaken, By One who sees and governs all. The tree may fall and be forgotten, The world is with creation teeming, i And things that are destroyed in seeming, And Nature still unfolds the tissue With blessings or with evil fraught. And thou mayst seem to leave behind thee Yet oh, be sure thy sin shall find thee, And thou shalt know its fruit at last. |