THE TRIUMPH OF TIME. HE tender delicate Flowers, I saw them fanned by a warm western wind, Fed by soft summer showers, Shielded by care, and yet, (oh Fate unkind!) Fade in a few short hours. The gentle and the gay, Are met by Death, who sternly, sadly leads And Hopes, perfumed and bright, So lately shining, wet with dew and tears, I saw them change to dark and anxious fears I wept that all must die— "Yet Love," I cried, " doth live, and conquer death-" And Time passed by, And breathed on Love, and killed it with his breath Ere Death was nigh. More bitter far than all It was to know that Love can change and die— "The Love of God lives through eternity, And conquers all!" A PARTING. ITHOUT one bitter feeling let us part— has shed A radiance like a glory round my head, I thank you, yes, I thank you from my heart. I thank you for the cherished hope of years, Winging its way from Heaven to be mine, I thank you, yes, I thank you even more From an abundant and exhaustless store. I thank you, and no grief is in these tears; Yet how much more I thank you that you tore I thank you that you taught me the stern truth, (None other could have told and I believed,) That vain had been my life, and I deceived, And wasted all the purpose of my youth. I thank you that your hand dashed down the shrine, Wherein my idol worship I had paid; Else had I never known a soul was made To serve and worship only the Divine. I thank that the heart I cast away you On such as you, though broken, bruised and crushed, Now that its fiery throbbing is all hushed, Upon a worthier altar I can lay. I thank you for the lesson that such love I thank you for a terrible awaking, And if reproach seemed hidden in my pain, And sorrow seemed to cry on your disdain, Know that my blessing lay in your forsaking. Farewell for ever now :- -in peace we part; THE GOLDEN GATE. IM shadows gather thickly round, and up the misty stair they climb, The cloudy stair that upward leads to where the closed portals shine, Round which the kneeling spirits wait the opening of the Golden Gate. And some with eager longing go, still pressing forward, hand in hand, And some with weary step and slow, look back where their Beloved stand Yet up the misty stair they climb, led onward by the Angel Time. As unseen hands roll back the doors, the light that floods the very air |