Part 28

Something hidden from the sight Dashes fullness of delight.

Soothed are we in duty done, And in something new begun,

Like a kissed and flattered child To denial reconciled;

Yet the something unattained Keeps us like Prometheus chained,

And our hearts intenser grow As the vultures come and go.

Sleeping, waking, on we glide, Dreamful and unsatisfied,

Pilgrims on a foreign shore, Wanting something evermore,

All the shadow in our eyes, All the substance in the skies.

By and by another sleep, Angels watch and ward to keep.

By and by, from wakeful eyes, Nothing of the old surprise,

All pure dreams of earth fulfilled, Every sense with gladness thrilled.

Then are we, no more denied, With Thy likeness satisfied.

* * * * *

SACRIFICE

Sacrifice! therein I find no superstition of the past, But one of Truth's great words, all life within, As into chaos cast.

God, God put it there, A trumpet-note to every living soul, A prophecy of all that is most fair Through darkness to the goal.

I can not efface The record of this wonder-working Word, Nor in my memory but faintly trace Stern voices I have heard.

Voices come by day Between life's lightning-flash and thunder-peal, And sooner heaven and earth shall pass away Than what they there reveal.

Voices come at night Amid the silence of deluding cares, And pain flows through the darkness and grows bright, And knowledge unawares.

Voices fill the strife To which I give the beauty of my days, And testify that sacrifice is life, Availing prayer and praise.

Life retained is lost, The tocsin of interminable war; And life relinquished is of life the cost, Which shineth as a star.

Tongue can never tell God's revelations in this mighty Word, Nor how the mystery of life they spell, With which all hearts are stirred.

I continue mute, In joyful awe before the Infinite, Until at length eternity transmute My darkness into light.

I can only speak An earth-born language, that does not reveal The infinitude of duty which I seek To utter and but feel.

Duty! heart of joy! Which giveth strength to suffer and endure, Till self-forgetfulness in God's employ Enthrones a life secure.

Shepherd of the sheep, To whom God gives the universal charge, I think of Thy devotion and I weep, Thy love appears so large!

And I think of all The grief which strengthened Thy exalting hand, Until great tears of Easter gladness fall, To think in Thee I stand,

Out of whose great heart So glorious is death's sacrificial knife-- To think I know Thee now somewhat, who art The way, the truth, the life;