_EVEN THE WINDS AND THE SEA OBEY._ Said the Poet, I wouldn’t maintain, As the mystical German has done, That the land, inexistent till then, To reward him then first saw the sun; And yet I could deem it was so, As o’er the new waters he sailed, That his soul made the breezes to blow, With his courage the breezes had failed; His strong quiet purpose had still The hurricane’s fury withheld; The resolve of his conquering will The lingering vessel impelled: For the beings, the powers that range In the air, on the earth, at our sides, Can modify, temper and change Stronger things than the winds and the tides, By forces occult can the laws— As we style them—of nature o’errule; Can cause, so to say, every cause, And our best mathematics befool; Can defeat calculation and plan, Baffle schemes ne’er so wisely designed, But will bow to the genius of man, And acknowledge a sovereign mind. _REPOSE IN EGYPT._ O happy mother!—while the man wayworn Sleeps by his ass and dreams of daily bread, Wakeful and heedful for thy infant care— O happy mother!—while thy husband sleeps, Art privileged, O blessed one, to see Celestial strangers sharing in thy task, And visible angels waiting on thy child. Take, O young soul, O infant heaven-desired, Take and fear not the cates, although of earth, Which to thy hands celestial hands extend, Take and fear not: such vulgar meats of life Thy spirit lips no more must scorn to pass; The seeming ill, contaminating joys, Thy sense divine no more be loth to allow; The pleasures as the pains of our strange life Thou art engaged, self-compromised, to share. Look up, upon thy mother’s face there sits No sad suspicion of a lurking ill, No shamed confession of a needful sin; Mistrust her not, although of earth she too: Look up! the bright-eyed cherubs overhead Strew from mid air fresh flowers to crown the just Look! thy own father’s servants these, and thine, Who at his bidding and at thine are here. In thine own word was it not said long since Butter and honey shall he eat, and learn The evil to refuse and choose the good? Fear not, O babe divine, fear not, accept; O happy mother, privileged to see, While the man sleeps, the sacred mystery. _TO A SLEEPING CHILD._ Lips, lips, open! Up comes a little bird that lives inside— Up comes a little bird, and peeps, and out he flies. All the day he sits inside, and sometimes he sings, Up he comes, and out he goes at night to spread his wings. Little bird, little bird, whither will you go? Round about the world, while nobody can know. Little bird, little bird, whither do you flee? Far away around the world, while nobody can see. Little bird, little bird, how long will you roam? All round the world and around again home; Round the round world, and back through the air, When the morning comes, the little bird is there.