Under her heart her glory,--
O rapture that knows no alloy!
Blest Mary! thy travail’s sweet story
Shall waken the whole world’s joy.
OTHER SHEEP.
Pagan, Papist, Protestant!
What is that to thee or me?
Make not Heaven’s mercy scant
With thy pampered bigotry.
Who made thee the judge to be
Of thy brother’s destiny?
Deem not that thy shibboleth
Holds the keys of life and death.
Ah, that secret, sullen sign!
Call it not decree divine;
For a letter, more, or less,
Measures not God’s tenderness.
“Other sheep I have,” said One
Who was more than Mary’s son;
Eyes as blind as thine shall see
His amazing charity.
When it claims the judgment throne,
What is creed but craft and cant?
God will surely know his own--
Pagan, Papist, Protestant.
NIAGARA.
Majestic symbol of eternal power!
Dread oracle of eons all unknown!
Before thy presence Pomp and Passion cower,--
All men are equal at thy awful throne.
Abashed, the eager babble of the mart,
To silence shamed, the vulgar greed for gain;
No more ambition goads the weary heart,
And Toil forgets its unrequited pain.
Stern type of Truth’s inexorable law!
No room remains for envy or for pride;
Here prince and pauper stand in common awe,
Swayed by the spell of thy resistless tide.
A rushing, seething Sinai,--thou dost pour
On sluggish consciences the solemn sense
Of justice infinite: thy thunder’s roar
Declares to Wrong relentless recompense.
Against our arrogance thy strength doth plead;
Deep unto deep imperiously calls;
Impartial annalist! the nations read
Their transient glory on thy ageless walls.
Yet dost thou deign to dower the moment’s need,--
Our dreams exceeding by thy bounteous sway;
With power unrivaled thy proud flood shall speed
The New World’s progress toward Time’s perfect day.
O mighty monitor! O seer sublime!
The soul’s surpassing grandeur thou dost show;
The fountains of thy immemorial prime
Through man’s immortal being freely flow.
LET IN THE LIGHT!
Let in the light!
The sky is bright,
The air is flowing free;
The mountains glow,
The vale, below,
Is holding jubilee.
Let in the light!--
Sad oversight
To miss so sweet a morn;
The vision flies,
Awake! arise!
Each dawn is life reborn.
Let in the light!
O! read aright
The day’s Apocalypse;
Its hours enfold
The age of gold,
And all thy dreams eclipse.
Let in the light!
’Twill soon be night;
Prize every moment given;
With all thy might
Serve thou the right,
And leave the rest to Heaven.
THE LAW OF LOVE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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