Through love to light! oh wonderful the way That leads from darkness to the perfect day! From darkness and from sorrow of the night To morning that comes singing o'er the sea, Through love to light! Through light, O God, to thee, Who art the love of love, the eternal light of light. --Richard Watson Gilder. SYMPATHETIC LOVE O Love divine, that stooped to share Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear! On thee we cast each earthborn care; We smile at pain while thou art near. Though long the weary way we tread, And sorrow crown each lingering year, No path we shun, no darkness dread, Our hearts still whispering, "Thou art near!" When drooping pleasure turns to grief And trembling faith is changed to fear, The murmuring wind, the quivering leaf, Shall softly tell us, "Thou art near!" On thee we fling our burdening woe, O Love divine, forever dear; Content to suffer while we know, Living and dying, thou art near! --Oliver Wendell Holmes. Love took up the glass of Time, and turned it in his glowing hands; Every moment, lightly shaken, ran itself in golden sands. Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might; Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, passed in music out of sight. --Alfred Tennyson. For, lo! in hidden deep accord The servant may be like his Lord. And thy love, our love shining through, May tell the world that thou art true, Till those who see us see thee too. --Anna Letitia Waring. Who loves, no law can ever bind; He'd cleave to God as well Were there no golden heaven's reward, And no dark cave of hell. --Scheffler, tr. by Frederic Rowland Marvin. To halls of heavenly truth admission wouldst thou win? Oft knowledge stands without, while Love may enter in. --Richard Chenevix Trench. For others' sake to make life sweet Though thorns may pierce your weary feet; For others' sake to walk each day As if joy helped you all the way, While in the heart may be a grave That makes it hard to be so brave. Herein, I think, is love. Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted; If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refreshment. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Ah, yes! I would a phoenix be, And burn my heart in Deity! Then I should dwell by his dear side, And in the self of God abide. --Scheffler, tr. by Frederic Rowland Marvin. The man is happy, Lord, who love like this doth owe: Loves thee, his friend in thee, and, for thy sake, his foe. --Richard Chenevix Trench. HOPE PROGRESS, OPTIMISM, ENTHUSIASM THE PROMISED LAND--TO-MORROW