"I loved thee ere the skies were spread; My soul bears all thy pains; To gain thy love my sacred heart In earthly shrines remains: Vain are thy offerings, vain thy sighs, Without one gift divine; Give it, my child, thy heart to me, And it shall rest in mine!" In awe she listened, as the shade Passed from her soul away; In low and trembling voice she cried,-- "Lord, help me to obey! Break thou the chains of earth, O Lord, That bind and hold my heart; Let it be thine and thine alone, Let none with thee have part. "Send down, O Lord, thy sacred fire! Consume and cleanse the sin That lingers still within its depths: Let heavenly love begin. That sacred flame thy saints have known, Kindle, O Lord, in me, Thou above all the rest forever, And all the rest in thee." The blessing fell upon her soul; Her angel by her side Knew that the hour of peace was come; Her soul was purified; The shadows fell from roof and arch, Dim was the incensed air,-- But peace went with her as she left The sacred Presence there! ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTOR. * * * * * O, MAY I JOIN THE CHOIR INVISIBLE! O, may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence; live In pulses stirred to generosity, In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn Of miserable aims that end with self, In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge men's minds To vaster issues. So to live is heaven: To make undying music in the world, Breathing a beauteous order that controls With growing sway the growing life of man. So we inherit that sweet purity For which we struggled, failed, and agonized With widening retrospect that bred despair. Rebellious flesh that would not be subdued, A vicious parent shaming still its child, Poor anxious penitence, is quick dissolved; Its discords quenched by meeting harmonies, Die in the large and charitable air. And all our rarer, better, truer self, That sobbed religiously in yearning song, That watched to ease the burden of the world, Laboriously tracing what must be, And what may yet be better,--saw within A worthier image for the sanctuary, And shaped it forth before the multitude, Divinely human, raising worship so To higher reverence more mixed with love, That better self shall live till human Time Shall fold its eyelids, and the human sky Be gathered like a scroll within the tomb, Unread forever. This is life to come, Which martyred men have made more glorious For us, who strive to follow. May I reach That purest heaven,--be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony, Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, Beget the smiles that have no cruelty, Be the sweet presence of a good diffused,