Where the prospect all before thee Then whilft thou art upward haftening, New vifions from new heights to gain, No more fhall how onward vex thee; Duty done, life's path is plain. Perennial Flowers. SAINTS. INFLUENCE. OY of my life, while left me here! How in thy absence thou doft steere Me from above! A life well lead This truth commends, . With quick or dead Stars are of mighty use: the night Is dark and long; The rode foul; and where one goes right, Six may go wrong. One twinkling ray, May clear much way, And guide a crowd. God's saints are fhining lights: who stays Here long, must passe O're dark hills, swift ftreams, and fteep ways As smooth as glasse; But these all night, Like candles, shed Their beams, and light Us into bed. They are indeed our pillar-fires, They are that citie's fhining spires A sword-like gleame Will guide him in. Henry Vaughan. 1621-1695. MY LOVE. OT as all other women are NOT Is fhe that to my soul is dear; Great feelings hath fhe of her own, God giveth them to her alone, And sweet they are as any tone Wherewith the wind may choose to blow. Yet in herself fhe dwelleth not, Life hath no dim and lowly spot She doeth little kindneffes Which moft leave undone or despise ; She hath no scorn of common things, Bleffing fhe is: God made her so, She is most fair, and thereunto Feeling or thought that was not true She is a woman: one in whom I love her with a love as ftill And, on its full, deep breaft serene, Like quiet ifles my duties lie ; It flows around them and between, And makes them fresh, and fair, and green, Sweet homes wherein to live and die. J. R. Lowell. |