They found thee dead, yet kneeling there, Thy life and death alike a prayer:
The cross before thee, and within
Thy holy heart all cleansed from sin :
Celestial odour floated by,
Sweeter than perfumed Araby.
Pure saint! if thou had'st need to flee
Unto thy lone rock by the sea,
To shun the vain but tempting snares
This fleeting empty world prepares,
What then remains for such as we?—
Pray for us, sweet St Rosalie !
FROM THE GERMAN OF UHLAND.
A LEAF falls softly at my feet,
Wearied with rain, and sick with heat : When this frail leaf was fresh and new, I yet had parents kind and true.
A leaf! how fleeting is its day!
Child of the spring, the autumn's preyAnd yet this leaflet, trembling here, Hath outlived all to me so dear.
HAPPY the soul that fades from earth away
As the small winter flowerets meet decay,
Not grieving that their place on earth is given
To fairer children of the spring's soft heaven.
They came to cheer a dark and wintry hour,
And not the balmy dews of April's shower,
Nor May's sweet breath can win them back to bloom,
Sinking all unremembered to the tomb.
Happy the soul that fades from earth away,
As dies the pale star at the break of day :--
When morning's glorious sun again is nigh,
Who heeds the watcher of the midnight sky?
And yet its lonely beam was kind and true,
A welcome light, ye pilgrims sad, to you,
When dews of evening cold around you lay,
And turned to gems beneath that star's meek ray.
Good it were thus to live, and thus depart :Living, to soothe and cheer some troubled heart; Dying, to sink as calmly in the grave
As flowers, that hopes of brighter promise gave.
Content to die, their being's purpose o'er,
Asking no joys for other hearts in store,
And deeming it at last great joy and gain
To know life's span had not been spent in vain.
Nor were all unregarded such a one
By Him who, though unseen, upholds the sun,
Without whose will no forest leaflet stirs,
Who sends His viewless angel messengers.
Who came to die and suffer for His own,
Who was by them unheeded and unknown,
Who for a cup of water given for Him
Returns in heaven a fadeless diadem.
The Rising Sun.
FROM THE GERMAN.
CLAD all in gold and crimson,
In morning's eastern skies,
Behold the glorious sunbeams,
How brightly they arise!
Oh welcome, sun, oh welcome!
In thee God's type we find,
So mighty and so glorious,
And yet so mild and kind.
How fresh and how rejoicing
All rise to life anew,
How bright on each green leaflet
Hang pearly drops of dew!
He who created thee, O sun,
How gracious He must be :To Him oh let us offer
Pure hearts eternally!
|