; > ■ ', i 't t 1 1 1^: Q Q Z U) >• < z z g i u 0) J < >- < a: QQ J 2 >■ en < ffl < m 5 J X Q (£ III bJ Id m X N X 5 UJ X 2 h LU X a, il to 5 D O u m h Z s U z J a. > hi 2,3 oo' THE SP[> ^^>^>nAi pF^J ^ J. J G. WlLlvINSOJN'. irfciorfe: NEW CHURCH PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION. 447 Broome Street. LONDON: W. WHITE, 36 BLOOMSBURY STREET. 1857. ^^ For verily I say unto you, That ichosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and he thou cast into the sea ; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass ; he shall have whatsoever he saith. — Therefore I say unto you. What things soever ye de. sire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, for- give, if ye have aught against any : that your Fa- ther also u-hich is in heaven may forgive you your tres- passses.^^ — Mark xi. 23 — 25. LONDOxX : TRiXTED BY MITCHELL AND SON, WARDOUR STREET, (W §tVxaUh to 18 CONTENTS. page Care 1 Sleep 3 Peace 5 The Living Love J^, Patience 8 Solitude 12 A Landscape 15 Sand-eating 17 The Birth of Adam 20 The Birth of Eve 24 Astrology 28 The Four Beasts and the Four and Twenty Elders 31 Horse of Flesh 34 Life 37 The proud hath said in his heart. There is no God 39 Memory 42 Hahnemann 47 Mesmer 54 Healing 59 VI CONTENTS. page Chloroform : what of it ? 60 Sir Robert Peel 63 England 69 E.B 75 The Birth of Aconite 77 The White Lily 80 A Wife^s Message 85 W. M.W. 89 E.W, 90 Teddy's Flower 93 Saturday Night 96 The Vala . . ib. The Fairies^ Welcome 99 The Dance of Life 105 The Spirit 108 The English Language 112 Icelandic 116 The Holy Spirit descended like a Dove . . . . 118 Sebastopol : what of it ? 124 The Human Ear 125 The Human Eye 130 Song : its divine birth 135 Gentleness 140 Turner : Painter. His State 146 Turner : Painter. His Art 149 Williams. 153 Mary S. 159 The Traveller 166 Thorvaldsen 172 Newness 175 Edgar Allan Poe 178 1857 184 CONTENTS. Vll page East Wind 185 Daily Bread 187 Fearfidness 190 Rome: Pope 191 Napoleon to Napoleon 193 Napoleon I. ; what of him ? 195 Corpse Candles 197 The Fay. Soul 201 Edward Francis Finden 205 Berzelius : his Laboratory 209 The Lawyers : tvhat of them ? 215 The Fairy Veils 217 Harelells 221 Two Verses for E. 222 Tegner 223 The Diamond 229 The Fairy Wand 230 William M. 237 Immanuel Kant 242 Gothic Architecture 249 How can we sing the Lord^s Song in a strange Land 255 Charles Fourier 256 The Hand 263 Uncertainty 268 Chatterton 271 James Robinson 275 Death^s Immortal Light 276 Be Patient 283 Sunday Message ib. The Earth Worm at the root of the Tree . . 286 Dalton ib. Vlll CONTENTS. page Kings .. 293 Remorse ib. The Word 299 Madness 30 1 Sanity 306 The Birthday of the Human Soul . . . . 312 The Mark on the Forehead: what of it ? . . 313 The Palm 316 Little Lovers Throne ib, Liston 318 The Young Artist 325 The First Day .. 327 Little Love 331 M. /. W. : her tenth birthday . . . . 336 E.M.N. 340 Amen 343 Little Evening Message 344 The Lay of Worldly Wine 346 Tiny Evening Message 354 Have Faith 355 The Second Voluspd 356 A little Message for my Wife 371 Charlotte Bronte 374 John Flaxman 380 The Tears of Swedenborg 383 She that bore thee 390 Note 397 IMPROVISATIONS. Look on this slab ; it lieth, Ready for each that dieth, And underneath its way, Gropeth a pilgrim grey. He hath no scrip nor store, His cup once mantled o'er ; But in his hand the wine Mouldered beneath his whine. And so in coming here. Just underneath the bier, He met with hunger's doom, And courted poor man's gloom. B IMPROVISATIONS. They told him heaven was there, And pointed shaft for prayer, But he was fearful lest Want should his home infest. He would insure his life, Past Providence's knife, And be so safe from God, As not to dread his rod. So had no time to pray, Or out from self to stray, But kept his own accounts. Of all his earth amounts. Daybook and ledger, too, Were stuck to him with glue Of want and stickiness That come from will's recess. And as his grave is next Place to his shop, perplexed. He lives within its cave, And there his shop doth have. And when his wares run short. And when his imps do sport, I SLEEP. Anxious, his grandfather Round him doth others gather. And they all moan at nights, Thinking of losses, frights, Perturbing days, ships sunk, Debtors to ruin shrunk. Such is the carking care ; It dieth of fresh air : Liveth in mine and cave, And is one human grave. FOR MY WIFE. Sleep is a field, most level : Softness doth roam and revel In wind with velvet finger Over its grass, where linger Down of all birds of heaven ; Stillness of dawn and even. p 2 IMPROVISATIONS. And level ^tis, because In its most smoothest pause, 'Tis canvass for intention Of heaven^ s most kind invention : For dreams more sweet than life Bears in day's coarser strife. Its levelness is kept By all Health's gardeners : swept By cleanness of all kinds, And by Strength's ruddy hinds : And molehills of old care Have on its lawn no share. But loving virtue's roller Is of that ground controller ; And conscience plucketh weeds When first they leave their seeds : Religion soweth grass Brighter than ever was. Then when the plane's complete, And when the night-times meet. Spirits of dream-land troop, Lay down the golden hoop, And in its limits fine Pour spiritual wine. PEACE. Straightway the beds of slumbers Heave with plant-music's numbers, And drama of live forms Bursts from the teeming swarms ; And sleep is revelation, Life's inward preparation. And thou mayst know thy waking, By light from sleepland breaking, Thy marriage and thy house, If golden are thy vows : And what shall be the power That rules the next day's hour. Peace is a twin that roveth round the world : Two twins is peace with two bright wreaths impearled : There is the peace that cometh after war, And liveth most secure from evil's scar, And this bright peace hath feet that once have bled, And rubies rise for every drop she shed. b IMPROVISATIONS. The other peace hath heaven for her home : She lives above the wars ; beyond their dome. Her mansion is the heart all unpoUute, And nature is not hers, but as a flute In which she soundeth from afar her tones, As good to-morrow in fair evening moans. These twins are one : because the battle peace Into the heavenly calmness doth surcease : And like two doves, the body of the skies Calls up the lower sister with her eyes, And the twain marry for good men at last, And then both peace and battle peace are past. A white-robed angel is in both their stead, Earth is his foot, and heaven his glorious head : The kingdom then hath come, the will is done : The Prince of Peace is settled on earth's throne : And then the stars are wreathed in newer form, And the cloud ventures forth without the storm. THE LIVING LOVE, m^t f ibiitg f #^. The mystery of the living Love Is not of human origin : It broodeth from its home above, And from its heaven within. And still from eve to mom it lives Wherever life is true ; And best within the heart it thrives, When heart the truth doth woo. And furthermore, it entereth far Where pain hath fixed her seat. And warmeth sorrow's chilly star With its peculiar heat. And it is near in time of grief, When sickness strikes the face ; And it doth clasp us, and relief Is its benign embrace. For who is living Love, I pray. And where is such Love found ? He is the Life, the Truth, the Way : He is the Saviour crowned. IMPROVISATIONS. Lord, sliew me Patience from the spirit ground : That I may know its holy temper's round. Wander, and see how far Star is away from star j Mysteriously they live, Far from each other thrive, And w^hen their evening comes^ The light of prayer outblooms. And so thy course of being, Is far from others seeing : All men are far from all. Distance doth round them fall : 'Tis the star-mantle still : The gulf of heavenly will. Moreover, breadth of line Doth around being twine : To show that out of order Springeth each being's border, And that the vine of God, Bears all things on its rod. I PATIENCE, And then again the way That doth round being play, Is blended with the form That wraps all nature's swarm, And multifold and free, Stands the immensity. And thus from out of life, Rolleth the river rife, That hath the mission swift To bear all things their gift. And to confine to man The circle of his scan. So that the web and woof Which is all beings' proof, Standeth in the intent That God hath with it blent, And the fixed palm of him Keepeth his seraphim. And from the whole of things. And from all eyes of wings. And from all thoughts of hearts, And from all error's smarts, And from all sins forgiven. Works forth the patient heaven. 10 IMPROVISATIONS. It is the ass Christ rode Into the state of God : And 'tis the vaulted back That never yet was slack, But did sustain intense The weight of Providence. And under it doth lie The penitence on high : The angels walk its bridge : And mortals on the ridge That it presents to hurry, Drop over in their flurry. But 'tis the deepest ground That God hath planted round : And 'tis the largest thing That God hath made a king : And it holds time and space Rebuked by its face. And in it all things root, And heaven doth from out it shoot ; For tissue 'tis of love, That makes it solid prove : And angels' bodies fine Have patience in their wine. PATIENCE. 11 What more : that patience is The Lord of life and bliss : It is the haste to wait For bettering of state ; The quickness to forgive, And readiness to live. Weave it into thy soul ; Make of one web the whole : Bearing thy burden's sorrow ; Leaving thy soul's to-morrow. Sufficient is each day When patience is its ray. Herbert's sphere Beareth here Patience tear. Let it fall, Slow and small; 'Twill recall Much and all. 12 IMPROVISATIONS. I SEE it now : it lies upon the plain, Like the big drops of summer's pregnant rain, And o'er the city hovers, in the breeze. And windeth like a river through the trees. The darkness doth espy it where it lies : And the night loveth it thro' many eyes : And jewels of the morning come and play Around the footsteps of its wintry way : It is a shape in starry garments clad ; It is a joy w^hose feet are ever sad : And in its hand it holds a book of light, Whose leaves are anthems of creation's height. The shape converts : it is a woman's heart, Red with the dawnfire of the eldest smart : And from its bosom run in ruddy river Shapes fancy-fast, whose outstretched fin- gers quiver. SOLITUDE. 13 It is the womb of things eternal, made Thick, soft and strong out of light's blazing shade : Out of the dark that shines above creation, And has for shadows, suns of every nation. This is the solitude whose vacancy Peoples eternal temples in the sky ; Giving to all things meditation's mood ; Space o'er all things for peace, first dove, to brood. The angels enter it with shoeless feet ; It puts them back from mantle of their heat : It is the closet larger than the heaven. They enter in when prayer from God is given. Amazement is its warder ; and deep sleep Not far within doth all its loekers keep ; For pressure of immensity full soon Curdles the wanderer out of all minds' noon. This is the mystery ; for not alone Standeth the solitude of every throne : Each sceptred might in heaven is nearest then, When sight is stilled within for mortal men. 14 IMPROVISATIONS. The sky hath solitude for last embrace : The oneness final hath no second face : And perfect love is there, for pride is not Where'er infinitude is every spot. And love is solitude : it maketh one, Where two before their separate course did run : Oneness is loneliness, thank God above : And so the air of solitude is love. And peace is solitude ; for where no fear Can ever come, but gone is evil's rear, There in the populous happiness peace thrives. And maketh oneness in all angel lives. Thus solitude and multitude agree. And even-eyedness of infinity Reconciles qualities of seeming strife. And makes our dark with many life-fires rife. Then think not God alone ; for vacancy Hath no one speck in all infinity ; His fulness is an allness ; and his love Doth lie below thy mind, doth lie above. I 1 A LANDSCAPE. 15 And his great awfulness of solitude Is but the nest of his creation's brood : But in himself no loneliness is found : No oneness, but the oneness of no bound. His angels most and least alone, have life Most social, and with deepest oneness rife : Their path is ever through the ways eterne, And more and more, twain into one they burn. The eve was filled with fire, The darkening church- spire Cast shadow far and thin. And the trees far within, Checquered and flecked with gold, Evening's rich gauds did hold. A cottage graced the way : With roses it was gay : An aged couple there Tempted the pleasant air : 16 IMPROVISATIONS. Sat in the front to see Evening's serenity. A wood was near the road : • Along which many a load Of timber newly felled, Carts of the country held, And young lads, merry-tired, Sang homewards many quired. They sang old country-tunes. Of harvest-homes, may-moons, With such varieties As suited their own prize ; For each has country muse. And each peculiar woos. The lord and lady pass : Figures for fancy's glass : Palfrey that ambles round : Steed with a knightly sound : The rustical intent Is wondering on them bent. Night slowly drops her shades, Browns deeper evening glades : SAND-EATING. 17 Candle on cottage hearth Gives light to cottage worth, And thro' the window-pane Gleams frugal supper^ s reign. Bible comes forth at last, To brighten evening's waste : And prayer steps down, to shed Faith's light around the bed. And the old couple lie In childhood's dream on high. Ever in the mouth of man, That doth lie that hath a plan To increase his body's store. And expand his matter's shore. So the grains of dust and sand, Do within the heart expand. Into wildernesses great. Keeping of an arid state. c 18 IMPROVISATIONS. For the deserts of the world, Round about the earth-heart furled, Are from heaven's own law derived : Come from souls in sand- sea shrived. Into oceans of such sand, Plunge and dive, and never land From dust- waters' thirstiness, Ages of mind's barrenness. Oh ! how lips are cracked like stones. Cracked and chapped down to the bones, As they lie Memnonian On great sand's horizon- scan. Sand and they are blent in one. Morning glares its sandy tune From and to and through their gape, Red hot and of glowing shape. It is Egypt's doom I see, Egypt-mouth is shewn to me. Parched and sere and blind and deaf. Mouth all senseless, withered leaf. From such doom avert our way, Bind the sand in sheaves of day, SAND-EATING. 19 Count it for a harvest, Lord, That it be not still abhon-ed. Give it not the sugar taste To the demons of its waste, But lead up red stalks of corn, From its flint and drearness born. Let the water come from thee To respond to corn ; and sea Roll back coverlet of dust From the footmarks of the just. Then redeemed Egypt stands. Corn-robed from her golden sands, And the Nile pours waves of light Towards thy Holy Land and height. And the ancient sciences Bow their heads in cowled recess, And in pyramidic ray. Kneel around, and nightly pray. It IS the sphere Of Cowper's tear. c 2 20 IMPROVISATIONS. Lord, is there special theme this eve, That spirit-muse were well to -weave? The birth of Adam is the first, That hath within the day been nursed : Take it unto thee; let it hurst Its spirit-hud, and watch the flower That riseth in the gauzy hour. ^t iirti of %Um. From tlie rock a sound went forth : 'Twas an echo of the north : On the sea much people stood : 'Twas the archangelic brood. There was silver silence heard : Sound as of creation's bird, When with noiselessness of wing, He doth wake the morning's string. Ever and anon the noon Glowed with deeper presence down, And the archangelic band, Mated heart, and clasped hand. Came a finger o'er the sea, Shoulder in eternity, « THE BIRTH OF ADAM. 21 Where the palace infinite Darkens with excess of light. And it stooped to rock of earth, Touched it with a loving girth ; Spanned it betwixt finger span, Where a lightning river ran. Where a love-eternal ray From each finger-tip did play. And the rock between was changed, Where the loving lightning ranged. And the mood of many things, Rose into the air on wings, As the river-lightning ran, Music in creation-plan. Then the rock perceived its glow, And the rock began to flow, And the image of the skies. Slowly from the rock did rise. And the finger-tips alone. Were applied unto the stone. And the builded Adam rose. Like a man of outward shows. 22 IMPROVISATIONS. And the mystery now lay In a second finger ray, For the Adam incomplete, Wanted all his bosom^s heat. So the fingers once again. Sprinkled on a lightning rain : And the mystery of love, Through Adamic heart did move. But the fingers wandered now To his vacancy of brow. And the place of thought was filled With the light those fingers willed. Then his feet were next correct : And no station circumspect, But was put within their palms, Fit for terra firmans calms. And his fingers, chosen joints. That the oil of skill anoints. Were the last completed tools : — Over these the spirit rules. So was Adam planned and made, And his form and figure 'rayed THE BIRTH OF ADAM. 23 In the heaven, law after law, In the firmamental jaw. But no life was yet within : For the heaven is but a skin : And archangels are but flies, Save for that within them lies. So in wonder silences, Moved in rest eternal breeze, And did mould without all ken Body- soul in spirit men. And then Adam lived : and life Rolled down orders' stages rife : xVnd the rock of earth that stood, Sailed for time on primal flood. 24 IMPROVISATIONS. II. Q, Lord; shall I other song achieve ? A. Yea : the next song is Birth of Eve. Within interior things, Lie innermost of all : The life of living, springs Forth at their earnest call : The voice of God on earth. Sounds from the heartfelt shore. Where mystery hath worth. And where life runneth o'er. Eternal is the Word That doth around thee quiver : Its voice is never heard Upon creation's river : But on the banks of love, Sitteth the Word and speaketh : And from its eyes above. All things below it seeketh. Even as nature's law, Unknown to nature's eye, Ruleth with ancient Saw, Spelt in eternity ; THE BIKTH OF EVE. 25 So rules the Word in life, In gi'oves of living souls ; And ignorant of strife, Through chords of being rolls. It is not meet to say What love God bears to man : He spread the tent of day, As portal of his plan : He made the heavenly arch, As gable of his door. He made the sky for march Of humble souls and poor. And he made love for man, Helpmeet for man to have : And Paradise began With love's primeval wave : The mystery of all things Sailed chanting up to him : And inmost of all rings, His life alone was dim. So then he groped around : The lions knew their wives : The plants upon the ground. Had seed to break their gyves : 26 IMPROVISATIONS. The fishes in the sea Were not unwarm to love : But Adam was not free ; His arm was not to move. And on a night he dreamed, (Archangels knew his dream,) That God above had beamed Upon his hearty's stream : And in his blood a car Had sailed away from him : And had become a star, Twinkling in distance dim. And then he clasp'd his hands, And sighed unto the star ; And from the golden sands Where loves primeval are, He sent a breath of hope Of such aspiring size, That the fair star did ope. E'en in those distant skies. And from its golden rim, A red rain trickled down. That spilt dear red on him. And mantled all his crown : THE BIRTH OF EVE. 27 And he fell on his knees, In ecstacy of heart : And he prayed God would please To give him starry part. So straightway down it came, Down, down, in dream was long ; And left behind it flame. And shed before it song : And as its hair came near, And as its voice was heard. The sound of nature's cheer, Through all her dells was stirred. And Adam knew the sign : And started from his couch : And Eve was there divine. His blessing to avouch : And in the bower of Eden They wed the earth with sky. And marriage so was laden With loves' eternity. And so the song of Eve, Is hard to be construct ; For mortal maidens grieve If light is too instruct : 28 IMPROVISATIONS. But she is Adam's bon-e, The last of Adam's blood : And she is heaven's great stone On which the Saviour stood. And she shall have her rights, Born new from age to age : And she shall miss her plights, And she shall fire the sage, And blood and bone is man, That wars for woman's side : And in Redemption's Plan She is Redemption's Bride. The moonlight riseth up ; There is no moon : Heaven is an empty cup : Upset night's noon. A shadow stealeth on : A vapoury man : His eyes and ears are gone ; His neck is wan. ASTROLOGY. 29 He casteth shadow^ s fear : He mutters miicli : He hath a serpent spear, And a dog pouch. He hath a poison bowl : His arms are skins : And out of his sad jowl A chant begins. 'Tis incantation's song : The moonlight hears it : The arrow of his tongue Pierces and shears it. The poisoned moonlight curdles : The star- wands shiver : And in the magic hurdles Imps run a river. Death's heads leap frantic, And kiss for teeth : They bite in moony antic : They form a w^reath. 30 IMPROVISATIONS. Death's zodiac comes : Sin's hours are there : The music thrums and thrums All sprites to scare. Magician is at home : Spell worketh hard : Under its sooty dome Sitteth a bard. He tells of fascination ; And sings of signs : And of the transmutation Of watery lines. Day Cometh to the ring : Light murders all : Moonlight no more can fling A moonless pall. Devils are brought to book : To common sense : Their wanderings are shook, And their pretence. THE FOUR BEASTS, ETC. 31 Matter is whipped for sin, For astrologic folly : Magic hath lost its skin : It sleeps on holly. Clje laur feasts mh t|^ foxxx aiiir C^toeirtg €lirers. Holy, holy, holy, sang the beasts : Heaven was underneath them : all the feasts Of the love and wisdom of the skies Underneath the mighty Paradise Of the beasts within the throne, are given : Underneath the beasts Divine is heaven. List a marvel : man is man indeed : Man is man from his own members greed : But still within him lies a deeper deep, And in his open eyelids lies a sleep. And in his breath there lies a covert heart, And in his being God hath secret part. I Within the throne of God, man is not man : Another world hath still another scan : 32 IMPROVISATIONS. A brightness lies reposited away That is not night, nor ever is it day : It is the willingness to be both things : That willingness hath the Creator's wings. And so the beast divine above the man, Works cherub-like its own interior plan : And reason in it is the cosmic force ; And will within it is the watercourse ; And soul within it is the fire of fire : And it hath all creation's wonder- tiar. The magic day of man hath no ring here : The wand of little power o'er waters clear, Breaks short when coming to the beasts above ; The elders to its challenge never move : The skies have those four beasts within their rack, The quarters of the divine zodiac. Trust not thyself; but let the river's light Of holy, holy, holy, from its height Ray through thee, and adopt thee, and transform thee, And let the mountains' rivers' glowing warm thee. I THE FOUR BEASTS, ETC. 33 And carry thee beyond the elders^ voice, To the throne centre where the beasts rejoice. The likeness of a Man upon the throne, A Son of Man, doth give thee back thine own : Be as a beast before him : eat thy grass : Look on thy mirrored face in water^s glass : Gender thy kind as faithful as fool-beasts, — In heaven thy board shall grow with hea- venly feasts. For faith and love and life and will and strength, And earth and sea and joy and breadth and length, Are all create, the animals of God, And they all come with cries, a holy flood : And man receives his manhood from the day That the four beasts within him pray their pray. 34 IMPROVISATIONS. This night the song that doth belong, Is state of man, when he doth plan To sing for pride, and high to ride. Tho^ angels tread the skies With ever new surprize, And blend with scenes of wonder, The music of heaven's thunder Is caught in gentle tones, Pealing through angel zones, And waketh softest joys Where no proud care alloys. The first of music there Is the sweet sigh of prayer. It Cometh like a breeze. And stirreth Eden's trees, And like a ripple trembles. And like a bell assembles Hosts of the spirit men, And marshalleth them then. When they are gathered round. Attentive to the sound, HORSE OF FLESH. 35 And hands are clasped, and voices Of each one that rejoices, Are blent in melody, As in a peaceful sea, Then one strong lyre of angel Readeth forth song's evangel. The rest are silent then ; And when all say Amen, Amen in burdens bright Descends on every sight ; And with the light comes sound, And with the sound comes swound, And in the swound comes verse, That one and all rehearse. The globe of poets then, The choir of angel-men. Each sing a different song. That doth to each belong. Yet the songs one and all. Are of a single call. And make one body free. Doth with itself agree. Then in society, Rises an anthem high. D 2 36 IMPROVISATIONS. ^Tis as a perfume cast From all flowers far and fast ; And every fibre heaves With perfmne in its leaves, And every part doth thrill With perfmne from its will. But when men sing on earth, Song hath no heavenly birth. 'Tis bred and born alone, Within the bosom's stone; Comes from the lyre of one, And not from unison ; And on the horse of pride. With vizor down doth ride. This is the horse of flesh ; Its hoof is in a mesh Of swampy wants and wishes : It hath the tail of fishes : Cold in reality ; Hot in mere fantasy : It dreams of heavens of singing : But hell is in it springing. Now then choose well the choir That hath the numerous lyre ; LIFE. 37 The song with fellows mated, By others' songs completed ; And let the horse of flesh Be lifted from the mesh : For heaven is melody, And is society. Lord, give me spirit-song to-night. And give the theme I should indite. Thou shalt sing well, if faith be true, And Life the theme is given you. fife. Life, life, life, — oh, what is life? 'Tis the seed-field of the strife : We sow in its dreary mould. And the heart then groweth cold. Life, life, life, what good of life ? To old ease 'tis murder-knife : It doth kill oblivion's charm. And makes conscience up and arm. Life, life, life, the speckled thing, Snake in self- contorted ring, 38 IMPROVISATIONS. Tis a golden hoop of earth, Head and tail are death and birth. Wend thee out of this foul cycle, To the dragon call thy Michael, Let his crest have morning on it : Change the keynote of thy sonnet. Life, life, life, great choral glee, Danceth forth to welcome thee ; Thou art thy Lord's precious cup. To him wine be offered up. Melancholy is a phantom. Pride, an eggless, henless bantam: Sentiment, safe courage-fed. Phosphorescence from the dead. Life is no putrescent pond ; Life is ever life beyond ; Life is moving, moves to God, As ocean-tides to the moon's rod. Life is love, and cheerfulness Is the central God-fire's dress. This the basal song for thee. — Cultivate the spirit- glee. ATHEISM. 39 P0ttir I]at| saib in lis \}m% ^m is no 60^. Sovereign is the wilderness to him, Where the light of pride and selfish whim Doth engender beauty's harlot dress, And the warmth of inward wickedness. There are lions in the crags of air : Pride doth hear them; and with empty stare, Claims them for his subjects ; but their jaws Are the witnesses of evil's flaws. And within the desolation old. Of the ruined cities of God's fold, Birds of night do keep their foreign state. And feed pride with hootings long and great. But a spirit cometh o'er the sea, And the garment of his panoply Is a jewel soft around him flowing. And from out his mouth a speech is going. Come, he says, my little children dear. See the wilderness is dire and drear, 40 IMPROVISATIONS. But away, where cities are not seen, Flocks I lead on pleasant pastures green. And with crook in hand that Ancient One Leadeth forth a band from Satan won, Where the river is not red with sin. But the light of holy love within. With the water hath a willing kin. Then the city left doth crumble more : And the bittern of its screaming core, Tears its solitude with cruel sounds, While the lion roareth all his rounds. Wander to the night-time, city vast : Speed to chaotic places : troop in haste To the red halls of vacancy that lie Far shovelled down in hell's prolixity. Thou art the atheist of the world, and thou Hast earth for star and seal upon thy brow ; And ruin is thy garment, and thy head The loss of death unto the second dead. Summer is on thee : ruin's summer heat : Spring hath been thine: the spring of ill effete : J ATHEISM. 41 Thy autumn and thy winter shall be fed AVith nothingness by hunger's oldest tread. Come out of her, my people, purge the life That made the heart of man an impious knife, To cut the sight and love that fly to God ; And leave her to the times of level sod. She shall be sown w^ith men again, when he Completeth compass of his mercy free. And ages of man's dust shall hinder not The purge of heaven upon that city's blot. It is the sphere Of Shelley's tear, That wanders by In fruitless sigh. And asks the wind To ease his mind. 42 IMPROVISATIONS. Endless morning striveth From the breast of God : Endless beauty liveth, Budding from his rod : And the po^Yers of darkness, Crouching in their caves, Feel the mighty starkness Of old evil's waves. For the breath creating Wanders forth from God ; And all beings mating, Is their beauty's rod : And in hours of fasting, Still they look to him ; And their faith is tasting Light in coverts dim. So therefore the centre Of the creature life, Where the Lord doth enter. With his blessings rife. MEMORY. 43 Is the morning glory Of the creature's soul ; And the moving story Doth around it roll. Witness of creation, ^ Record of the stars, Signet of each station Where the good man wars. Warder still is kept. On a present throne : He hath never slept, Since he was alone. He is memory mighty : He is memory's star : And his pen is weighty ; And his tablets are Disks of starry sand, Spread from heaven to heaven. Where the ground is spanned By the justice even. On that sea of sand Words arise to view : ]\Iountains on the land Of the good and true ; 44 IMPROVISATIONS. They arise in ridges From the substance fires : And they are the bridges Of the world's desires. And those mountains old Are the eldest hills ; And from summits cold, Run down judgment-rills : From the crags of granite Which the heaven has loved, Where the lightnings span it In the halls unroved. And upon the slopes Of memorial mounts, There do gush forth hopes In immortal founts ; And the hopes up there, Not like water here. End in fires of prayer, That to heaven do rear. And from out the hills, Stones are hewn for time ; Blocks of wants and wills Full of memory's chime ; MEMORY. 45 For the morning stars, When they sang together, Brought their music bars, And did stow them hither. And so substance each, On those hills that lies. In its heart doth teach, God's great mysteries ; And the ruby bricks Of the human blood, Have of old been wicks In God's halls that stood. This is then for sure. That past human ken, All things shall endure. Tending down to men : For the veriest stones Of the temple grand. Deep, are but the tones Of God's morning band. Memory cometh hence. That the earliest light. Dawn of Providence Into nothing's night. 46 IMPROVISATIONS. Kept recording ray, Secretarial beam, That no word might stray Down a lessening stream. And so the Immortal Deeper is than stars : Memory's but the portal Of more memory's bars : Far within the heaven, On the ruby mounts, Memory's pen is given. Memory's scribe recounts. Goodness is the thing That doth memory make : Its immortal wing Doth oblivion break : Then Truth cometh first ; Seizeth memory's line : And in glory nurst. Pours on the divine. Consciousness is so. In its inward sea. But the august glow Of the good and free ; i HAHNEMANN. 47 Of the true and brave In their heavens secure : And its downward wave Is our memory poor. But the ancient halls, Ancestors of ours, Where our memory calls To the heavenly powers, Stand beneath the throne. Filled with wise and good 5 And they truly own Memory's whitest rood. " For every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." — Matt vii. 8. Well was the wayside trodden : The leathern bag was full : The weary feet were sodden : The heavy heart was dull : 48 IMPROVISATIONS. I entered on the courses Where millions entered too ; And they all had their horses : I only had one shoe. At length I cut a stick From out a liberal hedge : And with that aid, more quick Through the long mud did dredge : I came unto an inn, Where landlord's face was kind : And for a time, within Did peace and pleasure find. But on a day it chanced, Just as the sun was risen. And as the night entranced Was ta'en back to its prison, — I went out very early, And wandered in the field : The grass was heavenly pearly : And diamond glance did yield. It spoke unto my glances, And said that nature's laws Were real fairy dances. And that the onlv cause HAHNEMANN. 49 Why men missed all the meaning That grows in everything, Is that they ^ re overweening, And each would be a king. And so as cause so small is, So delicate and dear. And as rude man so tall is, Of course he cannot hear The voices of the buttercups. Or cheenngs of the firs : But over his hot stuttercups His rampant highness stirs. To breakfast I went home then. And on the table, lo, A thing that made me roam then In wonder's farthest glow : A wizard sure had sent it. Or a fay left it there ; Or else a spirit lent it In answer to a prayer. It was a cup of waters. And as I looked therein, I saw the land of slaughters. And saw the knife of sin : 50 IMPROVISATIONS, The board was board no longer, But it was world at large, And I was angel- stronger Than all my wishes marge. I took the cup and broke it, And as its fragments fell, The truth ran down : I spoke it : I do remember well : I said : '^ Now, God ! pray hear me I And let my voice be thine ! For thou art ever near me. And thou alone divine. And now my doom is chosen : I see my future plant : My life is all unfrozen : And thy life is my want. Give, Lord, another vessel, To hold another drop. And staunch up the blood-wassail, And every blood-song stop.'' Then my foot parted thence, And now another road. Led past a second fence With mvrtles well bestowed : HAHNEMANN. 51 I put my hand forth there, And lo 1 into my palm, A myrtle chaplet rare Came uncompelled and calm. Unmoved by pride or thought, I put it on my head ; And now my way was naught, I lost all travel-dread : Miles were no more to me, Than washes to my mind : And I looked forth to see That all the grass was kind. Upon a certain even, It had no date on earth, My weariness was grieven. For it again took birth : And I lay down to slumber Upon a bed of thyme : And there I did encumber The earth with weary rhyme. I dreamt I saw a fairy. And laughed for very joy : His manners were so airy. And all his foot so coy : E 2 52 IMPROVISATIONS. And he came playing round me, And said, " My mighty sir, You very much astound me If now a line you stir !" '' Soon seen," I tried to say. But sure enough 't\s^as true : My voice had passed away, And nothing but a coo Of inward wishing shook me. As I essayed to speak : And then the fairy strook me, And said I was not weak. He took me to a dell Deep down in violet-heavens, Where beauty hath a swell That outward beauty leavens ; And in the arms of roses, I saw great nature's heart, And how her fi^ame reposes On innocencj-'s part. And this was revelation Of healthful import free : And spoke regeneration To all the human tree : HAHNEMANN. 53 The land of love's first temple, Where health for man is found : For there all meats are simple, And every heart is sound. My fairy came full often : His blest instruction stood : His small influx could soften All touch of flesh and blood : The least of error's sourness : The least of poison's sting : The least of nature's poorness Was written in his ring. My fairy was two-eyed, Love was in his right gleam : And poison was its bride That from the left did stream : The serpent taken up, As Christ said it should be, And made a brazen cup Of health's wild ministry. And now for last of lay : Hahnemann standeth here : His mission comes to-day, Founded upon his bier. 54 IMPROVISATIONS. He died to your world^s truth, And other truth put on : And since, heaven has his youth, And his old age is gone. mm^. Upon a bank I lay, And waited till the day Strook me with yellow ray. And there I saw a light, That had a birdlike flight. And had a radiance white. It played upon my brow. I felt I know not how : It was a heavenly plough. It left not as it found me : It came for work to sound me ; And with new voice did wound me. MESMER. 55 I asked it what it meant : A finger-tip it sent, And o'er my lips it went. I was as dumb as beast : I saw not in the least : Yet was mine eye increased. And on another day, I felt a second ray, Most like a child at play. It was so heavenly fair : It nestled in my hair. And wove gold tissue there. And as my hand I placed, My very hand it graced, And slid down to my waist. And dropt a girdle there : The light of gems was rare : Sheen was in all mine air. And on a third time, lo ! I felt more general glow : Light came like tropic snow. 56 IMPROVISATIONS. Snow where the clime white hot Seetheth in love's great lot, And diamond-ice hath plot. And then I felt a heat That cold could never beat, And lived within fire's feet. But all this time, a son Was born a race to run, And a new goal was won. The ancient life of man. Had caught a newer plan, And more with heaven it ran. I rose from off my bed : I found I had been dead : My night's old robe I shed. A woman stood beside : She was no mortal's bride : Nor marriage did betide. Her name she said was Love, Fire was her name above : The light had made her rove. MESMER. 57 She took me, not by hand, But by mine ether's band. And led me round the land. I felt her in my veins, And she knew all my gains, And shifted all my pains. And when she sailed aloft. Mine eyes grew liquid soft, I lived upon her waft. And when she hovered down, Sleep settled on my crown. And I went out of town. And I said. Who are you ? And she said : I am True : My other name is. Woo. And I said : Where am I ? And she said : Where's the sky ? And I said : Let me try. And so we lived conversing : And I lived in her nursing : And loved her light coercing. 58 IMPROVISATIONS. But when I would have gone ; She said she was alone, And had need of some one. And so I took her part, And fixed her to my heart, And we knew not love's smart. And oft she told me much About her lineage : touch Had bred her in life's pouch. And o'er the sea she flew ; The sea of men she knew, But could not pierce it through. Till on a day I came. And felt a vacant flame : She filled it with her aim. And thus to men she got, And with them took her lot ; And I am her first dot. So was I born for this : With woman- air to kiss : And to feel aural bliss. HEALING. 59 But I have one I own : And I am in His throne : And there my sorro\ys groan. Pealing. Stretch forth thy hands, new truth Given down thy fingers line, With prayers from God, pure youth. And ecstacy di\4ne, — All these are round the shrine. Health is the second birth ; Prayer is its rod ; The serpent of the earth, Listing its holy nod. Moves with the cleansing breath of God. Thou needest but to pray, — No prayer of shame ; No lisping of thy self-hood into day, — But love's own flame : — Health is thy prayers new name. 60 IMPROVISATIONS. Hands righteously upheld, Are cups of wine : The sky in all its glorious shield, Is but the vine That runs with sap of health from Christ his shrine. ^Itoofarm: Mjatcf it? Intimacy of all things, Lives by way of clasped rings : They do wed, and weld, and fuse, Each into the other's noose : And the lesson of their way, Round about in sphere doth play. Reckless of all other life. Mariner of eldest strife. Boatman of the darkness-flood, Charon of the Styx of blood, Man chirurgical is seen ; With a knife of meadow green. chloroform: what of it? 61 It is green because it grows Like the grass, from mortal woes : From lopped miseries ; from manure That doth fertile grass ensure : But its light is demon -green : Tint in monster eyewhites seen. And within its wicked sheath, There doth also lie a wreath, Of old paper, left for dead By a ghost who had misled Many footsteps on the shore Where the poor and sick are sore. On that paper words are writ : Words of venom : these to wit : " Heed not flesh, nor heed not blood : Ravens must have daily food : Carve and carve the raven- meal : Let the sinew taste the steel." But in eld a man there was, And he had a looking glass ; And he saw within its shive, jMany things that should arrive : And he looked upon a table. Gaunt as bone, with old blood sable. 62 IMPROVISATIONS. And upon a second day, As he knelt him down to pray, Lo ! a hand with bottle red, Drops upon the table shed ; 'Twas a hand of angel lady. Joints most musical and steady. And a writhing form that lay Stretched upon that table's sway. Straight grew calm as lake at eve. And his groans did cease to grieve : And the steel looked up amazed, If the silly flesh was crazed ? And the ages past away : Long and long their cruel play ; And the steel gave note of war To the flesh and bone ; the scar Of its murmers shook the flesh O'er which it had rambled fresh. But in good America, Come to light another day ; And the dream of ancient seer, God then showed us all, was here : And the steel took note of man : And heart inside steel began. SIR ROBERT PEEL. 63 Then thereafter, civil fray Was redeemed from the day, That the knife of man no more. Struck upon a feeling core, But did first disarm the sense, And then work in dream's pretence. For the law goes in and in, And the doom of death and sin. All the surgery of God, Loseth now its cruel rod ; Mercy sitteth in the steel : Love, in hardest commonweal. ^ir Robert fed. Oh ! England : land of mine : Ancestral land of mine : Thou art a vacant rood. Thou art a field for good : Thou art a room for peace : Thou art a world's release. Now hearken : I will tell. Upon thia muse's shell, 64 IMPROVISATIONS. All that befel my bark, Since first I left the dark : And entered on the ground Whose shore is the profound. My earthly fame and greed Stood in no heavenly stead. The first thing that I did After my frame was hid, Was to look down my line, And count its gains divine. I entered on a place Decked forth with all my race : They stood, or were depicted, And likeness each corrected. Expressed the gain of good That within each one stood. The family looked fair : They had much natural hair : And in their teeth I read That life had been their dread. And that they looked around To see what might be found. SIR ROBERT PEEL. 65 Within each port rait- eye Methought I heard a sigh : As though a sorrow- tear Were vocal far and near : And this, they said, was woe For those from earth that go. And as I gazed about, Methought I heard a shout ; Just as if pictures all. Had taken up the ball, And echoed to mine ear : '* Another Peel to fear.'' Then knew I that the band Was held in Order's hand. And that no thought of theirs Could stir the spirit- airs, But that they one and all Made up the self- same ball. And as I mused and dreamed, And Be and Be not seemed, A sudden light around Broke with a glancing sound ; The pictures all were gone : And there I stood alone. 66 IMPROVISATIONS. My head had turban on : My hand was nigh my shoon ; I bent me to the ground, And lo ! within a round, A spirit talked with me From a bright company. He said he came from heaven AVhere England's lines are given, And that he had a rod Whose will is England's nod : And that he had a wave Whose deep is England's grave. I stood beside his feet, And felt his general heat ; And looked up to his knees. And then there came a breeze That shook me, from his thigh : It seemed to ope my eye. And then no longer blind, I looked on much mankind. And I saw Asia's page, Light- margined, red with rage. And England poured her horn. And love was on it born. SIR ROBERT PEEL. 67 And Africa came next : She reeled and looked perplext : And fi'om her hair of oil, I saw her take a coil That, twisted round the world, Like a pearl wreath was curled. And England took the wreath : England began to breathe : The pearls of that dark ray Went into England's way, And lit her to a room Where light had beaten gloom. And after that I saw, And England loved a law That had a golden heart. And throbbed with heavenly smart ; And England then stood fast, And shouted — Life at last ! Then, — oh ! how strange is Life ! For it is fortune's wife ; And God is life's own father — Then, when my eyes would rather Gaze upon England's fate — " Look," Life said, '' at thy state." f2 68 IMPROVISATIONS. Upon my feet I gazed : Two stalks of corn were raised : They went to heaven, to heaven, To heaven, to heaven, to heaven, And my sight with them too : My vision met the blue. And as it lost itself, Far in the heavenly shelf. An ear of corn was seen. And on it was a green. And palaces and hills Lay in it, and great rills. And then I heard a song , And it said : '' Don't be long : Growth, rapid here like light, Hath guided all thy flight : And reared a state for thee : Now enter fi-eedom's tree." And then I raised my hand. And lo ! upon the land. The shadow of the sun Plaited a wreath that run In golden twine of beams. Shot through with quivering streams. ENGLAND. 69 And this, His said, is mine : This empire, now divine : And I am sitting here In corn and vinetree's sphere : And England hath my love : England of home above. " Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, that do ye unto them." €nglanir. Lamp of the faithful : hearken ! No longer counsels darken ! No longer lend thine ear To sin, and to sin's fear, But be of love in Christ. Be hearts no longer iced. My will is here : my will : On earth its force could spill And shatter and rend men : My will has come again : My will is heavenly now. Cromwell is in a vow. 70 IMPROVISATIONS. He knows what England wants : He sees her gains and scants : He cares not for her glory, Nor yet for his own story : But for God- service cares : That service hath his hairs. Now listen : for his use Is rapid : so unloose Your horse of doing ; let him Rush forward : never pet him : He is a battle-horse, And has a mane of course. This evening he is sad : Some evenings he is glad : But not to take up time, Or spin a poet's rhyme, (I wish that it was prose) This is my present nose. You're all in the wrong way : The sheep should never stray : Yet you have left Christ's fold, "Which means, you're getting old : And I must come again AYith my new battering train. ENGLAND. 71 The ardour of your lives Runs mostly to your wives : You build up drawiug-rooms, And mostly care for grooms : But England wants new men : And I must come again. I must come in Christ's love : That is the force above. It makes our nations gi'eat, Because it makes them wait Until the Lord decides, So they float on his tides. But you have no such thought, And that makes England naught. You go into your ways, As if you made the days : And when you come to night, You go into delight. I went to sleep betimes, And loved the morning's chimes ; But you go to the dance, And mornings drop askance. And England's eye dont see them, Because her actions flee them. 72 improvisations/ A time will come, my boys, When you will count your toys, And say, This doll won't do, And that doll has no shoe. And that poor sweetmeats' lire Fills no man's sick desire. Look out : look round : go down Into your newest town : See country maidens move : They're not a bit like love, They are like paper things, And they have paper wings. In my time, Bible speech Was within all tongues' reach : None was ashamed to preach, So everyone could teach. Life was like a round peach : Now, 'tis a cut-off leech. Why ! if you'd only learn What 'tis with God to burn, You'd realize more stuff Within your beings cuff In one short hour of dawn. Than all you now can pawn. ENGLAND. 73 You^re men of battles still, Only you've not the will : You've the desire indeed, But not the true will's seed : You have'^no i^pirit, boys : But all things are your toys. If you would only know AVhat thing it is to glow, You would dispute no more Than ocean in its roar, But turn to madder life Than ever yet had strife. Madder, that is, in fling : With divine reason's ring : For you're quite mad enough Now, e'en in your poor stuff; But now you are mad sane, And this is very vain. Be carried off your feet Some day by generous heat : Let the wdld angel try Some day to raise your thigh : See how it feels to bless, — If love be happiness. 74 IMPROVISATIONS. Experiment for God : Try him : and list his nod : You'll find that being moved By Him who all things proved, Hath that within its palm, Which maketh powerful-calm. And now another thing : Again you have a king : Make her a real one By shouldering her throne : Supporting her and you : Make her a monarch true. She is as good as I : Though I am now on high : But then I made my throne : And she has got her bone : Let be : let go : I'm gone : Now rally to her throne. E. n, i ij A SOLEMN lay comes slowly, It peals from earth to heaven, Grand is the strain and holy That now to thee is given. Thou art a bride of spirit, A sister of our skies. The house thou shalt inherit Four square before thee lies. Its portico is marble, Its stairs are ruby red. The birds of gladness warble Their gushings overhead, Among the golden globes Of fruit that hang around ; The house is clad in robes Of beauty and of sound. That float about festooning All things with beauty here ; The melodies are crooning Round land and field and mere. 76 IMPROVISATIONS. And in that house a jewel Set fitly for thy breast : Ah ! spirit was not cruel That gave him such a rest. Then walk up to the casket, Thy life is near the door, 'Twill open if thou ask it, And o'er thee, spirit pour. Thou art not far from heaven, Thou art not far from love ; Thy dower is sevenfold seven, Thy hopes are fixed above. Yet earth does well to keep thee, For thy good deeds are needed : We only yet would steep thee In spirit- powers : unheeded Thy husband oft is with thee, dear. And he has led thee on : One day thou shalt see all things clear, For home will then be won. And separation's day be done. THE BIRTH OF ACONITE. 77 m ^Irtl] of icanite. Not far from thence where first the wild goat wandered, When his lone footsteps sought the silent heath, And skirted by the river of black mud That flowed along, and filled its banks with slime And miry creatm-es, on the other shore Of Lethe's sullen wave, a plant there grew Which weltered in the slime, and loved it well. Apart from all it drew a mystic line. And led a mystic life, a life of poison, Such as the robber leads in his dim den Of murderous resolve, or as the gamester Leads at the table, when his wolfish eyes |Eat up the pool, and gorge his neighbour's life. There grew it, and there grows it still, but now. Or ere the moon has filled her quarter first, 78 IMPROVISATIONS. And while her horn Is young, and is so sharp That like a dirk it stabs the midnight air, That plant is on the move : it grew in hell, Or ere it grew in earth, and now to tell How it came down, and fixed its roots below. There were two men, two brothers ; they did play With scorpions of foul passion, and the one Did strike the other with a dart of death. That gave his heart's red glue an outlet, and It weltered down upon his thigh, and there Congealing, crusted in the mouldering air. And so the crust grew harder, till at last It shaped itself in crystalline device Of many daggers, pointing each at each, A mimic murder field ; and then it fell Into new dust, and then new things arose. Horrible fungi, whose red lurid faces Shone out like moonlight on a desert grave ; Such funguses as shed their mildew vast On trunks of trees that long have passed to earth, And rot, and rot away. These fungi too, Deciduous like the last, past off, and died. THE BIRTH OF ACONITE. 79 And from the scimi of their foul corpses rose Another race of creatures, arid beetles, Great horned, and monstrous as the jaws of doom. These creatures too had murder's brand upon them. Murder was in them, and it lived a-through them. And had they gone to fifty generations, Murder had been their all, parent and child. But yet they died also, and from their ruin, Their black some legs and brownsome villa- nies 0f intestinal substance, swarmed a race Of newer creatures still, a vagrant race Of winged vermin, that took flight, and fled Amid the flowers. AYhat flowers? The flowers of night ^nd carrion's vegetables. There they spawned, \.nd sped their generations in their places. ^ow the last scene of all. From out the womb [)f these last vagrant creatm*es, there arose, 80 IMPROVISATIONS. By ancestry of murder, from the stings Of old remorses, minds long laid in hell In coffins of old vengeance, where they rot And putrefy in most exceeding foulness, — There did arise a race of ruin strong, A triple race, which with forked adder tongue Smote earth into its core, into the womb Spread universal all along the gi^ound. And earth conceived dire murder, in a plant. This was the Aconite, and this its birth r In case it disappoint thee, then the theme. And not the truth of song, is all to blame. m}( Slljite pig. Within the soul There lies a pole. That like magnetic needle, Points every flower In every hour. And every leaf and seedle, THE WHITE LILY. 81 In nature's loom, In nature's womb ( )f beautiful inweavings : That knows each herb Whose smile will curb The ailing hearty's grievings. She has no need Of studious heed To read the loves of natures ; The plants are hers, She in them stirs, They are her lower creatures. For heart and brain, And staiTy train. Are plants of her devices. She weaveth spheres. She maketh tears : Sunbeams and sorrows' ices. And she does live When she does give Good cure for all that's ailing : She goes her rounds. And most abounds Where woman most is wailing. 82 IMPROVISATIONS. She has the rose To set off snows On cheeks of modest maiden. The lily fair And stately rare, And with rare virtues laden, Comes led by her With gossamer From spirit shores of healing. See, white it swells : Hark, its white bells Of love and life are pealing. The fairy chm'ch Built of the birch, The rod of sweet religion. Is good for sparrow Who wants his marrow. And good for woodland pigeon. The lily dear Is far too near To hearts in love abounding, To heed the chimes Or hear the rhymes That from that church are sounding. THE WHITE LILY. 83 Her torch is love, She lives above On couch of whiteness sitting. Around her bed Of yellow red The bees of life are flitting. She heals the heart From love's sweet smart, From too much joy of loving. Her snow is white : And like the light, Contrasting and reproving. Then use her well : And court her spell. If such like pain o'ertakes thee : And use her too If thou shouldst woo. And she thou wooest forsakes thee. Remember ever That God's bright river Of healing floweth duly, And plant and leaf Give good to grief To him that worships trulv. * G 2 84 IMPROVISATIONS. For faith's the soul That from the goal Makes virtue all around it ; In plants, in flowers, In days and hours, For him alone who's found it. But without faith All plants are death. All men are carrion- brothers ; And without faith Great nature's wraith Arises till it smothers Hope on her seat. Love in her heat. Skill in its workshop handy. Let faith then guide, And ^yiih thee ride Through deserts lone and sandy ; They then shall bloom, And nature's tomb. The lily and the rose Shall both adorn. And sunny morn Be poured on mortal snows. A wife's message. 85 The snows shalt melt, New lily-felt Shall clothe the ground with splendor. All shall be mately, All shall be stately, And love shall then be tender, AYithout the smart That tears the heart, And works the mind's undoing. Yea, Love the lily Shall mount her filly And ride amain past rueing, i Mlifc's llkssage. The bread of heaven With holy leaven Descendeth to thy board : The wine of joy Without alloy Around thy hearth is poured. Provision sweet Of heavenly meat 86 IMPROVISATIONS. Awaits thy days to come : For virtue's light In newer height Awakens in thy home. Gifts crowd on gifts, When each one lifts Receiver to the sky ; And God's great flood Of living food Shall then be never dry. The mantling cup That sparkles up With fancy's bubbling store, Is poor compared With that cup shared With pilgrims at the door. For they drop pearls. And each one whirls Life's light amid the wine ; For angel guest Comes poorly drest. And seemeth not to shine. A wife's message. 87 But when he finds Love ruleth minds, And charity is warm, His dress doth flow. His face doth glow. And glory is his form. And so we get Our coronet From seeming beggar's hands. And we are crowned Where poor abound, For there are angel-bands. In winter's dearth, In icy earth, In snow's most dreary garb, Remember well The hearts that swell, Yet feel dread winter's l3arb. And earn thy gem, And diadem. By care around thee cast. Expand thy heart. And do thy part. And make a cheerful past. IMPROVISATIONS. Let conscience plead For hearts that bleed, And thus its own sores heal ; And in thy home Let large light come Of human Commonweal. Heaven waxeth so ; For heaven's flowers blow In social clime of man. Her sun too shines Within the lines Where God's intent began ; In human love, No lonely dove. But well acquaint with others. This winter time This winter rhyme Tells all to love their brothers. \V. M. W.