P s 
 
 The Sower ahd Other Poems 
 
 By Wifliam R McKenzi 
 
i ' ) J ' > J 
 
THE LIBRARY OF 
 CONGf^ESS, 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 JUN 30 1903 
 
 Copyiight tntry 
 CLASS "J^ XXc, No. 
 
 ^^ (:> / 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 
 Copyyighf, J £89, 1891, 1903, 
 bv V/iliia}7i P. McKemie, 
 
Vie fields of earth are sown. 
 And many share in the yield. 
 
 Souier, toiling alone, 
 
 That the fields of the earth be sown. 
 
 And joy for the race be known, 
 
 May the Lord of the Harvest shield! 
 
 The fields of earth are sown, 
 
 How many share in the yield. 
 
The Sower 
 and Other Poems 
 
PAGE 
 
 Prologue 7 
 
 The Sower 12 
 
 With Peace like a River .... 14 
 
 Love Seeking Beauty . . . . 16 
 
 The Upward Look 18 
 
 The Peace of God 20 
 
 The Meek Shall Inherit , ... 22 
 
 Harvesting 26 
 
 An Enemy's Sowing ..... 28 
 
 Torment Us Not 32 
 
 Known by Its Fruit 34 
 
 Opportunity 36 
 
 Faith 38 
 
 Life from the Dead 40 
 
 When Hate is Blind 42 
 
 Living Waters 44 
 
 Ministry 46 
 
 Temple-Building 48 
 
 Gifts in Sleep 50 
 
 Two Paths 52 
 
 God's Tokens ...... 54 
 
 A Song of Rest 56 
 
 Afterthought ...... 59 
 
The Sower 
 
 
 12 
 
ORN with thy toil, that seemeth 
 
 unavailing, [reward ; 
 
 Fear not, thou Sower, most sure is thy 
 Wait till the end, for Justice is unfailing, 
 Working the plans of Love, the 
 heavenly Lord. 
 
 Thine is not labor lustreless and weary, 
 Toil spent for wages and reward of 
 daily bread; [and dreary. 
 
 Nor thine to scheme, with selfish thought 
 Holding an abundance whereof no 
 poor are fed. 
 
 Sower thou art now, — foresee the joy 
 of harvest. 
 The hungry shall be fed with what 
 thy hands supply ; 
 Scatter free thy good seed, though for 
 lack thou starvest, 
 Love*s hundredfold of increase thy 
 heart will satisfy. 
 
With Peace like a River 
 
 14 
 
N its quiet valley, with tree-clad 
 banks 
 Miles and miles along, 
 The river floweth and giveth 
 thanks, 
 Singing its quiet song. 
 
 Gentle its flow o*er the sandy bed ; 
 
 Ripples that gleam Kke smiles 
 Give back the glow of the sun o*er-head. 
 
 To think of in after-whiles. 
 
 I would I could tell of a life I know. 
 Reflecting ever the good, 
 
 With peace and praise Kke a river's 
 flow, — 
 Making Love understood. 
 
Love Seeking Beauty 
 
 16 
 
OVE seeking beauty finds in every place 
 Some charm, unseen by sordid eyes, 
 
 appear; 
 For her the pageant of the passing 
 year, — 
 Elach marching day with glorious 
 morning face, 
 And farewell smile, when golden clouds 
 enlace 
 The peaceful West, — whose colors 
 
 are brought near 
 To lowly earth by flowers, in whose 
 dear 
 Heart-blessing faces present joy we trace. 
 
 In times of storm, love knows the storm 
 
 will pass ; 
 Her heart at peace finds no storm 
 
 enter in, [sight 
 
 She hath no fears to cloud the present 
 Of beauty ever, — beauty of the grass 
 Refreshed by rain ; of humble ones 
 
 from sin 
 New-cleansed, reflecting heaven s 
 
 gracious light. 
 
The Upward Look 
 
 18 
 
l^^^p 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 OILER and drudge, look up! 
 The sky is blue, 
 And clouds as white as 
 wool 
 Float lightly there ; 
 The love-light of the heavens 
 
 Is over you, 
 And like a floating cloud 
 Is all your care. 
 
 Great peace have they who love 
 
 The heavenly way ; 
 The upward look of joy. 
 
 The tender tone, 
 Brighten the toilsome hours; — 
 
 How bright a ray 
 Of God's love-Kght springs up 
 
 When love is sown. 
 
The Peace of God 
 
 20 
 
APPY the man whose heart can rest, 
 Sure that GoJs goodness ne*er will 
 cease ; 
 Each day, complete, with joy is blessed, 
 God keepeth him in perfect peace. 
 
 God keepeth him, and God is one, — 
 One Life, forevermore the same. 
 
 One Truth unchanged while ages run. 
 Eternal Love His hoKest name. 
 
 Dwelling in Love that cannot change, 
 From anxious fear man finds release ; 
 
 No more his homeless longings range, 
 God keepeth him in perfect peace. 
 
 In perfect peace, with tumult stilled, 
 Enhavened where no storms arise. 
 
 There man can work what God hath 
 willed. 
 The joy of perfect work his prize. 
 
The Meek Shall Inherit 
 
HEY crucified Lord Jesus, 
 The people, in their madness 
 Upsurged by priestcraft badness,- 
 Hate of the pure and good. 
 
 They who had cried, Hosanna, 
 Stood round about him jeering : 
 " This is no King's appearing. 
 Nailed on the accursed rood. 
 
 "Come down, thou great King Jesus, 
 We then may call thee Saviour ! ** 
 God-Kke was his behaviour. 
 To his own teaching true. 
 
 " Father,*' he kept repeating, 
 
 With love divinely living, 
 " Father, be thou forgiving, 
 
 They know not what they do." 
 
The Meek Shall Inherit 
 
 24 
 
THUS HE with power to blast them. 
 
 Was heavenly in meekness ; 
 They thought his patience weakness, — 
 But strength divine was this. 
 
 Strength to resist not evil 
 * Mid devil-hate's assailing, 
 To wait for Love's avaiKng, 
 While the bitter cup was his. 
 
 Through meekness he was victor ; 
 He sought but to be lowly. 
 Then God the ever-holy 
 Raised him to life above. 
 
 Thus man's true life was proven 
 Unslayable, eternal. 
 Joined with the Life supernal, — 
 When hate was met Mith love. 
 
Harvesting 
 
ELL shall it be with the upright man, 
 Well, ever well ; 
 For the deeds of his mind are like 
 
 the seed 
 That grows and ripens for 
 coming need; 
 Hand's work comes back to the hand, 
 
 they tell. 
 Cease to do evil : leam to do well — 
 For that is the heavenly plan. 
 
 Light is sown for the righteous man. 
 
 Light, heavenly light ; 
 Mists may hang o'er the sproutless 
 
 fields. 
 And toil be long ere the good grain 
 
 yields ; 
 But the harvest brings the sower's 
 
 reward 
 In winnowed grain from the hand of 
 
 his Lord 
 Who purges all with his fan. 
 
An Enemy's Sowing 
 
 28 
 
SOWED good wheat in the field, 
 And labored under the sun ; 
 But after the toil was done 
 My senses by sleep were sealed, 
 In the long, long wait for the yield. 
 
 Unburdened by honest cares. 
 An enemy, ever awake 
 His uncaused hate to slake, 
 
 Scattered his bag of tares 
 
 On the earth late turned by the shares. 
 
 The innocent, brown, ploughed earth, 
 Mellowed by rain and sun, 
 Knew not of the ill deed done, 
 But nourished the seeds to birth 
 That in harvest-time make dearth. 
 
 When sleep I at last disown. 
 And arise to labor with zest, 
 The field with green is dressed ; 
 But amidst the wheat upgrown. 
 Are tares by the enemy sown. 
 
An Enemy's Sowing 
 
 30 
 
JHE AWAKING came too late, 
 For the clutching tares had bound 
 Wheat-stalks with tendrils round ; 
 Till the harvest my laborers wait 
 To purge out the sowing of hate. 
 
 In the yellow autumn days 
 Red fires in the evening glow. 
 And purple smoke hangs low, — 
 'Tis the withered tares that blaze. 
 Their smoke makes the lilac haze. 
 
 Of the wheat I have reaped what was 
 sown, 
 With an increase thirty-fold. 
 It is safe in the gamer's hold ; 
 But an hundredfold shall be known 
 When the field is for wheat alone. 
 
Torment Us Not 
 
3DEMON-HAUNTED man, when 
 Christ passed by, 
 Cried with a piteous voice, " What 
 
 can there be 
 Of kinship. Son of God, for me 
 and thee, — 
 I the most low and thou from the Most High ! " 
 Then legion lusts urged from his lips the cry, 
 " Before the time art come to torment me ? " 
 But Jesus spake, — and from delusions free. 
 In his right mind the man, redeemed, drew nigh. 
 
 To-day*s outcries proclaim the demon fears 
 Lest truth like flame reveal the warp of lies 
 Where envy hastes to in-weave ill surmise. 
 " Leave us alone ! for all our work of years 
 If touched by truth would flash to smoke 
 
 v^nd-blown. 
 And nothing leave for hate to call its own." 
 
Known by its Fruit 
 
 34 
 
E who desires with single mind 
 To make the simple truth his 
 rule, 
 Cannot divide his thought to find 
 His neighbor's fault or name him 
 "fool- 
 
 He like a husbandman is wise, — 
 
 His trees are pruned, his vines are dressed, 
 Till glowing fruit makes glad the eyes, 
 
 And vintage proves his labor blessed. 
 
 With double mind the Pharisee 
 
 Exalts himself in unbased pride, 
 By thinking all men worse than he ; 
 
 Nor seeks with right to be allied. 
 
 Shall one to holiness lay claim, 
 
 Only because he can malign 
 His brother-man, — so have the name 
 
 Of righteousness without the sign ? 
 
 The thorns within his vineyard grown, 
 
 The nettles in neglected fields. 
 The stone wall broken downi, make known 
 
 How little good at last pride yields. 
 
Opportunity 
 
 36 
 
E have seen the star ! rise and follow, 
 Arouse thee, brother,*' the wise man 
 said. 
 " What, in the night? What wilt thou 
 follow. 
 By which of the twinkles in heaven's 
 dim hollow 
 Into the desert wilt thou be led ? " 
 
 " We have seen the star, where star was never, 
 Calling us, brother, in the Eastern dark ; 
 This is the portent we follow, and ever 
 We near the end of our life's endeavor, — 
 Thou too canst see wouldst thou only mark ! 
 
 " No star I'll follow, dim night is for sleeping, 
 A phantom is this ye will follow too far ; 
 Balms of the night my senses are steeping, — " 
 The wise men departed, their faithful watch 
 keeping. 
 The unwise remained, but no more came 
 the star. 
 
UT from the Empid waters of a lake 
 A craggy island reared its tangled 
 
 head; 
 "No beauty there," a stranger 
 
 would have said — 
 But we who pressed and crackled 
 
 through the brake 
 Discovered there a pool all 
 
 spangled bright 
 With lily flowers ; naught else 
 
 could grow 
 From evil mire that turbid lay below 
 Yet these looked to the sky 
 
 with calm delight, 
 Receiving thence the largess of 
 
 the Sun 
 That patient waiting from his rays 
 I had won. 
 
 And keeping golden wealth in 
 
 chalice white. 
 Thus faith from seeming e\'il heart 
 
 may rise 
 And be enriched with blessings 
 
 from the skies. 
 For unto those who trust, the Lord 
 
 4s Light. 
 
Life from the Dead 
 
[ONG the dead too long have I 
 
 been lying, 
 Among the dead-alive whose 
 
 hope is gone, 
 Whose eyes with stupor greet the 
 glowing dawn, 
 Who know no longer merriment or crying, 
 But one dull, even weariness of plying 
 Unhonored, unrewarded labor, — wan 
 As ghosts, unfeatured, they are drawn 
 By pain to toil that brings no satisfying. 
 
 Yet this an anguished dream must be, 
 no more ; 
 For in the silence something ever calls, 
 Hinting of love, of beauty, joy to be ; 
 And then hope trembles at the being's 
 core, — 
 ' Tis faith in God makes freemen out of 
 thralls ; 
 By faith renewed true life comes back 
 to me. 
 
When Hate is Blind 
 
 42 
 
HAT shall I say to my cruel foe 
 Who maketh his joy what 
 hurteth me? 
 This cry to God from my depth 
 of woe, 
 " Open his eyes that he may see ! 
 
 Open his eyes to the heavenly law 
 
 Which ever the triumph of good ensures, 
 
 Till seeing God as the prophets saw, 
 In his life God's radiant love endures. 
 
 That he may see in his brother man, 
 And love, God's likeness though faint 
 the trace ; 
 
 And cleanse from his thought all hate that can 
 By anguish his brother's joy erase. 
 
 When 1 pray for this my hurt is healed, 
 
 The warrior strife is stilled in me ; 
 Then I pray for love yet unrevealed, 
 " Open my eyes that I may see 1 " 
 
Living Waters 
 
HEN *neath the palms, glad of 
 oasis-rest, 
 The swarthy children of the desert 
 
 dwell, 
 This legend of the past the elders tell — 
 How once a spring refreshed an 
 
 angel-guest, 
 And God so gave it life at his request 
 That where its precious drops on hot 
 
 sands fell 
 A gushing water-spring would swift 
 upwell, 
 And wanderers of the barren plain 
 be blessed. 
 
 One there was 6nce who dwelt upon 
 
 the earth. 
 Who unto men the living water 
 
 brings. 
 Whereof receiving, in a land of dearth 
 Where'er we go we may sow 
 
 water-springs; 
 Soon shall the whole wide earth his 
 
 witness know. 
 And water brooks in every desert flow ! 
 
Ministry 
 
F Kings would control 
 
 the multitude in masses, 
 Love serves the needy where one 
 the blessing craves ; 
 Blind Bartimaeus' cry the Christ 
 hears as he passes, 
 And pausing for the one man, 
 one man more he saves. 
 
 Seekest thou some great thing ? 
 Let thy heart not cherish 
 Aught to obscure thy nighest 
 chance to bless ; 
 Forget not the many and love them 
 lest they perish. 
 Yet surely save the one lamb 
 from the wilderness. 
 
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 IS builders wrought for Solomon, 
 And hewed the cedar trees ; 
 They squared the beams in 
 Lebanon, 
 And bare them over-seas. 
 
 The quarry-tools of GebaFs men. 
 And Sidon's axe-men, rest — 
 
 First came their shaping-toil, 
 and then 
 Its place for what is best. 
 
 For there on Mount Moriah*s height, 
 Silent, the one thought shows ; 
 
 Great beams and stones are fitted 
 right. 
 Like petals in a rose. 
 
 In squaring now her temple-stones 
 Love keeps alone the good ; 
 
 By cleavage of man's pride 
 atones. 
 Then compacts brotherhood. 
 
Gifts in Sleep 
 
HY building thou wouldst have 
 all men extol, 
 But God alone thy life can edify ; 
 
 With endless skill thine art thou 
 mayest ply, 
 
 With peering eyes search ancient law 
 and scroll. 
 And mete thyself of sleep a meager dole, 
 Rising to toil at dawn with deep-drawn sigh, 
 Taking so late thy rest, but not thereby 
 Comes growth and life's enlargement 
 to thy soul. 
 
 Why do thy wakeful burning eyes refuse 
 The balm and healing of His nightly dews ? 
 For growth and strength what need to pray 
 and weep 
 When it is thine if thou wilt only choose? 
 Rest in His love, no vigils weary keep, 
 "He giveth unto His beloved in sleep ! *' 
 
Two Paths 
 
APPY the man who gives no heed 
 When men of wicked minds 
 
 would lead, 
 Who will not for ill-counsel stand, 
 Nor with the scornful join his hand; 
 God's law in thought is his delight, 
 And comforts him by day and night. 
 
 His life is fruitful like the tree 
 Rooted where water-streams flow free. 
 Whose leaf no drought of summer 
 
 knows, 
 Whose luscious fruit to ripeness grows; 
 Thus good by every season brought 
 Prospers the good man's act and thought 
 
 But men ungodly are not so ; 
 
 like idle chaff blown to and fro 
 
 By harvest v^nds, so disappear 
 
 The plans they cherish, and with fear 
 
 They find that sin in ruin ends, 
 
 While God the righteous man befriends. 
 
God's Tokens 
 
O bright this May-time round me 
 I behold 
 The tokens of God's love ; 
 The green grass shines with 
 
 heaven's gold, 
 Blossoms are white above. 
 
 White are the floating clouds that sail 
 the blue, 
 Swept by the wind's delight ; 
 Bird-singing weaves its joy-gleams 
 through 
 The thrilling rays of light. 
 
 A little child, as lowly as the grass. 
 Sings of His watchful care ; 
 
 White orchard blooms, white clouds 
 that pass. 
 Join with the gentle prayer. 
 
A Song of Rest 
 
AM only a child, who is lying 
 
 In the bosom of infinite Love ; 
 I speak not of living or dying, 
 1 know not of sorrow and crying, 
 My thoughts are dwelling above. 
 
 The spring of the life that is flowing 
 
 Is hidden with Christ in God ; 
 Not yet the mystery knowing, 
 I feel that the peace is growing 
 As a river grows deep and broad. 
 
 All I need, without price I am 
 buying 
 By my trust in the Goodness 
 above ; 
 There's an end to my yearning and 
 
 sighing. 
 For just like a child I am lying 
 In the bosom of infinite Love. 
 
When the fields are rustling geld 
 
 With the full grain in the ear. 
 Is the Sower not consoled? — 
 When the fields are rustling gold 
 And the Reaper's joy is told, 
 
 For the Harvest Home is near; 
 When the fields are rustling gold 
 With the full wheat in the ear. 
 
THB TITLE-PAGB AND INITIAL L8TTBRS 
 IN THIS BOOK WERE DESIGNED AND 
 DRAWN BY MISS E, H. MCLAUTHLIN. 
 THB TYPE CHOSEN IS CHELTENHAM OLD 
 STYLE, DESIGNED BY BERTRAM GROS- 
 VBNOR GOODHUE. 
 
 THB PRINTING IS BY THE SPARRHLL 
 PRINT, BOSTON. 
 
 THB BINDING IS BY THE BOSTON BOOK- 
 BINDING COMPANY, IN CAMBRIDGE. 
 
N 30 1903