Page:The Christian Year 1887.djvu/51

 So frail a gem, it scarce may bear The playful touch of evening air; When hardier grown we love it less, And trust it from our sight, not needing our caress.

And wherefore is the sweet spring-tide Worth all the changeful year beside? The last-born babe, why lies its part Deep in the mother's inmost heart? But that the Lord and Source of love Would have His weakest ever prove Our tenderest care—and most of all Our frail immortal souls, His work and Satan's thrall.

So be it, Lord; I know it best, Though not as yet this wayward breast Beat quite in answer to Thy voice, Yet surely I have made my choice; I know not yet the promised bliss, Know not if I shall win or miss; So doubting, rather let me die, Than close with aught beside, to last eternally.

What is the Heaven we idly dream? The self-deceiver's dreary theme, A cloudless sun that softly shines, Bright maidens and unfailing vines, The warrior's pride, the hunter's mirth, Poor fragments all of this low earth: Such as in sleep would hardly soothe A soul that once had tasted of immortal Truth.

What is the Heaven our God bestows? No Prophet yet, no Angel knows; Was never yet created eye Could see across Eternity; Not seraph's wing for ever soaring Can pass the flight of souls adoring, That nearer still and nearer grow To the unapproached Lord, once made for them so low.

Unseen, unfelt their earthly growth, And self-accused of sin and sloth, They live and die; their names decay, Their fragrance passes quite away;