Page:The Christian Year 1887.djvu/70



One heart-ennobling hour! It may not be: The unearthly thoughts have passed from earth away, And fast as evening sunbeams from the sea Thy footsteps all in Sion's deep decay Were blotted from the holy ground: yet dear Is every stone of hers; for Thou want surely here.

There is a spot within this sacred dale That felt Thee kneeling—touched Thy prostrate brow: One Angel knows it. O might prayer avail To win that knowledge! sure each holy vow Less quickly from the unstable soul would fade, Offered where Christ in agony was laid.

Might tear of ours once mingle with the blood That from His aching brow by moonlight fell, Over the mournful joy our thoughts would brood, Till they had framed within a guardian spell To chase repining fancies, as they rise, Like birds of evil wing, to mar our sacrifice.

So dreams the heart self-flattering, fondly dreams; - Else wherefore, when the bitter waves o'erflow, Miss we the light, Gethsemane, that streams From thy dear name, where in His page of woe It shines, a pale kind star in winter's sky? Who vainly reads it there, in vain had seen Him die.


 * They gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He received in not.  St. Mark xv. 23.

"Fill high the bowl, and spice it well, and pour The dews oblivious: for the Cross is sharp,   The Cross is sharp, and He   Is tenderer than a lamb.

"He wept by Lazarus' grave—how will He bear This bed of anguish? and His pale weak form  Is worn with many a watch   Of sorrow and unrest.

"His sweat last night was as great drops of blood, And the sad burthen pressed Him so to earth,