Poems

Excerpt

MY MOTHER'S KISS.

  My mother's kiss, my mother's kiss,
     I feel its impress now;
  As in the bright and happy days
     She pressed it on my brow.

  You say it is a fancied thing
     Within my memory fraught;
  To me it has a sacred place—
     The treasure house of thought.

  Again, I feel her fingers glide
     Amid my clustering hair;
  I see the love-light in her eyes,
     When all my life was fair.

  Again, I hear her gentle voice
     In warning or in love.
  How precious was the faith that taught
     My soul of things above.

(1)

2 MY MOTHER'S KISS.

  The music of her voice is stilled,
     Her lips are paled in death.
  As precious pearls I'll clasp her words
     Until my latest breath.

  The world has scattered round my path
     Honor and wealth and fame;
  But naught so precious as the thoughts
     That gather round her name.

  And friends have placed upon my brow
     The laurels of renown;
  But she first taught me how to wear
     My manhood as a crown.

  My hair is silvered o'er with age,
     I'm longing to depart;
  To clasp again my mother's hand,
     And be a child at heart.

  To roam with her the glory-land
     Where saints and angels greet;
  To cast our crowns with songs of love
     At our Redeemer's feet.

A GRAIN OF SAND. 3

A GRAIN OF SAND.

  Do you see this grain of sand
  Lying loosely in my hand?
  Do you know to me it brought
  Just a simple loving thought?
  When one gazes night by night
  On the glorious stars of light,
  Oh how little seems the span
  Measured round the life of man.

  Oh! how fleeting are his years
  With their smiles and their tears;
  Can it be that God does care
  For such atoms as we are?
  Then outspake this grain of sand
  "I was fashioned by His hand
  In the star lit realms of space
  I was made to have a place.

  "Should the ocean flood the world,
  Were its mountains 'gainst me hurled
  All the force they could employ
  Wouldn't a single grain destroy;
  And if I, a thing so light,
  Have a place within His sight;
  You are linked unto his throne
  Cannot live nor die alone.

4 THE CROCUSES.

  In the everlasting arms
  Mid life's dangers and alarms
  Let calm trust your spirit fill;
  Know He's God, and then be still."
  Trustingly I raised my head
  Hearing what the atom said;
  Knowing man is greater far
  Than the brightest sun or star.

THE CROCUSES.

  They heard the South wind sighing
     A murmur of the rain;
  And they knew that Earth was longing
     To see them all again.

  While the snow-drops still were sleeping
     Beneath the silent sod;
  They felt their new life pulsing
     Within the dark, cold clod.

  Not a daffodil nor daisy
     Had dared to raise its head;
  Not a fairhaired dandelion
     Peeped timid from its bed;

THE CROCUSES. 5

  Though a tremor of the winter
     Did shivering through them run;
  Yet they lifted up their foreheads
     To greet the vernal sun....