And some return by failing light, And some in waking dream, For she hears the heels of the dripping ghosts That ride the rough roof-beam. Home, they come home from all the ports, The living and the dead; The good wife's sons come home again HYMN BEFORE ACTION THE earth is full of anger, The seas are dark with wrath, High lust and froward bearing, Deaf ear and soul uncaring, We seek Thy mercy now! The sinner that forswore Thee, The fool that passed Thee by, Our times are known before TheeLord, grant us strength to die! For those who kneel beside us Lord, let their faith atone. If wrong we did to call them, From panic, pride, and terror, Cloak Thou our undeserving, In silence and unswerving Ah, Mary pierced with sorrow, E'en now their vanguard gathers, E'en now we face the fray — As Thou didst help our fathers, Help Thou our host to-day! Fulfilled of signs and wonders, In life, in death made clear Jehovah of the Thunders, Lord God of Battles, hear! TO THE TRUE ROMANCE1 Thy face is far from this our war, I shall not find Thee quick and kind, Enough for me in dreams to see And touch Thy garments' hem: Thy feet have trod so near to God I may not follow them. Through wantonness if men profess And perish with their arts; While we adore discover more Thee perfect, wise, and just. Since spoken word Man's Spirit stirred Beyond his belly-need, What is is Thine of fair design In thought and craft and deed; 1 Copyright, 1893, by D. Appleton & Co. Each stroke aright of toil and fight, And hope too high, wherefore we die, Who holds by Thee hath Heaven in fee And knowledge sure that he endure For to make plain that man's disdain Is but new Beauty's birth For to possess in loneliness The joy of all the earth. As Thou didst teach all lovers speech And Life all mystery, So shalt Thou rule by every school Who wast or yet the Lights were set, A whisper in the Void, Who shalt be sung through planets young When this is clean destroyed. Beyond the bounds our staring rounds, The children wise of outer skies Look hitherward and mark A light that shifts, a glare that drifts, Not all forlorn, for Thou hast borne |