HE ASKETH ABSOLUTION OF GOD

O THOU who speedest Time's advancing wing.

Thou dweller in all mysterics of Life,

Thou guardian of every word I speak,

Behold thou art ashamed of me, thy son;

Thy heart is full of sorow and of shame,

For that my sins were grievous in the world,

And proud my wickedness and my transgression

O be at peace with me, O be at peace!

And break the barriers that loom between us!

Let all my sins be washed away, andd fall

Forgotten to the right and left of thee,

Yea, do away with all my wickedness,

And put away the shame that fills thy heart,

That thou and I henceforth may be at peace!

THE STRUGGLE

Nightly tormented by returning doubt,
I dare the sphinx with faith and unbelief;
And through lone hour when no sleep brings relief
The mother rises all my hopes to flout.

In a still agony, the light blown out,
I wrestle with the unknown; nor long nor brief
The night appears, my narrow couch of grief
Grown like the grave with Death walled round about.

Sometimes my mother, coming with her lamps,
Seeing my brow as with a death-sweat damp,
Asks, "Ah, what ails thee, Child? Hast thou no rest?"

And then I answer, touched by her look of yearning,
Holding my beating heart and forehead burning,
"Mother, I strove with God, and was hard prest."

A WORLD - NATION

God of the glowing love, making men

brothers,

Burn out the dress of belief in the sword;

Fashion one vision more golden than others;

Peace evermore through thy mercy, Lord.

Then shall thy spirit-sons, purged of all

hatred,

Spurning all envy and martial reward,

Stand a world-nation, united and sacred,

Pledging eternal goodwill, O Lord.

TRUTH

Whether conditioned by God, or their neural structure, still

All men have this common creed, account for it as you will:

The truth is one and incapable of contradiction;

All knowledge that conflicts with itself is Poetic Fiction.

WHEN YOU ARE OLD

When you are old and gray and full of sleep

And nodding by the fire, take down this

book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows

deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace

And loved your beauty with love false or

true;

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead,

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

TO-DAY

Why fear t0-morrow, timid heart?

Why tread the future's way?

We only need to do our part

To-day, dear child, to-day.

The past is written! Close the book

On pages sad and gay;

Within the future do not look,

But live to-day to-day.

'Tis this one hour that God has given;

His Now we must obey;

And it will make our earth his heaven

To live to-day to-day.