The poetical works of George MacDonald Volume Ii Part 21

When, with all the loved around thee, Still thy heart says, "I am lonely,"

It is well; the truth hath found thee: Rest is with the Father only.

_TO MY G.o.d_.

Oh how oft I wake and find I have been forgetting thee!

I am never from thy mind: Thou it is that wakest me.

_TRIOLET_.

Oh that men would praise the Lord For his goodness unto men!

Forth he sends his saving word, --Oh that men would praise the Lord!-- And from shades of death abhorred Lifts them up to light again: Oh that men would praise the Lord For his goodness unto men!

_THE WORD OF G.o.d_.

Where the bud has never blown Who for scent is debtor?

Where the spirit rests unknown Fatal is the letter.

In thee, Jesus, G.o.dhead-stored, All things we inherit, For thou art the very Word And the very Spirit!

_EINE KLEINE PREDIGT_.

Graut Euch nicht, Ihr lieben Leute, Vor dem ungeheuren Morgen; Wenn es kommt, es ist das Heute, Und der liebe Gott zu sorgen.

_TO THE LIFE ETERNAL_.

Thou art my thought, my heart, my being's fortune, The search for thee my growth's first conscious date; For nought, for everything, I thee importune; Thou art my all, my origin and fate!

_HOPE DEFERRED_.

"Where is thy crown, O tree of Love?

Flowers only bears thy root!

Will never rain drop from above Divine enough for fruit?"

"I dwell in hope that gives good cheer, Twilight my darkest hour; For seest thou not that every year I break in better flower?"

_FORGIVENESS_.

G.o.d gives his child upon his slate a sum-- To find eternity in hours and years; With both sides covered, back the child doth come, His dim eyes swollen with shed and unshed tears; G.o.d smiles, wipes clean the upper side and nether, And says, "Now, dear, we'll do the sum together!"

_DEJECTION_.

O Father, I am in the dark, My soul is heavy-bowed: I send my prayer up like a lark, Up through my vapoury shroud, To find thee, And remind thee I am thy child, and thou my father, Though round me death itself should gather.

Lay thy loved hand upon my head, Let thy heart beat in mine; One thought from thee, when all seems dead, Will make the darkness s.h.i.+ne About me And throughout me!

And should again the dull night gather, I'll cry again, _Thou art my father_.

_APPEAL_.

If in my arms I bore my child, Would he cry out for fear Because the night was dark and wild And no one else was near?

Shall I then treat thee, Father, as My fatherhood would grieve?

I will be hopeful, though, alas, I cannot quite believe!

I had no power, no wish to be: Thou madest me half blind!

The darkness comes! I cling to thee!

Be thou my perfect mind.

POEMS FOR CHILDREN

_LESSONS FOR A CHILD_.

I.

There breathes not a breath of the summer air But the spirit of love is moving there; Not a trembling leaf on the shadowy tree, Flutters with hundreds in harmony, But that spirit can part its tone from the rest, And read the life in its beetle's breast.

When the suns.h.i.+ny b.u.t.terflies come and go, Like flowers paying visits to and fro, Not a single wave of their fanning wings Is unfelt by the spirit that feeleth all things.

The long-mantled moths that sleep at noon And rove in the light of the gentler moon; And the myriad gnats that dance like a wall, Or a moving column that will not fall; And the dragon-flies that go burning by, Shot like a glance from a seeking eye-- There is one being that loves them all: Not a fly in a spider's web can fall But he cares for the spider, and cares for the fly; He cares for you, whether you laugh or cry, Cares whether your mother smile or sigh.

How he cares for so many, I do not know, But it would be too strange if he did not so-- Dreadful and dreary for even a fly: So I cannot wait for the _how_ and _why_, But believe that all things are gathered and nursed In the love of him whose love went first And made this world--like a huge great nest For a hen to sit on with feathery breast.

II.

The bird on the leafy tree, The bird in the cloudy sky, The hart in the forest free, The stag on the mountain high, The fish inside the sea, The albatross asleep On the outside of the deep, The bee through the summer sunny Hunting for wells of honey-- What is the thought in the breast Of the little bird in its nest?

What is the thought in the songs The lark in the sky prolongs?

What mean the dolphin's rays, Winding his watery ways?

What is the thought of the stag, Stately on yonder crag?

What does the albatross think, Dreaming upon the brink Of the mountain billow, and then Dreaming down in its glen?