The Project Gutenberg EBook of Religious Poems, by Harriet Beecher Stowe This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Religious Poems Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe Release Date: January 28, 2014 [EBook #44778] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RELIGIOUS POEMS *** Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Cover RELIGIOUS POEMS. BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. [i] house BOSTON: TICKNOR AND FIELDS. 1867. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO., CAMBRIDGE. CONTENTS. Page St. Catherine borne by Angels 1 The Charmer 6 Knocking 10 The Old Psalm Tune 15 The Other World 19 Mary at the Cross 22 The Inner Voice 28 Abide in me, and I in you 30 The Secret 32 Think not all is over 34 Lines to the Memory of "Annie" 36 The Crocus 39 Consolation 41 "Only a Year" 44 Below 47 Above 49 Lines on the Death of Mrs. Stuart 53 Summer Studies 57 Hours of the Night. I.Midnight 65 II.First Hour 68 III.Second Hour 71 IV.Third Hour 74 V.Fourth Hour 77 VI.Day Dawn 85 [ii] [iii] [iv] S VII.When I awake I am still with Thee 88 Pressed Flowers from Italy. A Day in the Pamfili Doria 93 The Gardens of the Vatican 102 St. Peter's Church 104 The Miserere 106 angel in flight with sword other angles in flight ST. CATHERINE BORNE BY ANGELS. LOW through the solemn air, in silence sailing, Borne by mysterious angels, strong and fair, She sleeps at last, blest dreams her eyelids veiling, Above this weary world of strife and care. Lo how she passeth!—dreamy, slow, and calm: Scarce wave those broad, white wings, so silvery bright; Those cloudy robes, in star-emblazoned folding, Sweep mistily athwart the evening light. Far, far below, the dim, forsaken earth, The foes that threaten, or the friends that weep; Past, like a dream, the torture and the pain: For so He giveth his beloved sleep. The restless bosom of the surging ocean Gives back the image as the cloud floats o'er, Hushing in glassy awe his troubled motion; For one blest moment he complains no more. Like the transparent golden floor of heaven, His charmed waters lie as in a dream, And glistening wings, and starry robes unfolding, And serious angel eyes far downward gleam. O restless sea! thou seemest all enchanted By that sweet vision of celestial rest; Where are the winds and tides thy peace that haunted,— [1] [A] [2] [3] So still thou seemest, so glorified and blest! Ah, sea! to-morrow, that sweet scene forgotten, Dark tides and tempests shall thy bosom rear; And thy complaining waves, with restless motion, Shall toss their hands in their old wild despair. So o'er our hearts sometimes the sweet, sad story Of suffering saints, borne homeward crowned and blest, Shines down in stillness with a tender glory, And makes a mirror there of breathless rest. For not alone in those old Eastern regions Are Christ's beloved ones tried by cross and chain; In many a house are his elect ones hidden, His martyrs suffering in their patient pain. The rack, the cross, life's weary wrench of woe, The world sees not, as slow, from day to day, In calm, unspoken patience, sadly still, The loving spirit bleeds itself away. But there are hours when, from the heavens unfolding, Come down the angels with the glad release; And we look upward, to behold in glory Our suffering loved ones borne away to peace. Ah, brief the calm! the restless wave of feeling Rises again when the bright cloud sweeps by, And our unrestful souls reflect no longer That tender vision of the upper sky. Espoused Lord of the pure saints in glory, To whom all faithful souls affianced are, Breathe down thy peace into our restless spirits, And make a lasting, heavenly vision there. So the bright gates no more on us shall close; No more the cloud of angels fade away; And we shall walk, amid life's weary strife, In the calm light of thine eternal day. FOOTNOTE: [A] According to this legend, Catherine was a noble maiden of Alexandria, distinguished alike by birth, riches, beauty, and the rarest gifts of genius and learning. In the flower of her life she consecrated herself to the service of her Redeemer, and cheerfully suffered for his sake the loss of wealth, friends, and the esteem of the world. Banishment, imprisonment, and torture were in vain tried to shake the constancy of her faith; and at last she was bound upon the torturing-wheel for a cruel death. But the angels descended, so says the story, rent the wheel, and bore her away, through the air, far over the sea, to Mount Sinai, where her body was left to repose, and her soul ascended with them to heaven. THE CHARMER. "Socrates. However, you and Simmias appear to me as if you wished to sift this subject more thoroughly, and to be afraid, like children, lest, on the soul's departure from the body, winds should blow it away. "Upon this Cebes said, 'Endeavor to teach us better, Socrates. Perhaps there is a childish spirit in our breast that has such a dread. Let us endeavor to persuade him not to be afraid of death, as of hobgoblins.' [4] [5] [6] W "'But you must charm him every day,' said Socrates, 'until you have quieted his fears.' "'But whence, O Socrates,' he said, 'can we procure a skilful charmer for such a case, now you are about to leave us.' "'Greece is wide, Cebes,' he said, 'and in it surely there are skilful men; and there are many barbarous nations, all of which you should search, seeking such a charmer, sparing neither money nor toil.'"—Last words of Socrates, as narrated by Plato in the Phædo. E need that charmer, for our hearts are sore With longings for the things that may not be, Faint for the friends that shall return no more, Dark with distrust, or wrung with agony. "What is this life? and what to us is death? Whence came we? whither go? and where are those Who, in a moment stricken from our side, Passed to that land of shadow and repose? "And are they all dust? and dust must we become? Or are they living in some unknown clime? Shall we regain them in that far-off home, And live anew beyond the waves of time? "O man divine! on thee our souls have hung; Thou wert our teacher in these questions high; But ah! this day divides thee from our side, And veils in dust thy kindly-guiding eye. "Where is that Charmer whom thou bidst us seek? On what far shores may his sweet voice be heard? When shall these questions of our yearning souls Be answered by the bright Eternal Word?" So spake the youth of Athens, weeping round, When Socrates lay calmly down to die; So spake the sage, prophetic of the hour When earth's fair morning star should rise on high. They found Him not, those youths of soul divine, Long seeking, wandering, watching on life's shore; Reasoning, aspiring, yearning for the light, Death came and found them—doubting as before. But years passed on; and lo! the Charmer came, Pure, simple, sweet, as comes the silver dew, And the world knew him not,—he walked alone, Encircled only by his trusting few. Like the Athenian sage, rejected, scorned, Betrayed, condemned, his day of doom drew nigh; He drew his faithful few more closely round, And told them that his hour was come—to die. "Let not your heart be troubled," then He said, "My Father's house hath mansions large and fair; I go before you to prepare your place, I will return to take you with me there." And since that hour the awful foe is charmed, And life and death are glorified and fair; Whither He went we know, the way we know, And with firm step press on to meet him there. [7] [8] [9] K KNOCKING. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." NOCKING, knocking, ever knocking? Who is there? 'Tis a pilgrim, strange and kingly, Never such was seen before;— Ah, sweet soul, for such a wonder Undo the door. No,—that door is hard to open; Hinges rusty, latch is broken; Bid Him go. Wherefore, with that knocking dreary Scare the sleep from one so weary? Say Him,—no. Knocking, knocking, ever knocking? What! Still there? O, sweet soul, but once behold Him, With the glory-crownéd hair; And those eyes, so strange and tender, Waiting there; Open! Open! Once behold Him,— Him, so fair. Ah, that door! Why wilt Thou vex me, Coming ever to perplex me? For the key is stiffly rusty, And the bolt is clogged and dusty; Many-fingered ivy-vine Seals it fast with twist and twine; Weeds of years and years before Choke the passage of that door. Knocking! knocking! What! still knocking? He still there? What's the hour? The night is waning,— In my heart a drear complaining, And a chilly, sad unrest! Ah, this knocking! It disturbs me, Scares my sleep with dreams unblest! Give me rest, Rest,—ah, rest! [10] [11] [12] [13] Y Rest, dear soul, He longs to give thee; Thou hast only dreamed of pleasure, Dreamed of gifts and golden treasure, Dreamed of jewels in thy keeping, Waked to weariness of weeping;— Open to thy soul's one Lover, And thy night of dreams is over,— The true gifts He brings have seeming More than all thy faded dreaming! Did she open? Doth she? Will she? So, as wondering we behold, Grows the picture to a sign, Pressed upon your soul and mine; For in every breast that liveth Is that strange mysterious door;— Though forsaken and betangled, Ivy-gnarled and weed-bejangled, Dusty, rusty, and forgotten;— There the piercéd hand still knocketh, And with ever-patient watching, With the sad eyes true and tender, With the glory-crownéd hair,— Still a God is waiting there. THE OLD PSALM TUNE. OU asked, dear friend, the other day, Why still my charméd ear Rejoiceth in uncultured tone That old psalm tune to hear? I've heard full oft, in foreign lands, The grand orchestral strain, Where music's ancient masters live, Revealed on earth again,— Where breathing, solemn instruments, In swaying clouds of sound, Bore up the yearning, trancéd soul, Like silver wings around;— I've heard in old St. Peter's dome, Where clouds of incense rise, Most ravishing the choral swell Mount upwards to the skies. And well I feel the magic power, When skilled and cultured art Its cunning webs of sweetness weaves Around the captured heart. But yet, dear friend, though rudely sung, That old psalm tune hath still A pulse of power beyond them all My inmost soul to thrill. Those halting tones that sound to you, Are not the tones I hear; But voices of the loved and lost There meet my longing ear. [14] [15] [16] [17] I I hear my angel mother's voice,— Those were the words she sung; I hear my brother's ringing tones, As once on earth they rung; And friends that walk in white above Come round me like a cloud, And far above those earthly notes Their singing sounds aloud. There may be discord, as you say; Those voices poorly ring; But there's no discord in the strain Those upper spirits sing. For they who sing are of the blest, The calm and glorified, Whose hours are one eternal rest On heaven's sweet floating tide. Their life is music and accord; Their souls and hearts keep time In one sweet concert with the Lord,— One concert vast, sublime. And through the hymns they sang on earth Sometimes a sweetness falls On those they loved and left below, And softly homeward calls,— Bells from our own dear fatherland, Borne trembling o'er the sea,— The narrow sea that they have crossed, The shores where we shall be. O sing, sing on, beloved souls! Sing cares and griefs to rest; Sing, till entrancéd we arise To join you 'mong the blest. THE OTHER WORLD. T lies around us like a cloud, A world we do not see; Yet the sweet closing of an eye May bring us there to be. Its gentle breezes fan our cheek; Amid our worldly cares, Its gentle voices whisper love, And mingle with our prayers. Sweet hearts around us throb and beat, Sweet helping hands are stirred, And palpitates the veil between With breathings almost heard. The silence, awful, sweet, and calm, They have no power to break; For mortal words are not for them To utter or partake. [18] [19] [20] O So thin, so soft, so sweet, they glide, So near to press they seem, They lull us gently to our rest, They melt into our dream. And in the hush of rest they bring 'Tis easy now to see How lovely and how sweet a pass The hour of death may be;— To close the eye, and close the ear, Wrapped in a trance of bliss, And, gently drawn in loving arms, To swoon to that—from this,— Scarce knowing if we wake or sleep, Scarce asking where we are, To feel all evil sink away, All sorrow and all care. Sweet souls around us! watch us still; Press nearer to our side; Into our thoughts, into our prayers, With gentle helpings glide. Let death between us be as naught, A dried and vanished stream; Your joy be the reality, Our suffering life the dream. MARY AT THE CROSS. "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother." WONDROUS mother! since the dawn of time Was ever love, was ever grief, like thine? O highly favored in thy joy's deep flow, And favored, even in this, thy bitterest woe! Poor was that home in simple Nazareth Where, fairly growing, like some silent flower, Last of a kingly race, unknown and lowly, O desert lily, passed thy childhood's hour. The world knew not the tender, serious maiden, Who through deep loving years so silent grew, Full of high thought and holy aspiration, Which the o'ershadowing God alone might view. [21] [22] [23] Mary and Baby Jesus under a crown And then it came, that message from the highest, Such as to woman ne'er before descended, The almighty wings thy prayerful soul o'erspread, And with thy life the Life of worlds was blended. What visions then of future glory filled thee, The chosen mother of that King unknown, Mother fulfiller of all prophecy Which, through dim ages, wondering seers had shown! Well did thy dark eye kindle, thy deep soul Rise into billows, and thy heart rejoice; Then woke the poet's fire, the prophet's song, Tuned with strange burning words thy timid voice. Then, in dark contrast, came the lowly manger, The outcast shed, the tramp of brutal feet; Again behold earth's learned and her lowly, Sages and shepherds, prostrate at thy feet. Then to the temple bearing—hark again What strange conflicting tones of prophecy Breathe o'er the child foreshadowing words of joy, High triumph blent with bitter agony! O, highly favored thou in many an hour Spent in lone musings with thy wondrous Son, When thou didst gaze into that glorious eye, And hold that mighty hand within thine own. Blest through those thirty years, when in thy dwelling He lived a God disguised with unknown power; And thou his sole adorer, his best love, Trusting, revering, waited for his hour. Blest in that hour, when called by opening heaven With cloud and voice, and the baptizing flame, Up from the Jordan walked th' acknowledged stranger, And awe-struck crowds grew silent as he came. Blessed, when full of grace, with glory crowned, He from both hands almighty favors poured, And, though He had not where to lay his head, Brought to his feet alike the slave and lord. [24] [25] [26] 'M Crowds followed; thousands shouted, "Lo, our King!" Fast beat thy heart. Now, now the hour draws nigh: Behold the crown, the throne, the nations bend! Ah, no! fond mother, no! behold him die! Now by that cross thou tak'st thy final station, And shar'st the last dark trial of thy Son; Not with weak tears or woman's lamentation, But with high, silent anguish, like his own. Hail! highly favored, even in this deep passion; Hail! in this bitter anguish thou art blest,— Blest in the holy power with Him to suffer Those deep death-pangs that lead to higher rest. All now is darkness; and in that deep stillness The God-man wrestles with that mighty woe; Hark to that cry, the rock of ages rending,— "'Tis finished!" Mother, all is glory now! By sufferings mighty as his mighty soul Hath the Redeemer risen forever blest; And through all ages must his heart-beloved Through the same baptism enter the same rest. THE INNER VOICE. "Come ye yourselves into a desert place and rest awhile; for there were many coming and going, so that they had no time so much as to eat." ID the mad whirl of life, its dim confusion, Its jarring discords and poor vanity, Breathing like music over troubled waters, What gentle voice, O Christian, speaks to thee? It is a stranger,—not of earth or earthly; By the serene, deep fulness of that eye,— By the calm, pitying smile, the gesture lowly,— It is thy Saviour as he passeth by. "Come, come," he saith, "O soul oppressed and weary, Come to the shadows of my desert rest, Come walk with me far from life's babbling discords, And peace shall breathe like music in thy breast. "Art thou bewildered by contesting voices,— Sick to thy soul of party noise and strife? Come, leave it all, and seek that solitude Where thou shalt learn of me a purer life. "When far behind the world's great tumult dieth, Thou shalt look back and wonder at its roar; But its far voice shall seem to thee a dream, Its power to vex thy holier life be o'er. "There shalt thou learn the secret of a power, Mine to bestow, which heals the ills of living; To overcome by love, to live by prayer, To conquer man's worst evils by forgiving." [27] [28] [29] [30] T W ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU. THE SOUL'S ANSWER. HAT mystic word of thine, O sovereign Lord, Is all too pure, too high, too deep for me; Weary of striving, and with longing faint, I breathe it back again in prayer to thee. Abide in me, I pray, and I in thee; From this good hour, O, leave me nevermore; Then shall the discord cease, the wound be healed, The lifelong bleeding of the soul be o'er. Abide in me; o'ershadow by thy love Each half-formed purpose and dark thought of sin; Quench, e'er it rise, each selfish, low desire, And keep my soul as thine, calm and divine. As some rare perfume in a vase of clay Pervades it with a fragrance not its own, So, when thou dwellest in a mortal soul, All heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown. Abide in me: there have been moments blest When I have heard thy voice and felt thy power; Then evil lost its grasp, and passion, hushed, Owned the divine enchantment of the hour. These were but seasons, beautiful and rare; Abide in me, and they shall ever be. Fulfil at once thy precept and my prayer,— Come, and abide in me, and I in thee. THE SECRET. "Thou shalt keep them in the secret of thy presence from the strife of tongues." HEN winds are raging o'er the upper ocean, And billows wild contend with angry roar, 'Tis said, far down beneath the wild commotion, That peaceful stillness reigneth evermore. Far, far beneath, the noise of tempest dieth, And silver waves chime ever peacefully; And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er he flieth, Disturbs the sabbath of that deeper sea. So to the soul that knows thy love, O Purest, There is a temple peaceful evermore! And all the babble of life's angry voices Die in hushed stillness at its sacred door. Far, far away the noise of passion dieth, And loving thoughts rise ever peacefully; And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er he flieth Disturbs that deeper rest, O Lord, in thee. O rest of rests! O peace serene, eternal! Thou ever livest and thou changest never; And in the secret of thy presence dwelleth Fulness of joy, forever and forever. [31] [32] [33] T I THINK NOT ALL IS OVER. HINK not, when the wailing winds of autumn Drive the shivering leaflets from the tree,— Think not all is over: spring returneth, Buds and leaves and blossoms thou shalt see. Think not, when the earth lies cold and sealed, And the weary birds above her mourn,— Think not all is over: God still liveth, Songs and sunshine shall again return. Think not, when thy heart is waste and dreary, When thy cherished hopes lie chill and sere,— Think not all is over: God still loveth, He will wipe away thy every tear. Weeping for a night alone endureth, God at last shall bring a morning hour; In the frozen buds of every winter Sleep the blossoms of a future flower. LINES TO THE MEMORY OF "ANNIE," WHO DIED AT MILAN, JUNE 6, 1860. "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him."—John xx. 15. N the fair gardens of celestial peace Walketh a Gardener in meekness clad; Fair are the flowers that wreathe his dewy locks, And his mysterious eyes are sweet and sad. Fair are the silent foldings of his robes, Falling with saintly calmness to his feet; And when he walks, each floweret to his will With living pulse of sweet accord doth beat. Every green leaf thrills to its tender heart, In the mild summer radiance of his eye; No fear of storm, or cold, or bitter frost, Shadows the flowerets when their sun is nigh. And all our pleasant haunts of earthly love Are nurseries to those gardens of the air; And his far-darting eye, with starry beam, Watcheth the growing of his treasures there. We call them ours, o'erwept with selfish tears, O'erwatched with restless longings night and day; Forgetful of the high, mysterious right He holds to bear our cherished plants away. But when some sunny spot in those bright fields Needs the fair presence of an added flower, Down sweeps a starry angel in the night: At morn, the rose has vanished from our bower. [34] [35] [36] [37] B Where stood our tree, our flower, there is a grave! Blank, silent, vacant, but in worlds above, Like a new star outblossomed in the skies, The angels hail an added flower of love. Dear friend, no more upon that lonely mound, Strewed with the red and yellow autumn leaf, Drop thou the tear, but raise the fainting eye Beyond the autumn mists of earthly grief. Thy garden rose-bud bore, within its breast, Those mysteries of color, warm and bright, That the bleak climate of this lower sphere Could never waken into form and light. Yes, the sweet Gardener hath borne her hence, Nor must thou ask to take her thence away; Thou shalt behold her in some coming hour, Full-blossomed in his fields of cloudless day. THE CROCUS. ENEATH the sunny autumn sky, With gold leaves dropping round, We sought, my little friend and I, The consecrated ground, Where, calm beneath the holy cross, O'ershadowed by sweet skies, Sleeps tranquilly that youthful form, Those blue unclouded eyes. Around the soft, green swelling mound We scooped the earth away, And buried deep the crocus-bulbs Against a coming day. "These roots are dry, and brown, and sere; Why plant them here?" he said, "To leave them, all the winter long, So desolate and dead." "Dear child, within each sere dead form There sleeps a living flower, And angel-like it shall arise In spring's returning hour." Ah, deeper down—cold, dark, and chill— We buried our heart's flower, But angel-like shall he arise In spring's immortal hour. In blue and yellow from its grave Springs up the crocus fair, And God shall raise those bright blue eyes, Those sunny waves of hair. Not for a fading summer's morn, Not for a fleeting hour, But for an endless age of bliss, Shall rise our heart's dear flower. CONSOLATION. [38] [39] [40] [41]