66 What man resists, what man endures, Why not believe the homely letter, To those who ask, his answering heart FROM "THE GOLDEN LEGEND." H. W. LONGFELLOW. 177 THE CHAPEL. Vespers ; after which the monks retire, a chorister leading an old monk who is blind. PRINCE HENRY. THEY are all gone, save one who lingers, A chorister, with golden hair, Though Time has touched it in his flight, THE BLIND MONK. Who is it that doth stand so near PRINCE HENRY. I am Prince Henry of Hoheneck, THE BLIND MONK. Count Hugo once, but now the wreck The passionate will, the pride, the wrath, 66 FROM THE GOLDEN LEGEND." Alone upon a desolate moor, And said to me, "Kneel down and pray!” Passed utterly away for ever. Came on me with o'erwhelming force; By days of penance and nights of prayer, Whose passions brooked no curb nor check. One of this holy brotherhood. Give me your hand; here let me kneel; There is no wound Christ cannot heal! 179 Yes; lift your princely hand, and take Revenge, if 't is revenge you seek; Then pardon me, for Jesus' sake! PRINCE HENRY. Arise, Count Hugo! let there be Between us twain; we both have erred! Each thoughtless of the other's right, But now our souls are more subdued; THE SECRET OF PIETY. 181 THE SECRET OF PIETY. W. R. ALGER'S "POETRY OF THE EAST." A PINING Sceptic towards a raptured saint inclined, And asked him how the Boundless Lover, God, to find. A smile divine across the saint's pale features stole, And thus in wise and pitying love he poured his soul: "Ah, hapless wanderer! long from life's true bliss shut out, In night of sin forlorn and wilderness of doubt, Prepared am I with thy sad lot to sympathize, For o'er my own dim tracks thy dark experience lies. Now list and ponder deep, the secret while I tell Of all the love with which angelic bosoms swell. Whoso would careless tread one worm that crawls the sod, That cruel man is darkly alienate from God; But he that lives, embracing all that is, in love, To dwell with him God bursts all bounds, below, above." 16 |