ΤΟ

ALL FRIENDLY READERS.

There

are,

who love upon their knees To linger when their prayers are said, And lengthen out their Litanies,

In duteous care for quick and dead. Thou, of all Love the Source and Guide! O may some hovering thought of theirs, Where I am kneeling, gently glide,

And higher waft these earth-bound prayers.

There are, who gazing on the stars
Love-tokens read from worlds of light,
Not as dim-seen through prison-bars,
But as with Angels' welcome bright.

vi

O had we kept entire the vow
And covenant of our infant eyes,
We too might trace untrembling now
Glad lessons in the moonlight skies.

There are, to whom the gay green earth
Might seem a mournful penance cave ;
For they have marr'd their holy birth,

Have rent the bowers that o'er them wave.
Where underneath Thy Cross they lie,
Mark me a place: Thy Mercy's ray
Is healing, even to such as I,

Else wherefore bid us hope and pray?

What if there were, who laid one hand
Upon the Lyre of Innocence,

While the other over sea and land

Beckoned foul shapes, in dream intense

Of earthly Passion? Whoso reads,
In pity kneel for him, and pour
A deep heart-prayer (O! much it needs)
That lies may be his hope no more.

vii

Pray that the mist, by sin and shame
Left on his soul, may fleet; that he
A true and timely word may frame
For weary hearts, that ask to see
Their way in our dim twilight hour ;—
His lips so purged with penance-fire,
That he may guide them, in Christ's power,
Along the path of their desire;

And with no faint nor erring voice
May to the wanderer whisper, "Stay:
God chooses for thee: seal His choice,
Nor from thy Mother's shadow stray :
For sure thine holy Mother's shade
Rests yet upon thine ancient home:
No voice from Heaven hath clearly said,
'Let us depart; then fear to roam.”

Pray that the Prayer of Innocents
On Earth, of Saints in Heaven above,
Guard, as of old, our lonely tents ;
Till, as one Faith is ours, in Love

viii

We own all Churches, and are owned.

Pray Him to save, by chastenings keen, The harps that hail His Bride enthroned From wayward touch of hands unclean.

Feb. 8, 1846.