Page:Poems Barrett.djvu/259

Household names, which used to flutter
 Through your laughter unawares,—
God's Divine one, would ye utter
 With less trembling in your prayers!
Ye have dropt adown your head, and it seems as if ye tread
  On your own hearts in the path
  Ye are called to in His wrath,—
  And your prayers go up m wail!
  —"Dost Thou see, then, all our loss,
  O Thou agonised on cross?
  Art Thou reading all its tale?"
So, mournfully, ye think upon the Dead!

Pray, pray, thou who also weepest,
 And the drops will slacken so;—
Weep, weep!—and the watch thou keepest,
 With a quicker count will go.
Think! the shadow on the dial
 For the nature most undone,
Marks the passing of the trial,
 Proves the presence of the sun!
Look, look up, in starry passion,
 To the throne above the spheres,—
Learn! the spirit's gravitation
 Still must differ from the tear's.
Hope! with all the strength thou usest
 In embracing thy despair?
Love! the earthly love thou losest
 Shall return to thee more fair.
Work! make clear the forest-tangles
 Of the wildest stranger-land;
Trust! the blessed deathly angels
 Whisper, "Sabbath hours at hand!"
By the heart's wound when most gory
 By the longest agony,
Smile!—Behold, in sudden glory
 The Transfigured smiles on thee!