Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 2.djvu/220

Almighty, thou didst seek me out and test
To try and to instruct me in the night.

I dare not idly on my pillow lie,
With winged feet to the shrine I fain would fly.
When chained by leaden slumbers heavily,
Men rest in imaged shadows, dreams of night

Infatuate I trifled youth away.
In nothingness dreamed through my manhood's day.
Therefore my streaming tears I may not stay,
They are my meat and drink by day and night.

In flesh imprisoned is the son of light,
This life is but a bridge when seen aright.
Rise in the silent hour and pray with might.
Awake and call upon thy God by night !

Hasten to cleanse thyself of sin, arise !
Follow Truth's path that leads unto the skies.
As swift as yesterday existence flies.
Brief even as a watch within the night

Man enters life for trouble ; all he has,
And all that he beholds, is pain, alas !
Like to a flower does he bloom and pass,
He fadeth like a vision of the night

The surging floods of life around him roar,
Death feeds upon him, pity is no more,