Somewhere is joy, tho' 't is not thine;
The power that sent can heal thy grief;
And light lies on the farther hills.
Thou wouldst not with the world be one
If ne'er thou knewest hurt and wrong;
Take comfort, tho' the darkened sun
Never again bring gleam or song,
The light lies on the farther hills.
"AH, NEAR, DEAR FRIEND"
Ah, near, dear friend of many and many years!
I have known thy lovelinesses—known thy tears,
Thy smiles, like sunlight crossing shade,
Thy spirit unafraid.
All these have been like music to my soul;
These, having fashioned me, should I extol,
It were, in sooth, myself to praise—
O Light of all my days!
Thy smiles, thy tears, thy exquisite sad words—
Mystic as, in the moonlight, songs of birds;
But, O, more wonderful than these,
Thy lonely silences.
MUSIC IN DARKNESS
I
At the dim end of day
I heard the great musician play:
Saw her white hands now slow, now swiftly pass;
Where gleamed the polished wood, as in a glass,
