Last Verses. Susan Coolidge

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СКАЧАТЬ the deep shadow of the ilex tree

      The Master rests, while gathering one by one

      The neighbors enter, crowding silently

      To hear His words, which drop like honey-dew;

      I may not hear, there is too much to do.

      How can I pause? I seem the only one

      To take a thought about this multitude

      Who, the day past and all the preaching done,

      Will need to be refreshed with wine and food;

      We cannot send the people home unfed—

      What words were those? “I am the living bread.”

      There is my sister sitting the day long

      Close to His side, serene and free from care,

      Helping me not; and surely it is wrong

      To leave to me the task that she should share.

      Master, rebuke her, just and true Thou art—

      What do I hear? “She hath the better part.”

      If all chose thus then all would go unfed—

      Souls hunger, yes! but bodies have their need.

      Some one must grind and mix the daily bread,

      Some one wake early that the rest may feed,

      Some one bear burdens, face the summer sun—

      But must I always, always be the one?

      “Cumbered with serving,” thus the Master spake;

      But ’twas to serve Him that I worked so hard

      (And I would serve the year long for His sake).

      I dare not take the rest which is reward

      Lest He should suffer while I stay my hand.

      How hard it is, how hard to understand!

      What does a voice say? “He whose power divine

      Could feed the thousands on the mountain side

      Needeth no fretting, puny aid like thine.

      One thing is needful, trust him to provide;

      The Heavenly Chance comes once nor tarries long”—

      Master, forgive me, teach me, I was wrong!

CAEN

       1894

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      IN the quaint Norman city, far apart,

      A width of humming distance set between,

      They rest who once lived closely heart to heart,

      William the conquering Duke and his fair Queen.

      Too near of kin to wed, the Church averred,

      And barred the way which joy was fain to tread;

      But hearts spoke louder than the priestly word,

      And youth and love o’erleaped the barrier dread.

      No will of wax had England’s future King;

      With iron hand he brushed the curse aside,

      As ’twere a slight and disregarded thing,

      And asking leave of no man, claimed his bride.

      And they were happy, spite of ban and blame,

      Rich in renown, estate, in valiant deed;

      And the sweet Duchess at her broidery frame

      Wrought her lord’s victories for all men to read.

      But as the years of wedlock ebbed and flowed,

      And still the Church averted her stern face,

      The royal pair grew weary of the load

      Of unrepented sin and long disgrace,

      And bought a peace from late relenting Rome.

      Two stately abbeys built they, and endowed,

      With carven pinnacle and tower and dome,

      And soaring spire and bell-chimes pealing loud.

      Within the crypt of one they buried her,

      True wife and queen, when her time came to die;

      And when strong death conquered the Conqueror,

      He slept beneath the other’s altar high.

      Was it of love’s devising that to-day,

      With all the wide-grown city space to bar,

      Across the roofs and towers from far away

      St. Etienne looks upon La Trinita?

      Was it some subtle prescience of the heart,

      Which laid on time and change resistless spell,

      Forbidding both to hide or hold apart

      The resting-place of those who loved so well?

      For still defying distance, day and night

      The spires like beckoning fingers seem to rise,

      The bells to call, as perished voices might,

      “Love is not dead, Beloved; love never dies!”

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